In winter, flocks of birds roam widely in search of food. In places that are generous with it, they can stay for the whole winter, or return to them periodically.

Winter hardships, of course, do not threaten the extinction of all tits or bullfinches. They will be able to feed themselves in nature. But a significant part of wintering birds die. Icing and sticking of wet snow are especially dangerous for them. Natural food for many birds becomes practically inaccessible. And a couple of days without food at all, especially in the cold, even for a healthy bird means certain death. How important is feeding for the birds themselves? Thanks to our help, many more birds will survive until spring. Our forests and parks will be richer. In addition, do not forget about the aesthetic and moral side.

What a treat for a nature lover to watch birds at the feeder! Moreover, in winter they easily make contact with humans; they can even be trained to take food from hands. There was a competition in the class for the best feeder.

The most original feeder was made by Sasha Reutov, the most durable by Polina Petrukhina. The whole family took part in its production. The feeding trough houses were created by Natasha Zyryanova and Egor Kovalenko.

The guys in our class made and hung feeders on the school grounds. We hung <> in the courtyards. Some residents of our city have placed feeders outside their windows and on their balconies. Birds have chosen feeding places and visit them constantly. Tits fly most often (6-8 times). At the same time, tits not only eat what is in the feeder, but also carefully inspect branches and tree trunks nearby, destroying wintering forms of pests. Sparrows visited the feeder (5-6 times). In winter, near the feeder we saw forest inhabitants: nuthatches, woodpeckers. Nuthatches and woodpeckers feed together with tits, and often stay in common flocks. Nuthatches eat everything that tits eat, and woodpeckers are primarily interested in hanging lard, meat, and pieces of fat.

The waxwing is like a hawthorn among birds - with smooth tints of red, brown and white on its wings..

With a picturesque crest on his proudly set head. The bird is the size of a starling. Its short tail is decorated with a bright yellow stripe, and the ends of its long wings are bright red. The song of the waxwing is a murmuring trill <>, reminiscent of the sound of a pipe (hence the name). Inhabits sparse coniferous and mixed forests, overgrown burnt areas and clearings.

In summer it feeds on insects, which are often caught in flight, larvae, various berries and young shoots of plants. At other times, they feed mainly on berries and fruits, for example, lingonberries, mountain ash, and viburnum. In winter, these diurnal birds visit cities in search of berries, especially during the years of the mountain ash harvest. These birds fly to our city. We saw them in the park on the rowan tree. These birds live in flocks. The voracity of waxwings is extraordinary. They do not know how to pinch the berries and quickly swallow them whole, tearing them off the branches one after another. In a day, a bird can eat so many berries that their total weight will be much greater than the weight of its entire body. Waxwings do not even have time to completely digest their food - their droppings almost entirely consist of half-digested berries and peels.

Waxwings play an important role in the life of the forest, as they widely distribute the seeds of rowan and other juicy berries, which, having passed through their intestines, do not lose their germination.

The bullfinch is especially beautiful in winter. His red-breasted vest is very noticeable against the background of white snow. If the bird has a bright chest, it is a male. Females look much more modest. The bullfinch's beak is thick and wide. He uses it to remove seeds from rowan and bird cherry berries. The bullfinch's song is rather unprepossessing. Sounds like a squeaking wheel. Bullfinches respond well to training. When the Snow Queen appears in her domain, the birds wintering with us are faced with two vital questions: how to feed themselves and where to hide from the cold at night. In winter, when temperatures are close to zero, bullfinches prefer to feed on the fruits of wild apple trees, softened in the absence of frost. Bullfinches are big fans of rowan - they eat it, crushing each berry with their short, blunt beak. More precisely, not with pulp, but with seeds, which birds deftly extract from the core of the fruit with beaks well adapted for this. You can always tell from the remains of berry peels that bullfinches fed here.

When it gets cold, the most accessible food becomes maple lionfish, as well as seeds in dry lilac fruits. City dwellers who install feeders on balconies or outside windows and regularly add unroasted seeds there can often admire bullfinches flying up to them.

TIT is quite a beautiful bird. The dorsal side is yellowish-green, the ventral side is yellow with a wide black stripe along the chest and belly. The tit song is a loud, measured, repeating sound 'tsi-tsi-fi, tsi-tsi-fi, tsi-tsi-fi...'

Leads a sedentary and nomadic lifestyle. It feeds mainly on insects. In spring and summer, the basis of the diet of tits consists of caterpillars, beetles, spiders, in autumn and winter - seeds, and near human habitation - food remains. Tits are useful for humans; they are successfully attracted to parks and squares, residential areas, by feeding them in the winter and hanging artificial nests in the spring. In recent years, the number of great tits in human settlements has continued to increase. Tits winter in our city, but lately they have not flown away from us even in the summer. Only in summer they are less noticeable because there is a lot of dust. And in winter, as if washed with snow, they appear before us in all their finery. Watching, we will see how tits hollow out some piece or seed, holding it with their tenacious toes. The frequent blows of their beaks sometimes sound very loudly in the frosty air. If the piece is soft, then the tit presses it to the branch with its paw and plucks it off in small pieces.

One female great tit that died in winter would have given birth to a dozen and a half young chicks over the summer. In another year, they would have produced about 100 offspring. This is already a whole detachment for the fight against gardening pests - small insects, which tits destroy in large numbers. At present, the practical need for winter feeding of our useful birds is completely clear.

The magpie lives side by side with us all year. But we see it most often in winter. This black and white creature looks very expressive against the background of snow. These two colors are expressed exceptionally brightly in the magpie. The head, back and tail of the bird are black. And the sides of the magpie are white-white. The magpie is smart, careful, but at the same time resourceful and daring. In terms of its talent, a magpie can be compared with a raven. Just as smart, cunning, intelligent, cautious and far-sighted - the most perfect fox among birds. The magpie is found everywhere in Russia and is a sedentary bird. The magpie bird is omnivorous.

As a result of observations, we established that the following remain in our city for the winter: magpie, sparrow, and pigeon. Arriving for the winter: tits, bullfinches, waxwings, and field thrushes. We concluded: many birds spend the winter next to us. All these birds bring benefits by destroying harmful insects. It is necessary to help birds during this difficult time of year.

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