Скачать или смотреть Winter-like weather not for the birds

Some people say our winter-like weather is for the birds, but really it's not. Mother Nature is causing problems for our feathered friends.

"If we're still getting snow in May, that could be a problem," said Three Rivers wildlife manager John Moriarty.

The extended winter is causing some birds to hold off on their annual trip up North.

"The winter like spring is slowing down some of the birds. Some of the migrants that normally come up are kind of waiting down in Iowa and Missouri until we warm up a little bit," Moriarty said.

For the birds that do show up, Moriarty said some don't make it.

"Some of the birds like purple martins and tree swallows, we have had minor mortality."

And the early bird doesn't always get the worm. Birds that are showing up now are struggling to get food. Moriarity says some birds are modifying their diets, eating tree buds or turning to bird feeders, instead of worms or insects.

"We've seen a bunch of robins and they've been eating off of our crab apple tree, not something they would normally do," said Tammy Beack of Robbinsdale. "Usually see them eating worms a lot."

Meanwhile, some of winter birds are sticking around a little longer.

"Some of the northern birds that normally migrate, that spend the winter here and migrate, up into Canada, are still here, they haven't left yet, whereas most springs there might have already moved," said Moriarty.

Moriarty said if you are feeding the birds now, continue to do so. But it really wouldn't help to put a birdfeeder out now, because it would take a while before the birds locate the feeder.

Sonya Goins, reporting

http://www.ccxmedia.org/
  / ccxmedia.org  
  / ccxnews  

12 News is on Comcast cable channel 12 in the northwest suburbs of Minneapolis and includes the cities Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Crystal, Golden Valley, Maple Grove, New Hope, Osseo, Plymouth and Robbinsdale.