what do birds eat when the snow flies?
The black-capped chickadee “keeps up a diligent search for dormant forms of insect life.” The American goldfinch wolfs down the seeds of “thistle, ragweed and other troublesome plants in quantity.” The dark-eyed junco gleans “largely the seeds of noxious weeds.” So says Red Bird, Green Bird: How Birds Help Us Grow Healthy Gardens (OARDC/OSU Extension, 2009), a new edition of an old report called Some Ohio Birds. It details the diets and past abundance of 91 Buckeye state bird species. Scientists Harry Gossard and Scott Harry of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station — now the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) — wrote it in 1912. It shows how birds help farmers and gardeners by gobbling down insect pests, weed seeds and rodents. It offers, too, a beginning section on what we can do to assist birds in winter, including by giving them seed and suet and by growing good food plants and shelter belts. “An evergreen screen furnishes greater protection in winter than
