Watch Birds Flock To Your Yard With A Simple Ingredient From Your Kitchen
The spring season is a great time for bird-watching. If you're looking to attract more birds to your yard, you might want to take a look in the cheese drawer of your fridge. Though it may seem counterintuitive, some hard cheeses can be a great boost to a bird's diet, providing healthy protein, fat, calcium, and other essential vitamins and minerals. This can be especially beneficial to wild birds in colder weather when they are expending more energy to survive; however, other varieties of this tasty treat, such as soft cheeses and flavored versions, are not the best for your feathered friends.
By putting out a little bit of leftover cheese, you might find blackbirds, sparrows, crows, robins, wrens, starlings, and thrushes visiting your backyard to grab a bite. Though this can be a great additive for birds, cheese should only make up a small portion of their diet and you should continue providing your regular bird seed to ensure their nutritional needs are being met. Additionally, you'll want to be mindful that cheese could bring other visitors as well, like mice.
What cheeses are safe to offer birds in your yard?
Because birds are not mammals, they don't have the lactase enzyme necessary to process lactose in dairy products. This is why some cheeses are not great for birds and could be hard on their digestive systems. Soft cheeses tend to have a much higher percentage of lactose than fermented hard cheeses, which contain barely any. Gouda, mild cheddar, parmesan, Swiss, Colby jack, and Monterey jack are great leftover foods you can use to feed the birds in your yard. This is also a wonderful way to use up old cheeses that are going stale rather than throwing them out.
On the other hand, offering varieties like mozzarella, cream cheese, bleu cheese, and brie could have negative effects for your feathered friends. You'll also need to steer clear of any varieties that have added flavors, such as garlic or onion, or that are extremely processed, like American cheeses. Additionally, some cheeses like ricotta have high sodium levels and should be avoided as well.
Using cheese to get birds to flock to your yard
When adding this kitchen scrap to your bird feeder, first check that it has no mold on it to prevent the birds from falling ill. Your leftover cheese can then be served in a variety of ways to give your feathered friends a tasty treat. For those with platform feeders, try grating a small amount of cheese over your normal seed or stirring it into the food. This is an easy way to make sure the pieces of cheese are small enough for even tiny birds to enjoy.
Alternatively, you could use your hands to crumble the cheese into little bits or try roughly cutting it into various sizes. This could help appeal to larger birds as well, as there will be bigger pieces for them to grab. If you're feeding your feathered friends in a warmer climate, be sure that the food isn't left out long enough to spoil or that you only provide enough to be eaten quickly. With a little hard cheese, you can watch a variety of feathered friends flock to your yard in no time.