With enough food, birds can generally survive cold temperatures

Even most swans manage without help

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Birds which were prompted by the mild early winter to stay in Finland instead of flying away, can survive in colder weather if they have enough to eat.
      Large swans sometimes find themselves in trouble on ice, and often prompt concern from passers-by who fear that they are in distress. However, swans rarely actually need the help of people.
     “Food is the most important thing for most birds”, says Lauri Hänninen of BirdLife Finland.
     “Birds nevertheless have a suit of down. Cold temperatures do not shake them much.”
     
People call unnecessarily about swans, because the birds can sit on the ice for several days.
     “A swan is such a large bird that it does not need to eat every day. Just seeing a swan sitting in one place on the ice is not something that a person need make an emergency call over.”
     Rescue department personnel will often take a great risk to go out on the ice to help a swan. The man might fall into the water, and the bird will just fly away.
     
More than 10 swans are currently being cared for at the Pyhtää bird refuge in the southeast of Finland.
      Arto Hokkanen says that the number is normal for the winter.
     Swans suffering from hunger and cold have been brought in from East Uusimaa and the Kymi River Valley area.
     “Especially the mute swan is such a large bird that its legs will not hold on slippery ice. They are found frozen on the ice”, Hokkanen says.
     Hänninen believes that there are probably more swans spending the winter in Finland this season than there have been in a long time. They are conspicuous, so they are more easily brought in for treatment.
     
This winter an unusually large number of buzzards and arctic buzzards have been seen in Finland. In addition, there have been many and hen harriers and kestrels have been spotted.
     Predatory birds have no shortage of food, as moles and voles are plentiful this year. However, if snow falls on fields, and is frozen after thawing slightly, the birds will have a more difficult time getting food.
     Bird watchers recorded 135 different species on the first day of the year, which is an exceptionally large amount for this time of year, Hänninen says.
     For instance, the rare red-breasted goose has spent the winter in Siuntio. It is usually seen during the Arctic migration in May.
     
Many water fowl have stayed in coastal areas, but they are more difficult to see, because large areas remain free of ice.
     “If we were to get much ice this winter, we might see more birds, even though there are fewer of them. Then they gather in the few locations where there is open water”, Hänninen says.


Links:
  BirdLife Finland

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