Winter Feeding Kit

Four feeders that between them cover a whole winter. Bought separately they come to $108.96. Here they are $84.99 — you save $23.97.

Winter is the only time of year backyard feeding genuinely matters to the birds. Natural food runs out, the nights are long, and a small bird can burn most of its body weight staying warm overnight. A yard with food in it in January holds birds that will still be there in spring.

What's in it

• Gazebo Hanging Bird Feeder — $34.99 on its own. Pitched roof keeps snow and rain off the seed; the big hopper means fewer trips outside in the cold.
• Classic Tube Seed Feeder — $26.99 on its own. Two ports, four perches, holds several days of seed.
• Hanging Suet Ball Feeder — $21.99 on its own. Fat balls are the highest-calorie thing you can offer, which is exactly what birds need in winter.
• Clear Window Bird Feeder — $24.99 on its own. So you can watch without opening a door.

Seed and fat, not just seed

This is the reason for four feeders rather than one big one. Seed feeds finches, cardinals, chickadees and sparrows. Fat feeds woodpeckers, nuthatches, wrens and creepers — birds that eat insects the rest of the year and switch to suet when the insects are gone. Put out only seed and you never see half of them.

Once the cold sets in

Keep the feeders going without long gaps. Birds learn a reliable food source and build their day around it, and a feeder that runs empty for a week in a hard freeze costs them more than it helped. Refill on a schedule you can actually keep.

Water matters as much as food when everything is frozen, so a heated bath or a shallow dish you refresh each morning is worth adding.

Ships within two days. Allow about two weeks for delivery.