I've been bird watching since I was a wee kiddie. And yes, I do feed the birds in the garden annually. I usually start in the dead of winter, and even in the Bay Area, it can get below freezing at night in the winter. I started feeding because I'd see dead song birds in the morning--they were having a hard time finding enough food, especially during the long drought years. One thing to mention... if you are feeding birds and they are depending on you as a food source, stopping suddenly in the dead of winter may prove to be the demise of some of those birds who become dependent on you. Also, keep at hand, a fresh water source (esp. in areas that freeze, an open fresh water source is handy for them, so they don't have to go searching and buring calories hunting for H2O, while they are feeding). Make sure the feeder and water basin are kept clean, to avoid infecting birds with fungus, bacteria, etc... Droppings should be swept up and the area kept tidy.
Ok, I live in CA, so it doesn't snow here. I also live right across the street from a semi-wild park (there are coyotes, gray foxes, and even a sighting or two of bobcat!) There are tons of birds here (all sorts of raptors, juncos, finches, sparrows, flickers, wood-peckers, scrub and stellar jays, towhees, robins, nut hatches, doves, etc...). I don't bother with bird feeders, because there are so many birds that visit the garden! On average I go through 60-80 lbs. of wild bird seed every month! Yes, it's pricey, but my kitties enjoy their "cat television"
I have a large area that is just a cement ground, in one part of the garden. I spread out in a LARGE area, equal parts of black oil sunflower seed (make sure it's the black oil type, not the grayish/white variety, which is too hard for the smaller finches to crack open) with "finch seed mix" (white & red millet, nyjer seed, flax seed). Winter climates might want to add a suet cake, as the fat is really good for snowy areas for cold birdies. Make sure the seed you buy isn't "dusty" (poor quality) and doesn't smell funky (indicative of mold or something else yucky). Good seed sources should be pretty clean and free of twigs and gravelly bits too. Birds in my area don't eat cracked corn, so I stay away from that, because it attracts rats!
I put out 1/2 - 3/4 full of a large paint bucket (more on really cold days), and it's usually all gone 1-2 days. At any one time, the very least is 50 birds on the ground, and I think at max it was 150! It's really fun to see so many of them! I sweep the cement ground thoroughly with a stiff broom every 2 days-huge piles of sunflower seed hulls! (gets up all the droppings too, which might make the birds sick, if you don't clean up the area before re-seeding), and dump all the waste in the green composting bin for weekly collection. I also have a lot of hot hot sun in the morning, so the UVs will sterilize the cement ground, after everything has been swept up. Water basin is cleaned everyday and refilled. All mixed seed is stored in a double-bagged heavy duty plastic lawn bag, which is placed in a giant seal-able plastic bin (keeps out moisture and won't attract pests in your basement). I also put the seed in the middle of the cement area, and keep all weeds and grasses trimmed, so the birds aren't taken surprise by neighbor's/feral cats. They seem to keep out of harms way from patrolling hawks and kestrels as well, since our garden is kept trim and tidy (easy for birds to see oncoming predators). Once in a long while, a will see a pile of poof feathers (so far, it's been only twice this season).
A majority of songbirds here, start nesting February - May (some as late as August). I generally taper off very slowly, the amount of bird seed I put out, beginning late March/early April, and by the end of April, I stop entirely. I want the parents to focus on teaching the little ones how to search for their normal wild food sources (and it eases up on the wallet, until Nov/Dec!
Nice to see so many bird enthusiasts here!
P.S. The hummingbirds always buzz me when I run the water hose (thirsty or curious?). So while they are buzzing about, I set the nozzle on a fine spray, and they dip in for a drink
. They will come up to the deck and hunt for little spiders to slurp up too (they hover about the spider web areas). And yes, those greedy scrub and stellar jays will chase off all of the other birds, swallow the sunflower seeds whole, then hoard them in their beaks (in a nice little row!), and then go off and eat or bury them. The crows annoy me by leaving bones on the roof