29 December, Vitebsk /Diana Kurilo - BELTA/. Environmentalists have compiled a New Year's menu for feathered friends, as reported to BELTA by the Vitebsk Regional Committee for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection. Winter is a serious challenge for birds. During the short daylight hours, they must find enough food to satisfy their hunger, otherwise they have little chance of surviving until morning. It has been established that with a good food supply, birds can withstand even the harshest frosts. Environmentalists of the region are appealing to the residents of the region with a request to support wintering birds. To do this, it is enough to make a simple feeder, regularly fill it with food, and clear it of snow. However, the diet of birds, just like that of humans, should be nutritious and harmless. Under no circumstances should birds be given any salty food. Even a few salted seeds or a piece of salted fat can lead to the bird's death, as its body is incapable of excreting salt. Birds should not be given fried, spicy, or sour food, nor banana peels or citrus rinds. Boiled cereals freeze quickly and are impossible to peck, and rye bread sours in the crop and is poorly digested, especially in frost. The most suitable food for many songbirds is sunflower seeds. This is a high-calorie, fat-containing feed that granivorous birds readily crush with their beaks, and insectivorous birds, which have adapted to feeding on seeds in winter, peck at. Sparrows, bullfinches, and greenfinches will gladly eat oily rapeseed and flax seeds. If several feeders are set up and this feed is constantly provided, flocks of goldfinches, redpolls, and even cautious goldfinches can be attracted. Fresh or dried fruits, berries, as well as frozen cherries, currants, rowan berries, viburnum, and lingonberries will not be ignored by thrushes, robins, tits, waxwings, and bullfinches. Fat-rich peanuts will be a favourite for all feathered friends, and even timid jays will visit for this delicacy. Millet, oats, and unsalted fat can also be included in the winter menu for birds.