Yesterday after the snow melted (we had 1/2") we noticed birds feeding on the ground. They were in the front yard, orchard area, barn lot, all over the place. My question is, does anyone know why? Does melted snow leave some mineral or whatever behind that the birds need? If it helps, the birds were cardinals, kildeer, sparrows, warblers, redwings and brown cowbirds.
My guess is that the insects were easy to catch because they were cold (moving slowly if at all) Just a guess haha
Don`t know about where you are but here,, I noticed birds were picking at a few of the new emerging grasses !! We feed corn chops so if you are feeding seeds I think it may just be for the green grasses and a few early seeds !! We have the same birds as you do except the kildees are later !!
My thought is maybe the snow made the connection of the seeds to their plants weak when wet and there were more seeds on the ground than there had been in the dry weather conditions. And when the soil is wet, many of the bugs living underground come up to the surface.