Many birds have flown south for the winter. You can take your hummingbird feeder down until April. Others have molted and are classified as small, brown birds.

The trees have shed their leaves, and there are fewer hiding places. Water and food are critical for survival in the winter. Prolonged periods of freezing temperatures pose the threat to animals of dying of thirst.

A less obvious danger in winter comes at the bird feeder. Feeders result in unnatural clustering of birds. Spilled feed on the ground results in many vulnerable birds feeding from the ground -- prey for house cats. Domestic cats kill more than a million birds each day in the United States.

Tubular finch feeders present an additional risk -- finch eye disease. A contagious conjunctivitis that is prevalent during the winter when finches congregate, the disease is spread when an infected bird eats from a tube feeder and contaminates the feeding hole. Before long every finch eating from the feeder can become infected. The infected bird's eyes swell shut or seal shut with discharge and, blinded, it starves to death.

Perhaps this holiday season a better gift to wildlife in your neighborhood would be to leave a brush pile for hiding, or planning a wildlife garden for the spring. For the most part, wildlife find plenty of food without our help.

If you find a wild animal in need of help, call Piedmont Wildlife Center at 572-9453.