Nesting birds need calcium.

Except for during a severe snow or ice storm, birds need more food in the spring nesting season — March through July — than at any other time of year. Finding a mate, building and defending a nest, foraging for food for babies and raising a family are exhausting. Continue feeding birds well into the summer to help them with their new families.

Certainly keep feeding seed and suet, but consider a few extras.

Many of us, especially women, take a calcium supplement. It seems like such a human need, but females of all species need calcium — especially while reproducing.

During nesting season in particular, female birds need calcium to produce strong eggshells. Chicks need it for the formation of strong bones. Mama birds who have a diet lacking calcium will use calcium from their own bones for their developing young, eventually leading to weaker bones for mom. If nesting birds don't eat enough calcium, they may not lay as many eggs as they would typically.

In nature, birds find calcium in part by eating bugs, but some birds get a little desperate if they can't find enough of the mineral this time of year. During nesting season chickadees have been known to eat calcium-rich ash and Anna's hummingbirds commonly eat sand, also packed with calcium. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has documented several instances of blue jays eating paint chips off people's homes. Cornell theorizes that the jays were desperate for calcium — limestone, a source of calcium, is a common ingredient in paint. Once homeowners provided calcium in other forms, the blue jays left their houses alone.

This time of the year, female birds need lots of calcium and sometimes can't find enough of it naturally. You can help. Instead of throwing away or composting your eggshells, consider crushing them and putting them out in a tray feeder where your birds can find them. You also can use a nesting seed-blend fortified with calcium, or suet cakes and suet nuggets with added calcium. Powdered calcium carbonate is the additive in these foods just like in our human supplements. It is perfectly natural and safe for your birds and is easily absorbed.

Cornell also has found that if given a choice between two foods that are identical in every respect except calcium level, chicks and egg-laying females will more often choose calcium-rich food.

So, give your young bird families a hand this spring by offering them a calcium boost when they need it most.

Anne Schmauss is the co-owner of Wild Birds Unlimited in Santa Fe. She is the author with her sisters of the book For the Birds: A Month by Month Guide to Attracting Birds to Your Backyard. Her articles appear in Birds and Blooms magazine.