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do you feed throughout the whole year (1 Viewer)

B

bubobubo

Well-known member
hello,
it has taken me a couple of years to finally get to grips with my garden but now i have, my birds love it and i am getting more and more visitors. I love them so much. I have a 'thuya' barrier(sorry not sure what another name for it is) that seperates my flower garden from my vegetable garden. (i call it the appartments as i have loads of birds in there and when they all stick there heads out, it looks like women chatting out of the windows hehehe). It is just perfect as it provides them safety and shelter. on one side they have the flowers, insects (the latter is also enriching in different species) and on the other side of the barrier they help themselves to my veg. In november i get my 'ecological bushes' which will provide them with natural berries and food through out the winter aswell. sorry i am wondering from the main reason i started this thread (as i usually do when i start talking about my birds) but do you feed the birds all year round? i do but i have been told that it is not a good idea as i should let them fend for themselves and get used to searching for insects etc. I would appreciate your views on this.
 
We provide food for our garden birds all year round.

I have also heard that this is not necessarily a good idea, but I think that opinion is changing, at least here in the UK.

Perhaps it depends on the natural availabilty of food, but I think it is now widely accepted that most of our most familiar birds would not survive without handouts from the human population of the islands!
 
bubobubo said:
do you feed the birds all year round? i do but i have been told that it is not a good idea as i should let them fend for themselves and get used to searching for insects etc. I would appreciate your views on this.
Click to expand...
I feed all year round, because there are periods (especially at some breeding times) when there is not enough natural food available. Birds would perish if they are forced "to fend for themselves" and could not find food. When natural food is plentiful, they will eat that, and the food I provide is just a supplement. The birds seem to enjoy a wider choice.

Roger
 
I feel this issue is unresolved. Although the RSPB says 'feed all the year round' I see their position as somewhat compromised by the fact that they receive substantial donations from the major seed manufacturers. I feel that in most birds foraging skills are a combination of instinctive (inherited, genetic) behaviours, and learned (imitative) behaviours. I have observed quite a number of situations where adult bird are clearly 'teaching' their offspring how to seek out and capture food from available sources, and it worries me that if food is always plentifully available from garden feeders young birds will miss out on developing some of the necessary skills to enable them to fend for themselves. For example in birds that rely on a mixture of seed/fruit and insect sources for food, we are very good at providing the former, but is that possibly hindering their development of the skills of seeking out insect based food sources?
However I don't pretend to have anything like an answer that I'm absolutely sure of. In the summer I do feed the birds, but every so often I let the feeders go empty so that the birds have to fend for themselves; but I never leave them empty so long that if alternative food sources were in short supply the birds would starve.
It's a complicated matter and I would like to hear more from some of the more expert members of Birdforum.

Alan Hill
 
I have lived in my present house for 20 years and for the first 17 years rarely saw a House Sparrow. Three years ao I had 3 during the Winter on odd occasions feeding on seed I had put down on the ground for Bramblings-they seem to prefer feeding on the ground. I then decided to try and retain the House Sparrows so I continued putting out seed during the Summer.
I increased the number of nest boxes and to my great delight a pair bred. Now I have around 20 House Sparrows in the garden and they have used my nestboxes for the third year running.
I would certainly recommend all-year feeding as Sparrows appear to need help to reduce their falling numbers. I just wish I could see a Tree Sparrow in Devon, I have been looking for over 35 years.
 
In Luxembourg, the general line of thought is only feed in winter. However, it does seem to be the UK that recommends feeding all year round. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Personally I do, but as Alan says, I don't worry too much if the food is at a low level in summer.

I've noticed in my garden, even though they feed from the feeders, the tits are forever up on the branches and leaves foraging, same with the robins - they feed - but as soon as there is an insect, they catch it with lightning speed.

As I said in a previous thread, the birds know which side their bread is buttered, soon as the feeders are full, they return in no time.
 
We feed them all year round, and as a result we now have a daily count of around 30+ house sparrows and starling's. So it can't be that bad for them, the insect eaters will always find natural food when its available, but have a fallback if times are hard.
bert.
 
We feed all the year round. If you watch the birds closely you will find that the adults use the food from the feed you put out for themselves but feed the young on natural food, as far back as 1990 the BTO reported a study from Cardiff University that saw this behaviour. The only time they saw adults feeding their young on food provided at bird tables was when natural food was not available and the young were starving to death anyway.
 
Feeding the whole year has great benefits. First, different birds come to the feeders. We have glorious rose breasted grosbeaks in late spring and early summer. We'd never see them if not for our feeders. Also, if you provide food in the summer, many birds will bring their young to the feeders. We've seen baby cardinals, baby bluejays, and several species of woodpeckers being fed by their parents at the feeders. We were particulatrly delighted to see a pileated woodpecker mother feeding suet to two young ones. Great fun. Feed, feed, feed!
 
alanhill said:
..... I have observed quite a number of situations where adult bird are clearly 'teaching' their offspring how to seek out and capture food from available sources, and it worries me that if food is always plentifully available from garden feeders young birds will miss out on developing some of the necessary skills to enable them to fend for themselves. For example in birds that rely on a mixture of seed/fruit and insect sources for food, we are very good at providing the former, but is that possibly hindering their development of the skills of seeking out insect based food sources?
It's a complicated matter and I would like to hear more from some of the more expert members of Birdforum.
Alan Hill
Click to expand...
Alan,
During the last week or two in my garden, there have been long periods when there has not been any birds feeding. Some birds often ignore the feeders, such as House Sparrows searching around the fences for insects and Blackbirds digging up worms (obviously still feeding young). I live in a rural area with plenty of cornfields that are currently being harvested, so there is another rich source of food available.
As Mick has said, we are not solely being altruistic - we do enjoy seeing our variety of garden visitors.

Roger
 
Denis J said:
We feed all the year round. If you watch the birds closely you will find that the adults use the food from the feed you put out for themselves but feed the young on natural food, as far back as 1990 the BTO reported a study from Cardiff University that saw this behaviour. The only time they saw adults feeding their young on food provided at bird tables was when natural food was not available and the young were starving to death anyway.
Click to expand...
Denis,
I have not witnessed parent birds just feeding themselves from the feeders. Birds such as Goldfinch, House Sparrow and Starling have all fed their noisy, wing-flapping offspring straight from the feeders at times when natural food was available- they just love sunflower hearts!

Roger
 
I have always fed all year too. They don't go through near the seed in the summer as they do in winter. I do have in winter a large flock of red wing black birds that wipe out a lot of seed each day but I love having them here. They make it sound like spring time in the winter.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I must admit, the idea put across by alanhill was my biggest concern (about the youngsters not developing feeding skills) i do appologise but i don't know how to "quote". But i have also found more and more species are coming to the garden and actually using my garden as a breeding ground (goldfinch, starlings, sparrows, blackbirds and even song thrushes). I do love the birds and i enjoy watching them especially at breakfast time. The black bird came down with baby and fed on the great supply of worms at the foot of of the verranda. I have also noticed that nearly all the parents feed their young straight from the feeders. So birdy buddies, i shall continue to feed my feathered friends.
 
bubobubo said:
i do appologise but i don't know how to "quote"
Click to expand...
Do you mean to "quote" like the above box surrounded by a red line?
If so, simply choose the post you wish to include the "quote" from, then click on Reply in the bottom right hand corner, and leave the full post message or edit as required. Retain the bracketed
at each end of original message.

Roger
Click to expand...
 
rogerscoth said:
Do you mean to "quote" like the above box surrounded by a red line?
If so, simply choose the post you wish to include the "quote" from, then click on Reply in the bottom right hand corner, and leave the full post message or edit as required. Retain the bracketed
at each end of original message.

Roger
Click to expand...

I can do that bit but how about multiple quotes from different postings, that's the one that's got me beat.

Mick
Click to expand...
 
I feed all year round but refill less regularly in summer. I have noticed that the feeders stay full for longer during the summer so I assume that they are getting their food elsewhere (I live in wood land). I supose that caterpillars and grubs etc are more tasty and nourishing and if in good supply will be the food of choice for some species, I believe the birds work it out for them selves.
 
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