Bread amnesty improves bird diets (BBC News) (1 Viewer)

fugl said:

I've asked this question on BF before, but never had an answer. Is there any scientific evidence that bread is bad for waterfowl? [Or for pigeons & House Sparrows for that matter?]

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ChrisKten said:

I've often wondered that myself. In my garden, each year the House Sparrows actually ignore seed for wholemeal bread, to feed to their young. And each year I have more Sparrows. Same with the Starlings, the juveniles fight over the bread, at times ignoring nuts and fat balls. When the bread is gone they go straight for the feeders.

So if there was scientific evidence proving bread is bad for birds, I'm afraid I'd ignore it.

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fugl said:

Interesting observations re food preferences among your yard birds. I put out seeds & suet (& peanuts for the jays) in my backyard but little or no bread (mainly because bread tends to get eaten up in my house with no leftover scraps). Maybe I'll start putting some out to see how the quail, towhees, House Finches, House Sparrows, Mourning Doves & the rest react.

As I've suggested in a previous thread, I think a lot of "anti-bread" propaganda is motivated by a hidden agenda on the part of people who object in general to the feeding of waterfowl & other birds in public spaces, not because it's "bad" for these creatures, but for various human reasons--they don't like the mess, or they're concerned about "hygiene", or simply because they're unenthusiastic about walking through packs of large aggressive birds scrabbling for food.

This, of course, is in no way to impugn the motives behind the Surrey "bread amnesty" which I'm sure are completely sincere & above-board. But, I'm still curious to know, is bread bad for ducks?

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ChrisKten said:

I agree that there are hidden agendas with some of the bird feeding advice, but as you said, I'm not suggesting that's the case here.

I would imagine that a diet solely of bread may be harmful to birds; not the bread itself, but the lack of vitamins/minerals/fats. I also think that there are quite a few myths that seem to start out as anecdotes and end up accepted as fact.

As an example: I feed loose peanuts all year round, apparently I am quietly choking birds to death in the Spring. But lets say that I accept that nuts choke young birds. What would people suggest that I do when the Great Tits fly off with the Monkey Nuts I put out for the Squirrels/Jays/Crows/Magpies? Should I try to catch the Tit? Should I stop feeding the Corvids?

It seems to me that the parent bird knows what is safe to feed their young, if it doesn't, there's many things more harmful than peanuts.

Sorry, a little off topic I guess.

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