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Dont Feed the Red Kites advises local officer (1 Viewer)

H

helenol

Well-known member
The local Red Kites Officer for the Chilterns Conservation Board has advised people not to feed red kites.

Writing in the local newspaper Ms Rose said "...The question is whether feeding kites is necessary or helpful to the birds. Providing extra food may increase densities of birds in areas where kites are already common and may slow down the rate at which they spread to new areas" She also said "The nutritional value of some non-natural food sources has been questioned"

The Chiltern Conservation Board also added that people who decide to feed them should not leave food every day, use processed meats or excessively fatty offcuts.

My first post of this board described my utter delight and excitement at a red kite swooping down into my garden to pick up a dead juvenile starling. It is an awesome sight, so close up. Yes, it is tempting when you see the kite flying low in your local area. The day after the kite swooped down I confess I placed some chicken (hubby's dinner!) on the lawn, the kite wasn't interested and it was then I made the decision NOT to provide food for them, although I do think that a dead juvenile bird is in a different category than processed meat bought at the local supermarket.

I had a nasty suspicion that this would become an issue, and I'm surprised that on showing someone feeding - on a regular basis - the kites on TV (can't remember what it was, some nature type programme a few months ago) there wasn't a comment to discourage people from doing this, for the very reasons stated above.

Any thoughts?

H
 
I think the program in question was Bill Oddie's Wild in Your Garden., although I don't remember if the garden in question was in the Chilterns Release Area.

I thought it was an awesome sight, and having recently seen the feeding a Gigrin, I can certainly understand the attraction.

As to whether it is a Good Thing to put out food for the released birds... hmmm... I don't know.

Logic tells me that (providing the food is nutritionally sound) feeding is alway a Good Thing, but if the Release Group say it is slowing the distribution of the birds, then I defer to their greater knowledge.

Just not quite sure why it matters.
 
do they visit the local tip?

BTW, regarding my decision not to feed them, I will still continue to place any dead birds on the lawn for them The juvenile in question was (it seems) dropped by Mrs Sparrowhawk - right in front of my kitchen window!
 
More seriously, two conflicting thoughts:

1. Putting food out for them may encourage them to become so tame they'll be at higher risk from malicious persecution

2. Putting food out may attract them away from feeding on roadkill rabbits & pheasants, where they are at higher risk of being killed by traffic

The dead Starling / hubby's dinner quandary is easy to explain - a wild-raised Kite will instinctively recognise a dead bird as food, but a detatched, featherless, cooked chicken leg doesn't look like anything that it is familiar with eating. Though they can easily learn to go for stuff like this, by watching other older, more experienced birds (and/or gulls, rats, etc) at rubbish tips. Kites are good at robbing food off other birds, so they probably get their first experience of chicken legs by snatching them off gulls at tips.

Michael
 
Mmmm not sure about this one...a couple of thoughts:

What is the difference between putting out scraps for Red Kites and putting out Bird Seed for Blue Tits?

As for it being "unnatural" behavior, its an unnatural situation anyway as it is a population started by released birds anyway!

Kites are natural scavengers anyway and have a long history of association with man, so i would feel that taking scraps from someones gardens is no different to scavenging roadkills or picking at the local tip

I know if I was lucky enough to live in the Stokenchurch area, i`d be very keen to have them come down and feed in my garden!!

As a final point, I believe that a number of local residents had issues with them roosting in their gardens and dropping bones and offcuts from the local abbatoir in their gardens!!!
 
Michael, regarding your first point about putting food out for them, I have a sneaky feeling that if people continue to do this, "something" is going to happen one day, once the kites have become tame, there will be an outcry that "something must be done" then the persecution will begin.

For example, moggy decides to leave home for a while, meanwhile the owner is convinced it was the kite that snatched it etc etc
 
Another point, and one which places like Gigrin probably have to think about - leaving meat out regularly can attract other undesirable things, (a) rats, and (b) disease, which could affect either the kites, or the people feeding them

Jason's right too, same applies to putting food out for Blue Tits, as well (and yes, that can be harmful too, putting food out for Blue Tits may be one factor in the decline in Willow Tits, as increased Blue Tit numbers looking for nest holes will evict Willow Tits from their holes)

Michael
 
helenol said:
Michael, regarding your first point about putting food out for them, I have a sneaky feeling that if people continue to do this, "something" is going to happen one day, once the kites have become tame, there will be an outcry that "something must be done" then the persecution will begin.

For example, moggy decides to leave home for a while, meanwhile the owner is convinced it was the kite that snatched it etc etc
Click to expand...
That's an excellent point, Helen, and I hadn't thought of it. Yeah... BIG difference between Red Kite and Blue Tit.

As it would never cross my mind to persecute the Kites, then I wouldn't have seen it as a problem, but in the wider public eye - well perhaps that's another debate.

Still think the density/distribution argument is a bit shaky though.

Originally posted by alan_rymer
Gigrin?
Click to expand...
Alan... see here... (Bottom of page 1 - Day 7)

http://www.birdforum.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8515
 
Michael Frankis said:
Another point, and one which places like Gigrin probably have to think about - leaving meat out regularly can attract other undesirable things, (a) rats, and (b) disease, which could affect either the kites, or the people feeding them
Click to expand...
Don't think that's an issue at Gigrin... the Kites soon make short work of the food, it would seem (with assistance from crows and starlings).

However the Gigrin Farm Feeding Scheme is properly managed... your point probably has relevance to any Tom, Dick or Harriet throwing carcasses onto their lawn.
 
Jasonbirder said:
Mmmm not sure about this one...a couple of thoughts:

What is the difference between putting out scraps for Red Kites and putting out Bird Seed for Blue Tits?

As for it being "unnatural" behavior, its an unnatural situation anyway as it is a population started by released birds anyway!
Click to expand...

I guess that in theory there is no difference between feeding kites and Blue Tits. However, remember that the kites have not been released for the gratification of the local people in the area. They have been released to help an endagered species recolonise the UK, which will then (hopefully) become a stronghold for the species.

The fact that we enjoy seeing them is a side effect, though obviously I accept that good publicity is vital as well.

If I'm reading this right, the fear is, if they are fed then they will congregate in large numbers around particular areas, and this will discourage them from spreading to new areas, which is the whole point of the release scheme.

I don't know if this fear is justified, but presumably there has been some research before they put out the advice. So, yes I think there is a difference between feeding a common species such as a Blue Tit, and a species you are hoping will spread like the Red Kite,

Colin
 
ColinD said:
...spreading to new areas, which is the whole point of the release scheme.
Click to expand...
That does seem to be implied, but that's also one of the reasons why I'm not sure there is an issue.

(OK, perhaps there is an issue, but I'm not sure this is the right reason.)

100 birds in 100 sq. miles or 100 birds in 10000 sq. miles is still 100 birds, isn't it???
 
Mmmm still remain unconvinced by the "Do not feed the birds" arguements...
Like it or not Britain is now an unnatural and densely populated landscape (particularly lowland England) from Bird Tables to Tips, Road Kills to Farmyards so many foodsources are unnaturally modified by or provided by man.
Encouraging the Red Kites to disperse is an admirable objective, but I feel the argument:-Readily available local foodsource prevents dispersal is too shallow an argument. Surely density of Breeding Territories and available nesting sites would be more of a governing factor.
Besides...if the apeal and enjoyment the Kites offer was not a motivator behind the re-introduction then why were not far rarer Breeding Birds chosen? Spotted Crake, Marsh Warbler, Golden Oriole all spring to mind??? It is obviously the appeal of raptors as a group of birds which has lead to so much study and conservation effort being devoted to them over the years!
 
Birds were released in England and Scotland because there was no sign of the Welsh population recolonising the rest of the UK under its own steam.

Presumably the hope is that the populations in the Chilterns, east Midlands, Yorkshire and Scotland will eventually spread out to fill in the gaps.

Anything which discourages the birds from spreading out therefore goes against the original plan.

I'm not necessarily a supporter of the release scheme, but as I understand it that was the thinking behind it. Of course if the Welsh population didn't spread out, why should the reintroduced birds?

With regard to Spotted Crake, Marsh Warbler and Golden Oriole, they do all migrate here, but there is something environmental stopping them becoming established, which would probably cause reintroduced birds to fail. Of course the same could be said of the recent reintroduction of Corncrake.

--
Andy
 
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Jason I agree in theory about no difference between feeding blue tits and kites, but let's be honest, how many blue tits feed on a dead chicken? If we are going to start leaving all sorts of meat around the garden gawd knows what other creatures will be attracted to it!
 
"If we are going to start leaving all sorts of meat around the garden gawd knows what other creatures will be attracted to it!"

Oh no...surely not escaped Pumas and Black panthers in my back yard

Hehehe
 
"Oh no...surely not escaped Pumas and Black panthers in my back yard"

huh...they're just chicken feed, you ain't seen the tigers and lions that roam around these parts.... 8-P
 
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