Feeding Wild Birds?? (1 Viewer)

Through reading the messages on the Forum since I became a member a few weeks ago I am struck by the number of references to feeding wild birds on a regular basis all year round. There have been several mentions from both UK, USA and Canada indicating that it is a normal thing to put feed out for birdsall year round.

I am in Australia where "the Powers That Be" frown very severly on feeding wildbirds on a regular basis. I am guilty of putting out a meagre amount of birdseed about twice a week for the first lucky takers but have long since stopped giving anything to the Kookaburras because of their aggressive habit of assuming their right to take any food anywhere at any time. One audacious individual took a sandwich out of my hand as I was raising it to my mouth! We have to be very careful not to leave the BBQ unattended otherwise it will be raided by these intrepid thieves.

But apart from that I would be interested to hear comments from people in other countries regarding the accepted attitude towards regular feeding. :frog:
Nancy

I think in the UK the feeding of birds is an accepted practice ,wether in summer or in winter.Certainly winter feeding stations have helped declining species such as Tree sparrow & Yellowhammer.

We live in Jersey, a fairly small island between Britain and France. The feeding of wild birds in gardens is very common here, in fact not to do so in a hard winter would almost be considered bad citizenship.

I was interested to hear your comments about Kookaburras being aggresive. We have a similar problem with seagulls (not at bird feeding stations where the food on offer is I guess too small for them) stealing sandwiches and ice-creams from people munching while sitting on the beach or even walking along the street. This has only occurred in about the last decade which I think proves that birds' behaviour is not only driven by their genes but also by learnt behaviour.

Regards
Harry

Wild bird feed can be purchased in any supermarket in the U.S. so it is at least officially sanctioned and profitable. I have seen signs in wilderness areas and national forests discouraging feeding of birds and wildlife in general however.

I feed hummers year round on my front porch with no ethical concerns.

I feed year round as well and it is a fully acceptable practice. In hard winters that we normally have here, it really seems to help. If times are easy and the birds don't need the extra food, they just don't come to the feeders.
We too can have problems with gulls being aggressive though but I can't think of any others that would be like that.

The only 'warning' I've heard in the UK is that you shouldn't make whole peanuts available to birds in the spring as they may feed them to nestlings and choke them.
We don't have too many birds that will 'attack' you for food here. I know that black kites will grab food from you in India and I believe that keas (if I've got the name right) will take food from people in NZ.
Hand reared birds that lose their fear of people might be more aggressive, I guess (but how often does that happen in practice?).
I am not convinced that feeding birds in summer actually helps them but it shouldn't harm them--and it's nice to see them in the garden. I filled a feeder yesterday with sunflower kernels and it's nearly empty already, so it can be an expensive habit!!
Niger seed (that goldfinches love) costs even more--I have to admit that I'm pretty stingey with it.

Hmmm, I wonder how the balance of species is affected? Do the 'nut-eaters' outweigh the insect-eaters in areas where people put out the bags of nuts and seed ? Does anybody feed the insect-eaters? I don't know which species eat what 'over there' but surely there are some species that eat the flying or leaf-dwelling insects and I think they may well be the under priviledged members of the bird society in places where nearly everybody puts out food 'for the birds'.
Questions;
1. What is the most common food type put out?
2. How often do you put it out?
3. How many people in your street/area put out the same type of food.
4. How many SPECIES come to the feeding station and how many individuals of each species.
5. Are there other species around that do not utilise the feeding station and are they as numerous as the ones that do use the feeding station.

I am really getting out of my depth here, I am not a professional or scientific type at all; just a normal common or garden birdwatcher with a curious mind. Would some other person like to take this subject up?

Hi Nancy, I'm not that scientific either but I do have opinions!
I think that feeding birds in the summer makes very little difference to them... after all we've got a lot of fields around here full of wildflowers and insects. But it does enhance our enjoyment of the birds!
Putting up feeders in winter is a different matter--I'm sure it helps birds to survive. Of course there are still wild seeds and berries in winter but they can be much harder to find. Many of our insectivorous birds leave the UK in winter (how sensible of them!) and head for warmer climates where there are more insects.
I believe that some birds change their diet in winter so that they will be less dependent on insects.
Putting up feeders helps sparrowhawks as they know where their prey will be feeding.
We try and garden organically so that we'll have as many insects and other forms of wildlife in our garden as possible--we've even stopped using slug pellets since we learned that birds and frogs can be poisoned by eating the affected molluscs. Obviously, more insects is good for the birds.
In short, I don't think feeding birds is likely to have a detrimental effect on those species which are not fed--but I'm sure someone will come up with a contrary view!

1. seeds,`specially sunflower and nuts, `specially peanuts. But generally live food,such as mealworms, are becoming popular.

2 for me, there is never an empty bird table or feeder!

3 my next door neighbour does! Out of the 40 houses on my street, i can confirm that at least 9 feed the birds. Which is almost one in 4 houses. Which is within the home range of all species.

4 Actually feeding in my garden(does sparrowhawk count...he did feed in my garden) ive had around 35-ish species. Obviously some only come rarely and some mroe commonly. And some only in winter..others all year round.

5 The wren and goldcrest very rarely come to bird tables, except in hard winters. I find that wrens can be the most commonly heard bird and goldcrests(becuase they breed next door) can be commnoly seen. Also...hirundines and swifts feed in,around and above gardens, and because they are colonial can be in great numbers

surreybirder> i think its the BTO that researched mortality rates of garden birds. And during april and may food shortages can occur and they found that greenfinches have their highest death rates during these months.

Very interested to hear Seb_Seb's comment about greenfinches having no natural food in April and May - what have we seen arriving at our bird table in the last few weeks? Yeup, lots and lots of greenfinches which we don't normally see there at other times of the year.

Nancy asks about the number of species attracted to feeding stations and the number of each species. Over time we've seen about 16 - 18 species at "the trough" in our garden, how many of each is something we've often discussed. Is it just a few greedy creatures or lots of birds enjoying a snack while passing through.

We do get regularly viisted by greater spotted woodpeckers, a species we find easier to distinguish between individuals more than, say, blackbirds and we reckon that in the case of woodpeckers it's passing visits by a number of birds, not just one or two old faithfuls.

Regards
Harry

For several years now I've fed birds all the year round, but am now questioning whether this is the best strategy. (I find even the RSPB website a bit equivocal on the matter.)
I'm watching several recently arrived young starlings and sparrows in my garden, with their parents showing them how to go about feeding themselves. But I'm not sure if they are learning the full range of foraging skills that they need and which will stand them in good stead as adults; or just how to use tables, etc - all too easy maybe. I worry that they will grow up being mostly reliant and dependent on being fed by us.
Yes, I can see that maybe feeding up to the end of May will help adults feed themselves and their nestlings - a time of high demand for food. But from June to October 'natural' food supplies should be plentiful and shouldn't birds then be establishing their independence from human sources?
It's the over-dependency thing that worries me, but maybe unnecessarily.

Alan Hill

alan hill - Have to say thats a question I've never thought of.

Personally I'd have thought - in my far-from-expert opinion - the inbuilt natural instinct to find food would be strong enough to find it elsewhere if we suddenly stopped putting seed out.

Depends really I guess .... do birds actually 'learn' from their parents how & where to feed themselves ? and how much is it an instinct thing ?

I'm not very familiar with "Pommie" bird behavior. Do you have lots of agression at the feeding stations? Do the larger species chase off the smaller? Here the Aussie Honeyeater species can be very aggressive with the larger Red or Little Wattlebirds taking over the nectar feeding stations and eventually chasing all the smaller, usually more "desirable", species right out of that particular garden. They seem to form a patrol system and have a few birds on 'chase off duties' all day. They even chase of other non-nectar eating species too. One answer to this is to place wire netting over the food source so the smaller birds can get through but not the larger. When I put my birdseed out the first arrivals are usualy the Crimson Rosellas closely followed by King Parrots. They chase each other off in a friendly sort of way and I feel sure that each species gets a fair go at the food. The only other taker is the Common Bronzewing (pigeon sp) They are amusing as they waddle up the pathway slowly and wait for a space near the dish then fly up, raise one wing defensively and proceed to eat away. If any other bird comes near the wing is raised again showing the brightly coloured underwing pattern while the CB calmly goes on eating. When finished feeding they hop down onto the path again and usually waddle along to the water supply that is kept there all the time. We also have 2 or 3 Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo come occasionally. They arrive with a great screetch and raised crest sending all but the bravest birds scattering in all directions. I only put a small quantity of seed out and no more than twice weekly because I do not want them to become dependent on it as I am away a lot of the time. (As now while I am in Byron Bay; what I have described happens in southern Australia.) We don't have the severe winters here but
during the past summer (northern winter) we had severe drought problems with subsequent diminished natural food availabe so wallabies, possums and wombats were coming out of the bush into gardens and demolishing peoples carefully tended flowerbeds and who can blame them for that. I will have a search for any published study on the impact of artifically feeding birds in Aus and post the address if I can find one.
I am enjoying the Forum very much. I wish a few more Aussies would get on.

This is a very interesting thread, thanks for starting it Nancy. Out here, more people tend to feed birds in the winter only. Our winters are very dry, many trees lose their leaves, there is little fruit and virtually no seed around and fewer insects. Most of the food put out is, from what I can gather, seed - based. However quite a lot of people put out fruit as well, also bits of fat. The proportion of the entire population that puts out bird seed is very small indeed. In our street I seem to be the only one. I put feed out once a week, but the seed lasts the entire week normally. I put out smaller amounts of fruit as it tends to go bad quickly. Our seed-eating population on the whole seems to have larger numbers per species than many other types. If a carefully sized feeder is not provided, the doves will have all the seed in a relatively short time. Another species that take a lot of it are the weavers, but, if there is space, the two species seem to feed amicably together unless they invade one anothers'beak space'! However, there is a great deal of intraspecific competition amongst the weavers and they can become quite agressive towards one another. Bronze mannikins also frequently visit in small groupsbut seem to take it in turns- very interesting to watch all these different approaches.

Re all year round feeding?

Hi Nancy,I know about your magpies from my sister who spent a fair while in your wonderful country, she told me they are like hairgrips if you are eating alfresco, rather like seagulls in seaside resorts here in UK, but you do have other rather aggressive birds there as my Great Aunt, who married an Aussie national, said to me when I was very little. Sha said you couldn't feed them as they would do more harm than good but she loved to feed the "dickies" here in the british isles when she returned to her mothers failing health. I remember a lot of things she told me about your wonderful country, so I wish to welcome you to the forum at the same time. Nina.

B 3

I live in the eastern US and I do feed all year, however I make some modifications. I usually run out of sunflower seed in middle or late May. I then do not put out any sunflower seed out again until September. When spring and summer are here, I have hummingbird feeders, a fruit and jelly feeder, a suet feeder, and a finch feeder (nyjer seed) active. In fall and winter, I take down the fruit and jelly feeder as well as the hummingbird feeders and put the sunflower feeder back up. Birds that need protein should be able to get it from the insects available in spring and summer. The buds and blossoms also help. I have been planting things with birds in mind, so that helps things stay more natural than with only feeders. In winter, I feel that I am helping with survival. In summer, I only provide dessert. I also feel that feeding is helping to offset the continuing loss of proper habitat and natural feeding landscape. I am hoping that my feeders are offsetting the cutting of trees and loss of natural feeding areas.
I do feel that birds are total opportunists. They will go where the food is. If your feeders are empty, they will simply move on until food can be found. Feeding birds simply cuts down on their travel time.
The idea about the young being taught to eat at feeders rather than natural food is really food for thought (no pun intended, OK, I did it on purpose). Very interesting thread.

Thank you all for replying to this thread. I have found some sites regarding artificial feeding in Australia and also some from other countries but need a little time to sort them out. The one thing I did NOT find is a really thoroughly researched study on the effects of artificially feeding birds in any country.
I am no expert either at researching web sites or on any other subject and may have gotten myself way out of my depth here. But I will persevere until SHOT DOWN!!!!!

I didn't say what and frequency!

Silly me, too much waffle and no info, thats me.sorry.
I feed all year round, and find the foods that I put out vary throughout the year, recently I have had robin, blackbird and nuthatch eating mealworms, Insect eaters at this time of year, starlings love currants and sultanas, and this week the blackbirds have gone back to fruit, but the greenfinches and nuthatch take loads of sunflower seed, and I have found out that my robins are quite partial to seeds too, although they are regarded as insectivores, most of the birds like peanuts, but the species vary depending on the time of year, almost as if their needs vary so they only visit when they fancy what is on offer. It makes me think that they only appear when their food source is low and what I provide helps them out during their lows. Today has been a nuthatch day and it is coming in every few minutes, and flyiing off with odments of everything. Nina.

B

I agree that some birds only visit when natural food stocks are low,for instance in periods of heavy rain coniferous trees shut their pines cones it is then that you see birds such as siskin visiting nut bags.On the same thread one theory is that the red nut bags resemble pine cones & this another factor in attracting siskins.Some insect feeding birds such as the blackcap now winter in the uk & adapt their diet & are known to eat peanuts.