To Feed or Not to Feed
April 2, 2010 by Alan Burdick
I have an ambivalent relationship to my birdfeeder. For weeks at a time I’m a diligent provider, doling out the seed, beckoning every nuthatch and sapsucker within a two-mile radius. Then I slack off. The feeder swings empty, and I rationalize my neglect with a Darwinian argument: By feeding the birds, I only weaken their ability to survive in the wild, without me. I am lazy so they won’t be.
As it turns out, ecologists share my conflict. Feeding the birds is a popular habit: 43 percent of Americans (and 75 percent of Brits) do it, backed by a $4.5 billion dollar industry. That’s a lot of bird welfare. But to what end? Many studies have tackled the question, but comparing them — different species, different locations — is a challenge. Recently Gillian Robb and Stuart Bearhop, biologists at the University of Exeter, and their coauthors reviewed the literature; their conclusions are a mixed bag.
First the good news. Most studies have found that birds that visit feeders (especially in winter) eventually benefit. The adults breed earlier, which increases their odds of laying another clutch of eggs later in the season. When woodland birds have access to supplemental food, their chicks fledge in greater number, perhaps because feeder-fed moms can spend less time foraging and more time incubating and protecting eggs. Robb and her colleagues conducted a field experiment in which they set out birdfeeders for a species of titmouse. Their results were typical: by the second year, the fed birds were surviving longer, breeding earlier, and producing more young.
But for some birds the backyard buffet can become an ecological trap. Florida scrub jays that live near suburban feeders breed earlier — but doing so causes them to fall out of sync with the life cycles of the bugs they feed their chicks; the bird’s overall breeding success actually drops. In Finland, some titmouse populations are so dependent on winter feeders that their numbers can’t be sustained by natural sources alone.
Bird feeders also affect bird behavior, in unpredictable ways. One species (black-capped chickadees) becomes much less territorial, while another (Carolina wrens) become more so. A third (varied tits) is less likely to join mixed flocks — a habit thought to aid the search for food during lean times. Congregating at feeders may encourage the spread of avian diseases like mycoplasmal conjunctivitis, which has hit the American house finch in recent years. One recent study found that Europe’s blackcap warbler may be diverging into two separate species: one that spends the winter in Britain, thriving by the grace of birdfeeders, and a second that migrates south to Spain as it always has.
Our tons of food aid are surely reshaping food webs and bird ecology on a wide scale; what’s unclear is how. “You have to think that all this feeding has huge potential effects,” Bearhop says. One big unknown is how birdfeeders affect the many birds that don’t visit them. Jays and crows spend most of their time around human food sources (which may partly explain the rise in these birds’ numbers). But these birds — crows especially — also prey on other birds’ eggs, possibly depressing those populations. Bearhop wonders whether the unnaturally high numbers of birds that are drawn to, and breed near, winter feeders may deter spring migrants from returning. These areas then become dominated by fewer species, largely dependent on us. My welfare helps the birds that I see — but at the expense of which others?
Absent strong evidence of any negative impacts, Bearhop says he will continue to dutifully restock his own birdfeeder, and thinks you should too. His own interest in zoology was sparked in part by seeing birds close up at his boyhood feeder. “My feeling is, feeders are probably the way that most of the public engages with wildlife. This is one way that we gain that link back to where we all came from. In that sense, they perform a really important role.”
Personally, I’m sticking to my unreliable regimen. My birdfeeder is a paradox in a nutshell: I want and need nature, but I do not want it to need me; if it did it would feel unnatural. Given those terms, the best thing I can do for my birds is keep them on their toes.
Alan Burdick writes for numerous publications including The New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, GQ, and Natural History. His book Out of Eden: An Odyssey of Ecological Invasion was a 2005 National Book Awards finalist.
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23 Comments
What do you think? Leave a comment
May 18, 2010 by alma
u giez just dont now how to explain what to feed baby ducks
Reply
May 28, 2010 by past duck owner
baby ducks thrive on corn mash as do baby chicks. the hardware stores and the feed stores used to give away chicks and ducklings at easter time with the purchace of a certain amount of corn mash.
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June 17, 2010 by Bill Mullinax
we have several bird feeders and bird houses for several types of birds, including bluebirds,humming birds,and a few other types:: no bird visit our beautiful garden and facilities. any comments why no birds?
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June 21, 2010 by jay
what do white dove birds eat? can they have wild bird food? please give me ideas
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June 29, 2010 by martha allen
we have three feeders and had birds galore, then came this hawk that stays around, my husband put string around the feeders, enough they could get through and eat, but keep the hawk out. now the birds are fewer, would the string also effect them?, or maybe the time of year?
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August 1, 2010 by Ron
I lately hace been putting brown rice in my wild bird feed. Does rice harm birds.
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September 4, 2010 by jennifer
Yes rice dose harm birds, rice swells and if in a bird it will swell and kill it that is why we are not permitted to throw rice at weddings any more.
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August 3, 2010 by John
I have fed the birds for over twenty plus years and every year we lose fall migrants and our spring migrants return. Despite the Exeter label the report seems to be awash in pseudo science. This year is the very first time ever that we've had both Evening Grosbeaks and Black headed Grosbeaks at our feeders at the same time.
Many methods exist to lessen the avian disease issue contact your local bird experts for techniques to keep your feeding area clean.
Finches aside, our birds differ year to year. I have seen no change in migration habits of birds that feed at bird feeders but I have in species like Canada Goose.
Perhaps there are other factors at play? This is what I mean by pseudo science.
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August 14, 2010 by sandy
I enjoy seeing the birds in my feeders. I moved recently from an area with multiple species to area with almost none. I get house sparrows, finches, and some other boring species. I recently discovered the the house sparrows are vicous killers??? I read a site that it showed them killing bluebirds and destroying their nests. NOW I don't really want to feed them or have them at my feeders, BUT they are all I have except my few hummingbirds. My neighbors have trees where these birds are producing huge amount of chicks. i worked hard to plant trees and bushes in my yard to create a habitat for the birds. Now I don't even want them.?????
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August 27, 2010 by Nancy Van
When is the right time to stop feeding hummingbirds? I recently heard that you should stop feeding them the first part of Sept.. is that correct?
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August 31, 2010 by barbara
When is the right time to stop feeding hummingbirds? I recently heard that you should stop feeding them the first part of Sept. Is that correct?
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September 5, 2010 by Merddynn
Very cute article and pardon the pun but down to earth. I have heard that you should stop feeding humming birds at a certain time of year. I have no Idea if this is true for all hummers or not. I live in north Mississippi and fall has started what should I do? My lady and I really enjoy the birds as well as the lack of small spiders, and can be diligent when called upon to do so but didn't want to interfear with migration trends or get any of them stuck someplace they shouldn't be. Please respond. Merddynn
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September 6, 2010 by Diana Busby
This is the first of September and I have so many hummingbirds I can hardly keep enough feed out for them. I am afraid I am keeping them to long and they will die . What is the limit of time for leaving the necter out for them?
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September 15, 2010 by charles rudich, sr
my wife and I have 6 hummingbirds that feed at our house all summer long , we have lots of butterfly bushes and they like feed off them plus the 2 juice feeders. Do you know when to remove them for winter. we live in penna.and we think it's mid September please comment!
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September 14, 2010 by tom Turpin
when do you stop feeding humming birds Maryland
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November 1, 2010 by tom mccarthy
Started feeding birds 8 mo's ago ... feeder was busy all the time ... then stopped for about 4 weeks .. now the birds don't come near the feeder.?
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