Birdfeeders Can Both Help And Harm Bird Populations

Science Daily ^ | 4-7-2008 | Ecological Society of America

[exit82]

Thanks for the article, blam.

I just took down my bird feeders. I don’t know how I could have been so insensitive to these creatures of the wing.

I’m just going to shoot them so they don’t have to suffer anymore.

[Jeff Chandler]

[An allegory for Welfare]

[VR-21]

Aw hell. My guns, my birdfeeders, my two-cycle outboard.....can I do one friggin’ thing right?

[meowmeow]

But feeding is a complex business and can lead birds to make poor decisions later in life.

Add to list of world's problems that are meowmeow's fault:

Bad bird judgment

[lormand]

"I’m just going to shoot them so they don’t have to suffer anymore."

My feeders attract rats. So, recently I put a laser on my .22 air rifle because in dark conditions, my scope was not good enough.

I love to paint a laser on a rat, almost as much as I love killing them.

[Jeff Chandler]

I’m just going to shoot them

"Whack the birds
Tuppence a round..."

[GOPJ]

Beautiful birds - like beautiful flowers - trick us into taking care of them. It’s a good thing.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

I keep a little patch of weeds to draw mourning doves. They eat the seeds.

The neighbors hate me.

[exit82]

Good thing. The world never seems to run out of rats, does it?

[RightWhale]

Only the small birds, finch, orioles, wren. The jays can’t deal with the finch feeder. Neither can the squirrels and woodpeckers. Win-win

[AprilfromTexas]

LOL, it’s amazing those poor little birds have survived this long!

[WashingtonSource]

Just another article to put “man” in a bad light. Take it with a grain of salt.

[YHAOS]

I see a host of city ordinances coming on. Birdfeeders must be regulated.

[ChocChipCookie]

But feeding is a complex business and can lead birds to make poor decisions later in life.

ROFL Like what? Smoking weed? Unprotected sex? Driving an SUV???

[Amelia]

Counter-intuitively, the presence of feeders has been associated with lower levels of predation by domestic cats.

I'd like to see that study. We enjoy watching the birds, but took our feeders down because the neighbor's cats were spending too much time underneath them.

[irishtenor]

***Attractive feeders can become ecological traps, encouraging birds to settle in an area that cannot support them once supplemental feeding has stopped.***

Oh, dear, an ecological trap. If only the birds could fly away! Poor birds, stuck in a vortex of free seed and suet, that, if it were to disappear, would cause widespread death and calamity. Oh why won’t they fly away and be FREE???

[oh8eleven]

But feeding is a complex business and can lead birds to make poor decisions later in life.
Just like the welfare system. Who knew?

[Uncle Meat]

I don’t have to worry about that.I can’t keep the damn squirrels out of my feeders.They always figure out a way to get to them no matter what I do.One day I did get a payback.One of them had tried to scurry up a pole I just set up and it had fire ants crawling on it.All of a sudden it was a squealing and flipping around as he was getting bitten by the ants.It was so funny,I wish I had my video camera handy.

[HangThemHigh]

"I keep a little patch of weeds to draw mourning doves. They eat the seeds."

Could you plant a bigger patch next year? The doves here are eating all my sunflower seeds. And I've got a whole yard full of weeds they won't touch.