[coydog]

If you want to feed birds, the best way to go about it IMO is to scatter a widely dispersed handful of seed over the ground every couple of days. That way, there's not a huge concentrated amount in one place to draw other animals, not enough to sit and rot and the birds hop all over looking for it, treating it as a pleasant windfall among other things they gather (as opposed to getting dependent on a feeder) and ensuring that they aren't clustered too closely together. You'll still get the birds, just not in a way that conditions their behavior in a detrimental manner or puts them at significant risk.

[Hodar]

.... and two and a half times as much as they spent on food for needy nations.

Feed a wild bird, and you have the beauty and grace of a semi-tamed bird to share with the family. Send food to a needy-country and we can watch them as they shoot and kill soldiers; riot, loot and kidnap, kill rescue workers, then commit acts of terrorism and then blame us for thier actions. I'll take my chances with the 5 Cardinals and 3 BlueJays outside of my home.

[SamAdams76]

My son got a bird-feeder for the yard but all I ever see is squirrels hanging off the thing upside down and a big pile of sunflower seed shells on the ground below.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

...and two and a half times as much as they spent on food for needy nations...

That alerted my BS METER when I read it - see below, which is just one source of US aid to needy nations...

Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development

Official Development Assistance (ODA) for 1999 and 2000
Click on column headings that are links to change sort order
		ODA in U.S. Dollars (Millions)			ODA as Percentage of GNP
	Country	1999	2000	2001	1999	2000	2001
1.	Denmark	1,733	1,664	1,599	1.01	1.06	1.01
2.	Norway	1,370	1,264	1,346	0.91	0.8	0.83
3.	Netherlands	3,134	3,075	3,155	0.79	0.82	0.82
4.	Luxembourg	119	116	142	0.66	0.7	0.8
5.	Sweden	1,630	1,813	1,576	0.7	0.81	0.76
6.	Belgium	760	812	866	0.3	0.36	0.37
7.	Switzerland	969	888	908	0.35	0.34	0.34
8.	France	5,637	4,221	4,293	0.39	0.33	0.34
9.	Ireland	245	239	285	0.31	0.3	0.33
10.	Finland	416	371	389	0.33	0.31	0.33
11.	United Kingdom	3,401	4,458	4,659	0.23	0.31	0.32
12.	Spain	1,363	1,321	1,748	0.23	0.24	0.3
13.	Germany	5,515	5,034	4,879	0.26	0.27	0.27
14.	Portugal	276	261	267	0.26	0.26	0.25
15.	New Zealand	134	116	111	0.27	0.26	0.25
16.	Austria	527	461	457	0.26	0.25	0.25
17.	Australia	982	995	852	0.26	0.27	0.25
18.	Japan	15,323	13,062	9,678	0.35	0.27	0.23
19.	Canada	1,699	1,722	1,572	0.28	0.25	0.23
20.	Greece	194	216	194	0.15	0.19	0.19
21.	Italy	1,806	1,368	1,493	0.15	0.13	0.14
22.	United States	9,145	9,581	10,884	0.1	0.1	0.11

[Ditter]

My bad.

[thepitts]

mmmmm...cardinals and blue jays.

[dasboot]

The "gold ring" for me is a hawk swooping in and taking a bird, with me sitting front-row. Nature rocks!

[tubebender]

First they tell us the greedy farmer is planting fence to fence leaving no weedy plants for birds and now we're bad for feeding the hungry birds. Now what do I do with the 150 pounds of bird seed in my garage. and about the rats...that's what my Sheridan pellet gun is for.

[steveo]

All the world seems in tune
On a spring afternoon,
When we're poisoning pigeons in the park.
Ev'ry Sunday you'll see
My sweetheart and me,
As we poison the pigeons in the park.

When they see us coming, the birdies all try an' hide,
But they still go for peanuts when coated with cyanide.
The sun's shining bright,
Ev'rything seems all right,
When we're poisoning pigeons in the park.
- Lehrer

[csvset]

Birdseed-industry officials acknowledge that disease, predators and window collisions around feeders kill birds

Hah! The other day about 15 birds flew onto my back porch to feed on the dog's food. Our 13 year old cat couldn't resist and {WHAM!}, he tried jumping through the sliding glass door. He bloodied his nose in the effort.

Later that night, our other cat caught and killed a mouse underneath our bird feeder. I'd say nature has a way of evening things out.

[LurkerNoMore!]

I know some extortionist birds that are gonna be pretty mad when they read about this!

[NorthGA]

I have several Absolute bird feeders - with a counter-weighted seed cover that can be set by weight. When a heavy bird such as a blue Jay or squirrel hops on, the seed opening slams shut. The blue jays still get food, but they have to be quick! Most give up. This gives us lots of finches, cardinals, etc.

I do miss having squirrels to practice my pellet gun skills with.

[Brett66]

At the Millerton Agway gardening center in Millerton, N.Y., birdseed virtually flies out of the store in wintertime, says manager Paul O'Neil.

I thought he would get a better job than that after resigning. ;-)

[Fzob]

I like feeding the birds in my backyard. They are interesting critters, fun to watch and cause no real damage to my property. The cats also seem to view the birdfeeder was a bait station, as I find one or two presents a month on the back porch from the cats.

[Vinnie]

I'm an occasional birder, my son in Co. is 6 steps above an avid birder.

I feed them seeds, thistle, and suet. Can't imagine not helping them out. After last weeks ice storm they were hungry, flocking to my feeders.

My 'thing' is red-headed woodpeckers. They are uncommon nowadays.
Last year I had one at my feeder for several weeks. She then brought 2 young with her ( their heads are brown). That was exciting.

My son in Co. is into photographing them. He has become quite good. If I had a website I'd post one or two.

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

My response to this article is: BULL***T!

[FITZ]

With their handouts of food, they helped create huge populations of so-called welfare wildlife.

The article is fairly true ---welfare isn't really ever a good thing, it just creates dependency and increased populations of the dependent types.

[Hot Tabasco]

I've got thistle feeders which supply the demands of a bunch of goldfinches and a feeder on the back deck which supplies a flock of approx. 15 doves daily as well as a bunch of purple finches. The damn doves are eating me out of house and home. I now buy 50 lb. bags of safflower to keep them satisfied. All things being equal, I enjoy watching them sit on my back railings between eating times and waiting for me to refill the feeders when they are empty.......

[topher]

I have to disagree with the article. My former Landlady has a feeder, but she has a "forest" for a backyard. She naturally has possums and raccoons in her yard because of the dense ivy and many trees as well as a deep drainage ditch.

I have one for my apartment on my 2nd story porch -- which cats cannot get to or other wild animals.

Where I live is on the border of a dense forest -- my former Landlady just has many, many tall trees and thick growth in her yard and surrounding yards. I actually within about 50 feet of a forest (and it may be part of a National Forest -- not sure who owns the land).

[Uncle Sausage]

Anyone else notice that NIGER seed is now spelled NYJER? Did Trent Lott have anything to do with this?