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A trio of researchers from Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Edinburgh has found that people filling garden feeders have a pervasive and long-distance impact on bird populations. In their paper published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Jack Shutt, Urmi Trivedi and James Nicholls describe their study of bird droppings across parts of Scotland. Hanging bird feeders and filling them regularly has become a popular pastime in the U.K. as people sit and watch the birds that come to feed from them. But what impact does so much easy feeding have on the birds? Scientists...

With Spring just around the corner, at least here in the southeast, it's time to think about spending more time outdoors and making our yards and porches more pleasant places to be. FReepers have such a wide variety of interests and talents, I thought it might be fun and educational to do a thread for bird and garden enthusiasts. I see a fair amount of discussion on some of the threads about gardening and landscaping, but not too much that is specific to gardening for the birds. I've pretty much always had a bird feeder or two around, and that...