American Backyard Feeders May Do Harm to Wild Birds

The Wall Street Journal ^ | Friday, December 27, 2002 | JAMES P. STERBA

[TroutStalker]

Last year, Americans spent $2.6 billion on birdseed. That's more than twice as much as they spent on prepared baby food, and two and a half times as much as they spent on food for needy nations. They shelled out a further $733 million on feeders, houses and baths for birds.

[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.

[TroutStalker]

Do those figures include all aid such as medical, military, economic development, debt relief, etc. not just food?

[exit82]

Good catch. The other trigger for the BS Meter was when he said 98 million to one billion birds die crashing into windows. If that were true, we wouldn't be able to walk on the sidewalks. That's a lot of birds.

[groanup]

"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"

My in-laws gave us a bird feeder with a unique twist. It has a large metal ring orbiting the bottom. When something as heavy as a squirrel gets on it, it vibrates violently. The squirrel does a triple gainer with couple of twists and hits the ground.

[ErnBatavia]

"Feed me...now!"

[Oldeconomybuyer]

I don't know for sure, but suspect that's just one budget item in our overall foreign aid expenditures and does NOT include charitable contributions by individual Americans.

I'm sure our total spending on the "needy" is many times more than that of bird feed. I'm also sure the author is a moron and their editor is asleep.

[Fiddlstix]

I'm sure our total spending on the "needy" is many times more than that of bird feed. I'm also sure the author is a moron and their editor is asleep.

Well said

[cubreporter]

Oh yes, Blue Birds, Chicadees, Robins, Jays, Finches and the like. Our yard is officially declared a Wildlife Habitat. WE get an occasional squirrel but that's it. The birds are beautiful and much better to look at than the nightly news. Like you, we will take our chances with the birds. They are most appreciative and bring great joy to all of us who watch them. Oh and yes, we have the hummingbird feeders for summer also. My husband always begins to look for these beautiful little creatures in May and is saddened when they leave us in the fall. God gave us the birds to enjoy and we'll thank the rest of those naysayers to say out of our backyards!!!!!!!!!!

Seems there's always someone trying to put the damper on activities that have been enjoyed for years and years. Now along comes an article like this. To me it is silly, and just another thing to gripe about or tell us we are doing something wrong.

We'll continue to responsibly feed and enjoy our birds and hope you do to. :)

[Williams]

I was waiting to get to the part where birdfeeders are responsible for the North Korean nuclear program. I suppose if we would just divert the birdseed fortune into fuel oil we could calm the Koreans and also spare Mother Earth the wanton devastation being wrought by sunflower seeds.

[thepitts]

mmmmm...cardinals and blue jays.

[toddst]

My in-laws gave us a bird feeder with a unique twist. It has a large metal ring orbiting the bottom. When something as heavy as a squirrel gets on it, it vibrates violently. The squirrel does a triple gainer with couple of twists and hits the ground.

Squirrrels are destructive fuzzy-tailed rats IMO. They will strip your birdfeeders of sunflowers and suet if not "controlled" so we employ various methods to discourage them from visiting our yard.

We enjoy our Cardinals, Blue Jays, Chickadees, Yellow-Finches Nuthatches and various Woodpeckers. We don't enjoy squirrels and discourage their presence, keep them at bay.

Yes, there are some bird crashes into windows, but few are fatal. Cats catch none of our birds because the feeders are out in the open, where the cats cannot sneak up on the birds. A litle common sense goes a long way.

We'll decide what we do in feeding birds, regardless of what some "expert" says. We enjoy watching the birds, feed them twelve months a year and take pleasure in each new generation that grows up knowing our yard is a friendly place with a dependable food supply.

[exit82]

You singlehandedly just caused me to remove my birdfeeder and those of ten of my closest neighbors. Yikes! I'm cured!

[SAMWolf]

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.

Amen.

[dasboot]

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

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

Most food aid sent to 3rd world countries ends up either rotting, used as a weapon by political enemies or encourages over-population which starts the cycle all over again.

I'm a pragmatic conservative.

Let nature take it's course.

Survival of the fittest.

Intelligent humans have adapted to many adversities.

Mugabe, Castro and Kim Eel Jung only think they are smart.

They all rule through the barrel of a gun.