Bird feeding is the activity of feeding wild birds, often by means of bird feeders. With a recorded history dating to the 6th century, [1] the feeding of wild birds has been encouraged and celebrated in the United States and United Kingdom, with it being the United States' second most popular hobby having National Bird-Feeding Month congressionally decreed in 1994. Various types of food are provided by various methods; certain combinations of food and method of feeding are known to attract certain bird species.
The feeding of wild birds has been shown to have possible negative as well as positive effects; while a study in Sheffield, England found that the abundance of garden birds increased with levels of bird feeding, multiple reports suggest that bird feeding may have various negative ecological effects and may be detrimental to the birds being fed, including increased risk of predatory action and malnutrition. It has been estimated that American adults spend approximately US$3.8 billion a year on food, feeders and related accessories.
The British naturalist James Fisher wrote that the first person recorded as feeding wild birds was the 6th-century monk Saint Serf of Fife who tamed a robin by feeding it.
During the harsh winter of 1890–1891 in the United Kingdom national newspapers asked people to put out food for birds, and in 1910 in the United Kingdom, Punch magazine declared that feeding birds had become a national pastime. [2]
Today in the United Kingdom, most people feed year-round, and enough food is provided to support the calorie requirements of the 10 most common garden bird species. [3] Bird feeding has grown into the United States' second most popular hobby behind gardening. [4] In celebration of the bird feeding hobby, February was named National Bird-Feeding Month by congressional decree in 1994. [5]
Certain foods tend to attract certain birds. [6] Finches and siskin are attracted by niger (nyger or nyjer), [7] and jays prefer maize. Hummingbirds, sunbirds and other nectivorous birds seek nectar. Mixed seed and black-oil sunflower seed is favoured by many seed-eating species due to its high fat content and thin casing. In Australia, meat, especially raw beef mince (or ground beef), is commonly fed to wild carnivorous birds such as Australian magpies and kookaburras. [8] Birds such as white-eyes, barbets, and certain thrushes will consume fresh and cut fruit. Different feeders can be purchased specialized for different species. It is not only small birds that are attracted by bird feeding. In some urban areas of the UK, red kites are fed chicken and table scraps in gardens. [9] [10]
Most common birds can be fed using peanuts, seed, coconut (but never desiccated coconut) or fat (but not oils that are liquid at room temperature) using a variety of feeders. [7]
After a station is established, it can take some weeks for birds to discover and start using it. [11] This is particularly true if the feeding station is the first one in an area or (in cold-winter areas) if the station is being established in spring when natural sources of food are plentiful. Food, particularly unshelled foods, such as thistle seed and suet, left uneaten for too long may spoil. [12] Birds also require a source of drinking water and a birdbath can attract birds as a feeding station.
In North America, suet can be used to attract a variety of birds that may not reliably visit a bird feeder containing seeds. In Texas, all common species of woodpeckers will use a suet feeder year-round. [ citation needed ] In winter, yellow-rumped and orange-crowned warblers, golden-crowned kinglets and northern flickers could visit. In spring, northern oriole and other warblers may also visit.[ citation needed ]
A study conducted in Sheffield, England, found that the abundance of garden birds increased with levels of bird feeding. This effect was only apparent in those species that regularly take supplementary food, raising the possibility that bird feeding was having a direct effect on bird abundance. In contrast, the density of feeding stations had no effect on the number of different bird species present in a neighbourhood. [13]
The use of bird feeders has been claimed to cause environmental problems; some of these were highlighted in a front-page article in The Wall Street Journal . [14]
Prior to the publication of The Wall Street Journal article, Canadian ornithologist Jason Rogers also wrote about the environmental problems associated with the use of bird feeders in the journal Alberta Naturalist . [15] In this article, Rogers explains how the practice of feeding wild birds is inherently fraught with negative impacts and risks such as fostering dependency, altering natural distribution, density and migration patterns, interfering with ecological processes, causing malnutrition, facilitating the spread of disease and increasing the risk of death from cats, pesticides, hitting windows and other causes. In the UK, introduced eastern gray squirrels can consume significant volumes of food intended for birds. [16] An experimental study providing supplementary food during the breeding season found that predation levels by corvids and eastern gray squirrels were higher when nests were located in close proximity to filled feeders. [17]
In a paper in the journal Oecologia , it was reported that feeding of blue tits and great tits with peanut cake over a long time period significantly reduced brood size. This was driven by smaller clutch sizes in both species and lower hatching success rates for blue tits. [18] Studies by the University of Freiburg and Environment Canada found that blackcaps migrating to Great Britain from Germany had become adapted to eating food supplied by humans. In contrast blackcaps migrating to Spain had bills adapted to feeding on fruit such as olives. [19]
Providing supplementary food at feeding stations may also change interactions with other species. Aphids [20] and carabid beetles [21] are more likely to be predated by birds near bird feeders.
Large sums of money are spent by ardent bird feeders, who indulge their wild birds with a variety of bird foods and bird feeders. Over 55 million Americans over the age of 16 feed wild birds and spend more than $3 billion a year on bird food, and $800 million a year on bird feeders, bird baths, bird houses and other bird feeding accessories. [22] The activity has spawned an industry that sells supplies and equipment for the bird feeding hobby.
In some cities or parts of cities (e.g. Trafalgar Square in London [23] ) feeding pigeons is activity discouraged by government, either because they compete with vulnerable native species, or because they abound and cause pollution and/or noise.[ citation needed ]
The American goldfinch is a small North American bird in the finch family. It is migratory, ranging from mid-Alberta to North Carolina during the breeding season, and from just south of the Canada–United States border to Mexico during the winter.
Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 366 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but most species are found in Central and South America. About 28 hummingbird species are listed as endangered or critically endangered, with numerous species declining in population.
The red kite is a medium-large bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as eagles, buzzards, and harriers. The species currently breeds only in Europe, though it formerly also bred in west Asia and northwest Africa. Historically, it was only resident in the milder parts of its range in western Europe and northwestern Africa, whereas all or most red kites in northern mainland Europe wintered to the south and west, some also reaching western Asia, but an increasing number of northern birds now remain in that region year-round. Vagrants have reached north to Finland and south to Israel, Libya and Gambia.
The tits, chickadees, and titmice constitute the Paridae, a large family of small passerine birds which occur mainly in the Northern Hemisphere and Africa. Most were formerly classified in the genus Parus.
A wildlife garden is an environment created with the purpose to serve as a sustainable haven for surrounding wildlife. Wildlife gardens contain a variety of habitats that cater to native and local plants, birds, amphibians, reptiles, insects, mammals and so on, and are meant to sustain locally native flora and fauna. Other names this type of gardening goes by can vary, prominent ones being habitat, ecology, and conservation gardening.
The Eurasian blue tit is a small passerine bird in the tit family, Paridae. It is easily recognisable by its blue and yellow plumage and small size.
The great tit is a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. It is a widespread and common species throughout Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and east across the Palearctic to the Amur River, south to parts of North Africa where it is generally resident in any sort of woodland; most great tits do not migrate except in extremely harsh winters. Until 2005 this species was lumped with numerous other subspecies. DNA studies have shown these other subspecies to be distinct from the great tit and these have now been separated as two distinct species, the cinereous tit of southern Asia, and the Japanese tit of East Asia. The great tit remains the most widespread species in the genus Parus.
The eastern gray squirrel, also known, particularly outside of North America, as simply the grey squirrel, is a tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus. It is native to eastern North America, where it is the most prodigious and ecologically essential natural forest regenerator. Widely introduced to certain places around the world, the eastern gray squirrel in Europe, in particular, is regarded as an invasive species.
A birdfeeder, bird table, or tray feeder is a device placed outdoors to supply bird food to birds. The success of a bird feeder in attracting birds depends upon its placement and the kinds of foods offered, as different species have different preferences.
The rainbow lorikeet is a species of parrot found in Australia. It is common along the eastern seaboard, from northern Queensland to South Australia. Its habitat is rainforest, coastal bush and woodland areas. Six taxa traditionally listed as subspecies of the rainbow lorikeet are now treated as separate species.
The flight zone of an animal is the area surrounding an animal that if encroached upon by a potential predator or threat, including humans, will cause alarm and escape behavior. The flight zone is determined by the animal's flight distance, sometimes called flight initiation distance (FID) which extends horizontally from the animal and sometimes vertically. It may also be termed escape distance, alert distance, flush distance, and escape flight distance.
Zoophily, or zoogamy, is a form of pollination whereby pollen is transferred by animals, usually by invertebrates but in some cases vertebrates, particularly birds and bats, but also by other animals. Zoophilous species frequently have evolved mechanisms to make themselves more appealing to the particular type of pollinator, e.g. brightly colored or scented flowers, nectar, and appealing shapes and patterns. These plant-animal relationships are often mutually beneficial because of the food source provided in exchange for pollination.
The chestnut-backed chickadee, formerly Parus rufescens, is a small passerine bird in the tit family, Paridae.
Bird food or bird seed is food intended for consumption by wild and domestic birds. While most bird food is fed to commercial fowl, bird food is also used to feed pet birds or to provide a feeding site for wild birds.
The white-winged dove is a dove whose native range extends from the Southwestern United States through Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. They are large for doves, and can be distinguished from similar doves by the distinctive white edge on their wings. They have a blue eyering, and red eyes. The plumage is brownish-gray to gray. Juveniles are duller in color, and have brown eyes. The call is likened to English phrase "who cooks for you". There are three subspecies. It was first described by George Edwards in 1743, and given its binomial name by Linnaeus in 1756. It was moved into the genus Zenaida in 1838.
The broad-billed hummingbird is a small-sized hummingbird that resides in Mexico and the southwestern United States. The bird displays sexual dimorphism, and the juveniles resemble the female adult more than the male adult. The broad-billed hummingbird is a bright coloured bird with a broad and bright red bill. The bird is also known for its other common names – the Colibrí Pico Ancho in Spanish and Colibri circé in French. It is a diurnal bird.
Urban wildlife is wildlife that can live or thrive in urban/suburban environments or around densely populated human settlements such as townships.
The National Bird-Feeding Society (NBFS) is an organization in the United States whose mission is to make the hobby of bird feeding better, both for people who feed wild birds and for the birds themselves. To fulfill its mission, the NBFS conducts research and promotes education on wild bird feeding
February is National Bird-Feeding Month in the United States. This celebratory month was created to educate the public on the wild bird feeding and watching hobby. Because of National Bird-Feeding Month, February has become the month most recognized with wild bird feeding promotions and activities.
A pollinator garden is a type of garden designed with the intent of growing specific nectar and pollen-producing plants, in a way that attracts pollinating insects known as pollinators. Pollinators aid in the production of one out of every three bites of food consumed by humans, and pollinator gardens are a way to offer support for these species. In order for a garden to be considered a pollinator garden, it should provide various nectar producing flowers, shelter or shelter-providing plants for pollinators, and avoid the use of pesticides.