Backyard Bird Feeding

Is it cheating to claim life birds at a feeder? Most birders would say not. Many of my own life birds, especially those found in the winter, come from feeders. Just last winter I saw all three rosy-finches for the first time, gathered in a large flock on a platform feeder—Brown-capped, Gray-crowned, and a single soot-colored Black Rosy-finch. In fact, the summer before the rosy-finches I saw my first Band-tailed Pigeons at the same feeders, gathered in a large flock, the telephone wire upon which they sat sinking as more birds flew in.  Although feeder birds are still “wild”, have they been tainted by the human touch? In a Pennsylvania-based study of wintering Black-capped Chickadees, researchers found that feeders may impact the migration and survival rates of chickadees. They claim “supplemental feeding may have caused chickadees to settle earlier in the fall and move out later in the spring (Egan and Brittingham ).” They attribute the “positive effect of suburbanization on survival rates to the numerous bird feeders present in the suburban habitat (Egan and Brittingham)*.” We have become so concerned about our backyard birds, that bird feeding stores offer heated bird baths for the winter and squirrel bafflers to discourage competition. Naturally, all these aspects make a typically migratory bird reconsider his wintering grounds.

 

 

    Photo courtesy of Evan Barrientos

 

Or perhaps human interference isn’t “unnatural” at all. Perhaps we are a part of “nature”. If a beaver builds a dam, we say it is natural. But if humans begin construction of a house, we say this is unnatural, a destruction to the environment. What do you think? Is it ok to host a meal for our backyard friends or is this unnatural interference?

 

* Egan, Erica and Margaret Brittingham. "Winter Survival Rates of a Southern Population of Black-capped Chickadees." The Wilson Bulletin 1994 514-521. 02/11/2009 .

Comments

[John F Garrett]

Interesting topic. It seems to me that if we don't want to count birds that come to feeders just because they have been 'tainted' by human interference, there are many other birds we shouldn't count. For example, as pointed out by Mr. Howell, if early Europeans hadn't over-hunted Eurasian Sparrowhawks, the population of Lesser Whitethroats wouldn't be quite so large. What if that Lesser Whitethroat that turned up in Alaska was because of this? Arguably, wasn't that bird also 'tainted' by human interference?

[xxx]

I don't mind counting a life bird at a feeder. I don't like waiting for a bird to come to a feeder, that I want to see. Last December, I waited for a over two and half hours for a female Varied Thrush to show up at another birders back yard. Well, it never did and wasn't seen again. I have seen many Varied Thrushes before and even one in the county it was at, so it wasn't a big deal to me, on the other hand it was disappointing that it didn't show up for my friend, who hasn't seen one before.

[Chris W]

Personally, I don't mind counting life birds at feeders. I got my lifer Green-breasted Mango that way.

However, I won't count certain nemesis birds at feeders. "Certain nemesis birds" meaning Painted Bunting of course. :D

[Brendan]

In response to John, I think there are an infinite number of other examples. In addition to Lesser Whitethroats, take (most) Purple Martin, Whooping Crane and Kirtland's Warbler. Both leaning a bit heavily on us right now, each for a different reason. And then there are the birds who have been introduced, and the species they outcompete. And we also affect any bird that needs to land on a ship in a storm, fly around a skyscraper or find a new stopover site due to construction, etc.

Interesting topic!

[Ali Iyoob]

I think feeders are a great recourse, especially for beginners or for hummers, but I personally don't like to bird around them. I have chased rare birds at feeders and wouldn't have seen them otherwise.