Many people have bird feeders and enjoy watching birds in their own yard. It’s an easy and fun hobby and boosts the birds’ survival during winter. But I’ve also had people who were nature averse tell me, “birds are scary” or “birds are dirty.”
So why feed birds and attract them to your home? Other than enjoying their beauty, it’s a small way of replacing the food and habitat resources that your house has replaced and offers a measure of protection.
Birds are in trouble. A recent report showed a huge decline in bird populations over the last several decades of three billion across North America, an overall decline of 29 percent from 1970.
Many causes are implicated from habitat loss to development and agriculture, to pesticides directly impacting bird health or killing the insects they depend on as food. Building collisions and kills by feral and free-roaming cats also significant causes.
The strongest protection birds have enjoyed until now is the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 with partners Canada, Mexico, Russia, and Japan.
The US Fish and Wildlife formerly used it to force industries to come up with new or alternate technologies that prevented bird deaths like new wind turbine structures, lighting on towers, and natural gas flame emissions. They have also used it to fine companies for disasters like the Exxon Valdez and Deepwater Horizon oil spills that killed hundreds of thousands of birds.
The current administration has recently proposed a change to that law that would essentially eliminate federal protection. A 2017 interpretation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act meant that companies were no longer subject to prosecution or fines even after a bird killing disaster like Deepwater Horizon.
The new proposal would codify that opinion into law, making it harder to change in the future. It would drop the threat of any punishment for incidental bird killing, which is the basic underpinning for leveraging companies into better technology or best management practices.
It would also drop fines for illegal acts such as incidental bird kills by the use of a banned pesticide if killing birds was not the primary intent. Six conservation groups and eight states have sued to block the legal opinion that justifies this regulatory change. Comment by the public is open on this change until mid-March, www.regulations.gov under “What’s Trending”, fifth item down.
Despite the bad news, some bird species have stayed stable or increased, mostly waterfowl because of strong support from hunting groups to preserve habitat. Feeding birds in your backyard is a small way of assisting birds.
What you chose to feed and the kind of feeder will also drive who shows up. The favorite seed choice of the usual suspect feeder birds is black oil sunflower. Number two is white millet. If you feed a mix, make sure those are the first ingredients. Red milo and cracked corn are much less attractive and often end up as waste.
Specialty seed choices are safflower which discourages non-native species like house sparrows and starlings. Niger or thistle seed attracts finches and requires a special feeder for the tiny seeds. The seeds are sterilized before the sale and will not result in thistles in your yard. Dried mealworms are a boon to insect-eaters like Carolina wrens that have recently expanded their winter range north onto Long Island. If there is an issue with seed shell waste accumulating, there are shelled seeds available that produce little leftover.
Suet brings in the woodpeckers and other birds like chickadees and nuthatches. Homemade suet treats are a simple project that all ages can do. Many recipes are online, and the primary ingredients are melted lard, peanut butter, cornmeal (so the mixture isn’t too sticky) and any add-ins like chopped unsalted nuts, chopped dried unsweetened fruit, or those tasty mealworms. Homemade suet is best as a winter treat since it is not temperature stable. Summer stable suet blocks are available commercially in most nurseries, hardware stores, and bird specialty shops.
All feeders have plus and minus, and you may want a variety eventually. Platform feeders are accessible to all types of birds, even ground feeders like mourning doves. But they are more exposed to rain and snow and birds you may not want to attract. Tube feeders attract the smaller birds but can spread conjunctivitis among house finches and goldfinches. House or hopper feeders can also exclude larger birds but need to be sealed so water doesn’t get into the seed. There are a variety of protected suet feeders on the market that won’t allow a flock of a starling to devour a block in 10 minutes. All feeders need to be cleaned on a regular basis.
But hanging out a feeder is not always enough. If your yard doesn’t have enough cover – shrubs, and trees – for birds to feel safe from predators like hawks or cats, they may not come despite the tasty menu. Next time, how to garden to support birds and the environment.
