Feeding the wild things: a meditation on the pros and cons

By BILL CHAISSON
Feeding the birds is an unnatural situation. While it is not unusual to see different species of birds feeding near each other in the wild, more different species and greater numbers of them end up clustered around bird feeders in the winter. This exposes them to several dangers. 

One of the dangers is simple predation. Whether it is a house cat or a Cooper’s hawk, predators are going to make a meal — or many meals — on birds at a feeder more easily than birds feeding in a natural setting. When several bird species are feeding in close proximity to one another, they are distracted by their concern over dangers posed by other diners. Blue jays, for example, are not predators per se, but they often attack smaller birds. Some other birds, like house sparrows and starlings, are simply aggressive and will drive other species away from food. With their attention divided by multiple threats, birds at a feeder at easier to pick off.

Feeders are also an opportunity for birds to pass along microbes and parasites. Anyone who has picked up a freshly dead bird and looked closely at it will witness the exodus of lice and other invertebrates from the now useless carcass. These arthropods can also easily jump from bird to bird at a feeder. But the real threat is microbial. All sorts of bacteria, viruses,and fungi can be passed from bird to bird if they are frequent and prolonged close proximity, a situation that does not often arise in the rest of the bird’s life (except near its nest; and they’re all relatives).

Finally, there is the danger from stress. Birds, as you may have noticed, are pretty tightly wound already. The last thing a bird needs is to be surrounded by threats for as long as it takes for it to take the edge off its hunger. In really bad weather, when snow is deep and other sources of forage spots are few and far between, the network of feeders in an area can become the primary source of food for the wintering birds. Imagine that the attendant behind the counter at a local grocery store is one of your least favorite people in the world and yet his store is the only place you can buy groceries. That is probably a pale shadow of the kind of stress that some birds feel about foraging at feeding stations.

Having said all this, feeding the birds during the winter is probably on balance a net gain for the local bird populations. All the above might be true, but the fact that some birds, like cardinals and tufted titmice, have extended their ranges northward largely on the backs of the growing feeder network, suggests that overall feeding the birds is a benefit rather than a debit.

I will be putting up my feeders today, as I am quite sure that all resident bears are fast asleep now. I do not have gray squirrels in my yard in Unity. We have relatively few on this side of the mountain; I see them on my way up from Claremont, but have yet to see one in Unity Center. We had red squirrel, but he broke into our basement, got trapped and died. However, just this week I saw a new red squirrel bounding across the front yard. Nature does abhor a vacuum. That sighting, however, means that squirrel baffles are going to be part of the apparatus.

I went to the local building supply store and bought 30 feet of plastic coated wire, which I will loop and crimp at the ends. I will put one hook in the side of my house (which is already full of bolts from two disused DirecTV dishes) and the other in a nearly dead ash tree at the property border. I will put these high enough so that the feeder is still six or eight feet above the ground. I don’t really want a very tall raccoon to destroy my feeder.

Although this side of my house faces northwest, which is not particularly sunlit or warm, it has the most shelter around it. In order to decrease the stress mentioned above, it is good to place your feeder somewhere surrounded by shrubbery. Evergreen shrubbery is ideal, but thick deciduous thickets also provide security. Birds need to know that, should they have to flee, they won’t have to go far to find shelter. It is best if it is available in more than one direction. In addition to providing shelter, it also cuts down on the wind. 

Incidentally, the plastic coating is important. Steel wire gets so cold that birds’ feet can stick to it when the weather is very cold. They can tear the skin off their feet just by trying to fly away. Or perhaps worse, they just get stuck there and starve (or picked off by a Cooper’s hawk). All sources of information about bird feeders encourage birdwatchers to use apparatus that is made of either wood or plastic. Any small piece of metal can become a place for the exposed skin of a bird to get stuck. In well built feeders bolts and screw heads will be recessed and/or covered with wood plugs. 

To attract the maximum variety of bird species (for their sake and for your enjoyment), it is best to deploy a few different kinds of feeders. Some birds will only eat on flat open platforms that mimic ground feeding. Juncos and some sparrows are like this. Members of the “winter feeder guild” — chickadees, titmice, and nuthatches — prefer to fly in, grab a sunflower seed and then fly out to a sheltered perch to hack it open and eat. They seem to like the tube feeders for this. It is a good sign when you see them remaining on the feeder peg to eat; it means they are feeling secure and less threatened. Finches, including cardinals, like those trough-style feeders with the reservoir (usually glass lined) in the middle. They don’t mind sitting in one place and eating shoulder to shoulder with their brethren and don’t seem to require being able to see 360 degrees around them all the time like the ground feeders. Finally, if you want woodpeckers it is best to put out a wire basket full of suet. Other birds will, of course, eat the suet too. It has an enormous density of calories and is less work to get at than nut meat. 

Oh, and consider keeping your cat indoors, at least in the winter, if not always.