Go ahead, feed the birds. Just realize that you’ll probably get more out of it than they will.
That was the message Friday from state wildlife officials.
Nature has thrown a white blanket over much of our naturescape, but occasional bird song or the sight of a tiny flier launching from a snow-flocked tree are reminders that other creatures live here.
So how have they been doing? Can they find enough to eat? Do they need some nutritional support?
“Birds, for the most part, don’t need our help. That’s why they live in Washington,” said Madonna Luers, spokeswoman for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The varieties that wouldn’t survive would have already migrated south, she said. “The ones that are here are finding what they need.”
People can take a couple of different approaches to feeding the birds. Some buy backyard feeders and stock them with items designed for avian appetites; others highlight a stroll along a local waterway by tossing bread to the ducks,
Either way, we probably come out ahead in the deal.
“For the most part, for most birds, it helps us more than it does them. It makes us feel good,” she said.
“Backyard feeding, more than anything, is recreation,” Luers said. “It draws birds relatively close to your home, where you can watch them. And it’s not just recreation. It’s an education. You see how they interact with each other.”
Which can include eating each other. She occasionally gets a call from a distressed homeowner reporting that ” ‘This hawk is taking my bird!’ It can be a little difficult to understand that hawk is a bird too, and it needs to eat, too. The predation thing is like a PBS nature show in your yard.”
Then there’s the other form of bird feeding favored by people out for a walk.
“People are throwing bread for ducks all the time. It probably doesn’t hurt, but it’s not helping them,” Luers said. “Most of their food is under the water: they’re on open water for foraging, as well as security.”
“Bread is not very nutritional for them,” agreed David Anderson, state wildlife biologist.
Those waterfowl already know where to find food.
“We have a large wintering population in the Vancouver lowlands and the Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge. We do a lot of farming practices to leave food on the landscape,” and it sustains those birds during the winter, Anderson said.
There is another message Anderson wants to share about wintering wildlife.
“A lot of these animals don’t need to feed every day. Sometimes these winter events can be a little stressful, but they can go for a period of days without food. A wild turkey can go up to 12 days,” Anderson said. “We get grumpy; wildlife is a little more adapted.”
For people who do want to give the birds a bit of help, “Go for it, but do it right,” Luers said.
(Consult the department’s website: wdfw.wa.gov/living/winter_feeding/index.html)
Luers cited some basics: “Wet feed is bad. You’ve got to keep it clean; if you don’t clean up feeders, birds are pooping and spreading fecal materials. And you don’t want cats to hang around.”
Winter is not the only time people might think about stocking bird feeders.
According to Cornell University, “March and April are huge months for birds to feed. They are moving toward mating and breeding and rearing. Those adult birds are really looking for an easy source of food to get ready for the rigors of breeding. They really do appreciate it,” Luers said, although “they will find it on their own.”
Dependency is not a risk, by the way. Birds don’t starve when people quit feeding them.
“It’s a piece of misinformation that’s been going on a while,” Luers said. “They don’t become dependent on people.”
