Johnson: Diversity in bird feed does most good

The regulars begin to emerge pretty quickly after the seeds are poured and it only takes a couple of days of watching before they become recognizable at the bird feeders.

link Sharna Johnson

Most common are the little brown sparrows with a variety of stripes and spots and occasional bright red heads, the doves, with their owl-like hoo-hoo-hoo's, and a host of grackles and crows, marked by their larger size and noisy chaos.

Often, it's not long before birds that frequent well-stocked backyard feeders nest nearby and fluffy, doe-eyed sibling groups begin appearing along with their parents.

In fact, it becomes almost an institution and after a couple years of stocking backyard bird feeders, the birds appear every season like clockwork and those generous yards seem to quickly morph into bird sanctuaries.

No doubt having wild birds around satisfies humans on some level. According to the Fish and Wildlife Department, from hobbyists to everyday people, birds are consistently the most watched wildlife and more than half of US homes put out bird feeders, spending billions on commercially packaged feed each year.

Surely the exotic nature of birds helps attract people's attention — after all, they have the ability to fly, they're covered in brightly colored and intricately patterned feathers, they bring natural music with them — and putting out a feeder will bring hours of fun and entertainment to most yards.

There are also probably a good number of people who put out feeders because they like the idea of helping birds gain nourishment to help them when they move out on their way to wherever it is they are headed at the end of summer.

Unfortunately, researchers are starting to think those well-intentioned efforts to provide backyard-feeding stations might actually be tipping the balance and causing long-term problems in the bird world.

The concerns stem from a study conducted by New Zealand ecologists and published in April in which backyard feeding dynamics were studied over an 18-month period.

Half of the homes studied filled bird feeders, while the other half did not and researchers observed the bird communities and surrounding environments, which developed under the different scenarios.

What they discovered was that in the locations where there were bird feeders, the population of several types of non-native species — such as doves and sparrows — increased, while other species — such as the native grey warbler, an insectivore that helps curb insect populations — declined or ceased to be observed.

What researchers concluded was that while human-placed bird feeders did indeed draw in birds and increase populations in the area surrounding the feeders, they decreased diversity of bird species and as a result, decreased the benefits many of those species provide. It's a dynamic they suspect could have lasting ramifications for not just local ecosystems, but bird diversity on the whole, as some species derive benefits from the extra feed while others do not.

The quickest way to resolve the issue, according to experts, is to cut back on backyard bird feeders, particularly in urban areas where there are more risks to birds, but changing the way birds are fed can also help — accomplished by structuring backyard bird sanctuaries with diversity.

Providing shrubbery, trees and flowers at different levels and filling feeders with different types of food, also at differing heights can provide opportunities for bird diversity and help prevent a select few from dominating.

So hold off on those “Don't Feed the Birds” signs and don't toss the feeders, but in the interest of all involved getting the most out of the experience, a little diversity might just make a world of difference.

Sharna Johnson is a writer who is always searching for ponies. You can reach her at:

[email protected].