Are bird feeders bad? Learn what time of year is best to feed birds, what to watch for, when to stop feeding birds, and how to keep your feeders clean.
Bird-watching has been a growing pastime around the world for several years. Not only are people getting out in the fresh air to watch birds, but also their walks are becoming longer and more focused on catching a glimpse of elusive birds they may have only seen pictures of. Some have even put up feeders to bring the birds to them.
People have fed birds for a long time, but now companies have capitalized on it by building their entire inventory around feeders and specialty seeds. Feeders come in all shapes and sizes, and now some even come with wireless cameras!
The variety of seeds is akin to a smorgasbord at your local Sunday brunch: sunflower hearts, millet, nyjer, whole sunflowers, safflower, and don’t forget the cracked corn and peanuts. Some birds prefer certain types, and others aren’t particular at all.
Feeding birds in winter appears to have a positive impact on some species that may have more difficulty in finding food, especially during extremely harsh winters. Each year, a variety of avian species continue to experience declining numbers, so providing food seems like a good thing for our feathered friends. However, there’s a downside.
Are Bird Feeders Bad?
Feeding birds causes them to congregate in numbers that wouldn’t be found in a wild environment. This encourages “crowds” at the feeders, and crowds increase the rate at which disease will spread.
In the early 1990s, birds started to appear at feeders with eyes that were swollen shut. These birds would sit at the feeders, often for hours, which aroused suspicion. These birds, mostly finches, were suffering from highly contagious mycoplasmal conjunctivitis caused by the bacterium Mycoplasma gallisepticum. If left untreated, the birds would die, since most had become blind and could no longer safely fly or forage. And, because the birds had been at a feeder, the bacteria could spread from the bird to the feeder and thus infect other birds coming to gather seeds. Finches seemed to be the most susceptible to the bacteria, so it became known as “finch eye disease,” or “finch conjunctivitis.” It appears to be treatable, but only in a rehabilitation setting; it can’t be treated in the wild. It’s also not known at this time whether mycoplasmal conjunctivitis can be passed to offspring via eggs. Mycoplasmal conjunctivitis can’t be spread to humans or other mammals.
Other disease-causing agents have been found at feeders, either through direct contact with an infected bird or through contact with the feeders, which have become fomites. Avian pox, salmonella, avian flu strains, and the Trichomonas gallinae parasite can easily be passed between birds, especially at crowded conditions found at feeders, and in the case of salmonella, potentially passed to humans and pets.
Predators Learn Where Food is Located
Predators learn quickly, so it doesn’t take long for a hawk or a ground predator to realize how easy it is to catch a bird near a feeder. How often do you see pictures posted online of a raptor sitting atop a shepherd’s hook with two or three feeders below it? They’ve figured out birds come there in great numbers, which increases the odds they’ll go home with dinner.
Spilled seeds from feeders will also attract rodents. Rodents are usually quite prolific without an extra boost from your feeders. Large numbers of rodents are an attractant to both aerial and terrestrial predators, not all of which you want coming to your back door.
During the summer months, unwanted guests will often be attracted to your feeders, some of which can become dangerous. In the Northeast, we have a relatively new problem of black bears raiding feeders, which has increased in severity over the past few years. When a bear pulls down a bird feeder, it learns where a potential food source is – the first step in creating a problem bear. Often, a problem bear will be killed, because it didn’t realize that breaking through a window or door to get the food on the other side isn’t considered appropriate behavior. Several bears have been euthanized as a result of crossing that line. A bear will return if it obtains food from an area – even as little as a handful of sunflower seeds. If it doesn’t find the feeder that it’s come to rely on, it’ll search for any food in the area. Immediately take your feeder down if you see a bear at it.
Some towns across my home state of Connecticut have passed ordinances to fine people who put out food for the wildlife. Feeding the birds isn’t prohibited, although it can unintentionally attract bears. Connecticut also recently made it illegal to put food out for bears in an attempt to deter dangerous bear-human interactions. Before this Connecticut Senate Bill 1148 was passed, lawmakers removed proposed restrictions on the inadvertent feeding of the animal through bird feeders or unsecured trash barrels because of widespread public objections.
When to Stop Feeding Birds?
Here are some tips to help you prevent disease and predation. Stay informed about any local outbreaks of avian diseases, and take down your feeders if one does occur in your area.
- Put up feeders in late fall and take them down in spring. That way, the bears won’t have access to the feeders, because they’ll be hibernating. Birds don’t need supplemental food during summer, because the natural foods they require are all around us.
- Enhance your yard with native plants. Help your feathery neighbors by providing the native plants whose seeds they’ve evolved to eat. You’ll be helping your local pollinators too! Viewing wildlife as they naturally forage is a wonderful learning experience.
- Incorporate water features. Putting out bird baths or small dishes of water on your deck railing will help many species during the dry summer months, from butterflies to blue jays and everything in between. While often overlooked, moving water that’s dripping or trickling is a huge attractant for birds, so consider installing a fountain to bring more activity to your yard.
- Keep your feeders clean. Help prevent the spread of avian diseases by regularly cleaning your feeders every two weeks and hummingbird feeders every week. To clean a feeder, first remove all organic material, then scrub and soak with a 10 percent bleach solution. Let the feeder air-dry for several hours in the sun so the residual chlorine can dissipate before you fill it with clean seeds. Never use moldy or old seed for feeders.
When cleaning a hummingbird feeder, dump the remaining sugar solution down the drain. Scrub and clean as above, and rinse the feeder thoroughly. Add fresh sugar water once dry.
Hummingbird feeders have a few more considerations to keep in mind.
- Always use white sugar in a 1-to-4 ratio of sugar to water. Don’t use honey, molasses, or other sweeteners, as hummingbirds can’t digest those as efficiently, and the sugars can ferment more quickly.
- Don’t use red dye in your hummingbird feeders. Red dye can be toxic to hummingbirds, and the colorful feeders are enough of an attractant on their own.
- Replace the sugar solution every 3 to 5 days. In warm weather, the sugar solution will start to grow bacteria quickly, so change it out more frequently during summer.
At this point, the long-term impact that feeding birds has on their survival is unknown. Birds are expanding their ranges, but is it due to climate change, bird feeders, or something else entirely? By providing artificial food sites, are we helping birds survive that normally would’ve perished? No one seems to have the answers yet, so until we do, be a responsible feeder, plant more native species, and enjoy our
wondrous world of birds!
Linda E. Bowen has been a licensed wildlife rehabilitator specializing in bats for 20 years in her home state of Connecticut. She’s also licensed to rehabilitate migratory birds.
