Researchers have some good news for the well-meaning masses who place bird feeders in their yards: The small songbirds who visit the feeders seem unlikely to develop an unhealthy reliance on them.
«There’s still much we don’t know about how intentional feeding might induce changes in wild bird populations, but our study suggests that putting out food for small birds in winter will not lead to an increased dependence on human-provided food,» said Jim Rivers, an animal ecologist with the OSU College of Forestry.
Findings from the research, which looked at black-capped chickadees outfitted with radio frequency identification tags, were published today in the Journal of Avian Biology.
Around the globe each year, hundreds of millions of people put out food for wildlife, including 50 million in the United States alone, driving a $4 billion industry based on food, feeders and other accessories. But the popular pastime has long raised concerns about making animals dependent on human-provided food — especially during wintertime and other parts of the annual cycle that require animals to expend a lot of energy.
«The extensive and widespread nature of people intentionally feeding wildlife can have unintended consequences for free-ranging animal populations, and those consequences are best documented in birds,» Rivers said. «On the negative side, it can facilitate disease transmission, restructure local communities and alter migration behavior, for example. There’s even evidence that it can lead to changes to birds’ bill structure. On the other hand, it can also have positive effects, such as enhanced body condition, wintertime survival and reproductive output.»
Bird feeding is especially popular in the northern latitudes, particularly during winter, when cold, stormy weather and minimal daylight reduce the time that birds have for locating natural foods. But not much is known, Rivers said, about whether birds become reliant on the feed their human friends toss out for them.
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Materials provided by Oregon State University. Original written by Steve Lundeberg. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.