TO FEED OR NOT TO FEED (BIRDS)

When we invite birds to eat at our bird feeders, it is not their complete diet. It can however get them through a rough time, like the next few days will be here. We are expecting 20 CM ( 8 inches ) of snow, high winds and temperatures as low as - 27C ( -17 F). On days like these it makes birds' lives easier, because they don't have to expend energy hunting for nourishment. WE MUST DO IT SAFELY! Wash feeders regularly. Diseases can be passed to birds, if the feeders are not clean. At Destined to Fly we have twin feeders. Once a week one set it brought in for cleaning and the other set is used. Place feeders within 5 feet from your house or more than 35 feet. This will prevent the birds from flying into your home if chased by a hawk. Prevent window strikes by using treatments on your windows. Birds will fly between a space 2" horizontally or 4" vertically. They do not perceive glass as a solid object. At Destined to Fly, the windows are from the 1970s. We applied the 3M tape, vertically 4" apart.

Recently there have been a number of articles about this topic. These are a couple (Thank you Mary) https://www.allaboutbirds.org/why-do-we-feed-birds-and-sho…/

https://www.mnn.com/…/animals/stories/should-you-feed-birds…