A few common
questions and myths persist about bird feeding.
First, the birds will not become dependent on your
feeder as a source of food. While they may eat at
the feeder on a daily basis, birds consume many
other sources of natural food each day. However,
feeders do help some birds find a reliable source
of food during heavy snow or ice storms, so you
may want to have someone keep it full when you're
not available.
Uncooked rice
doesn't expand in birds' stomachs and kill them.
Many species of birds eat rice and other grains in
the fields where they grow and are not harmed.
Also, peanut butter doesn't stick in birds'
throats and choke them. You can mix cornmeal,
oatmeal, grit or birdseed with the peanut butter
to make it less sticky. Mixing vegetable
shortening and peanut butter at about a 50/50
ratio and then adding cornmeal or birdseed makes a
very appetizing and inexpensive suet substitute
that many birds love.
A bird's feet
won't stick to a metal birdfeeder perch. Birds
don't have sweat glands in their feet; in fact,
their feet are covered in scales made from a
material similar to your fingernails. Just think
of all the metal fences and telephone wires birds
sit on all day long without getting stuck.
This is also the
time of year that people who feed birds can join
the 15,000 other people who are a part of the
largest and longest-running citizen-science
project. Project FeederWatch is managed by the
Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology. It's
a winter-long survey of birds that visit feeders
at backyards, nature centers and other locales in
North America. FeederWatch volunteers periodically
count the highest numbers of each species they see
at their feeders from November through April. The
project helps scientists track movements of winter
bird populations and long-term trends in bird
distribution and abundance.
All you have to do
is count all the birds in your yard at one time
and then report the numbers to the lab. The data
collected shows which bird species visit feeders
at thousands of locations across the continent
every winter. The data also indicate how many
individuals of each species are seen. This
information can be used to measure changes in the
distribution and abundance of bird species over
time.
Learn more about
the project at birds.cornell.edu/pfw, where you
can see maps, trend graphs, and other results
generated from FeederWatch data. FeederWatchers
receive a research kit that includes: the
FeederWatch Handbook, a guide to feeding birds; a
full-color identification poster of common feeder
birds; a calendar featuring photographs taken by
participants; and paper data forms and/or access
to the online data entry system.
Because the lab is
a non-profit organization, a $15 annual
participation fee ($12 for members of the Lab of
Ornithology) is requested; it covers your
materials and newsletter subscription, staff
support, website support and data analysis. Visit
the website or call 800-843-2473.
Email questions to Jeff Rugg, University of
Illinois Extension, at jrugg@illinois.edu. To find
out more about Jeff Rugg and read features by
other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists,
visit the Creators Syndicate website at
www.creators.com.
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