Feed the Birds: Part 1

The weather is changing. Although it’s still warm we’ve noticed that the mild spring has brought many of our crops at the allotment on early.

So that has meant that some foods aren’t available now as they’ve already finished fruiting.

It made me think about the wild birds. There’s some varying view points about feeding wild birds. My viewpoint is simple. The presence of people in large numbers has impacted on bird populations. This means that human habitats have wiped out bird habitats which reduces food availability.

There’s also huge amounts of domestic cats preying on wild bird populations. While cats can catch birds the significant numbers of cats in our neighborhood do make the odds for the wild birds pretty unfair.

Song bird populations in Western Europe are also declining. The changes to temperature have affected the life cycles of the caterpillars they rely on to feed their young. These and other bugs are depleted by chemicals which then poison the food chain of small birds.

So in my view we should try to support wild birds if they can.

We hang a variety of bird feeders from our front balcony. This makes it possible to see the birds feeding through our living room window.

I hang fat balls in a wire spring holder and in a wooden feeder. There’s an apple on a spike and two kinds of peanut holder; one for the large birds and one protected for the tiny birds. Mind you the green ringed parrots can access both.

I’m hoping to see who visits over the next few days and see if I can get some photos with my remote camera lens.