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fred. (of course, unles
On 7/18/2017 7:09 AM, Don MacNeill wrote:
> The literature seems to indicate that bird feeders have no
> effect on migration. Cornell says "Keeping your feeders up has no
> influence on whether a bird will start its journey south. A number of
> factors trigger the urge for birds to migrate, and the most significant
> one is day length. As days grow shorter in late summer, birds get
> restless and start to head south, taking advantage of abundant natural
> food, and feeders where available, to fuel their flight."
* I'm not worried about feeders delaying the onset of fall migration,
but the changed balance between migratory and nonmigratory species that
the massive winter subsidies must provide in some areas. Maybe somebody
has addressed the question of whether subsidized Chickadees take up
summer niche space which could otherwise be used by Neotropical
migrants; do Cardinals displace R-B Grosbeaks; do subsidized Nuthatches
displace B&W Warblers, or over-wintering Picoides displace Sapsuckers?
I've never experienced any deficiency of birds to see or hear in the
summer, but maybe our grounds are more chaotic -
https://ofnc.wordpress.com/2016/02/15/brush-piles-improving-backyard-habitat/
- than some other premises.
fred.
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>
> As to summer feeding, the chickadees coming to my sunflower feeder also
> seem to spend a lot of time pecking around in our bushes looking for
> caterpillars. They are also checking around the eaves and under my
> patio umbrella for insects. Perhaps the seeds are only a supplement and
> I presume nestlings are being fed insects. Fledged birds would be
> introduced to the seeds but also taught? to look for insects.
>
> Summer feeding is of course mostly for the birdwatcher. I know I love
> to see the activity as I sit in my backyard. - Don
==============================================================
> On 7/17/2017 8:40 AM, Frederick W. Schueler wrote:
>> On 7/17/2017 7:08 AM, Paul Mansz wrote:
>>
>>> young birds are initially fed a diet of insects and spiders, so they
>>> are foraging successfully without our help.
>>
>> * I must say that this business of having feeders up over the summer
>> is new to me. I would caution those who are considering summer feeding
>> with a tale (that I was told as a graduate student) about Horned Lakes
>> in intensively wheat-farmed areas of Kansas: the Larks fed their
>> nestlings on readily available grain rather than Insects, and the
>> young didn't have the digestible protein and other nutrients they
>> needed to grow up. If seed is unnaturally available in the summer,
>> seed-eating birds may well feed their young the grain, and thereby
>> stunt or prevent their development. With or without disease, I think
>> it's imprudent to feed Birds during the summer.
>>
>> fred. (of course, unless you've got a toddler who will benefit from
>> seeing Birds up close, I also don't think it's proper to feed Birds
>> during the winter, because of the imbalance this creates between
>> migratory/non migratory lifestyles, so feeder advocates can take my
>> advice with as much salt as they feel appropriate).
>> ========================================================
>>
>>> Similarly, taking down your feeders simply means the birds will
>>> forage over a larger territory. In fact, I think the birds do that
>>> anyway, regardless of whether feeders are present. In our yard, for
>>> example, the number of birds feeding at our feeders is at its low for
>>> the summer -- as is always the case it seems every year. The hummers
>>> seem to take a break and are much less frequent at the feeders, and
>>> other birds (except for Juncos and Cardinals) are very infrequent.
>>
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Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad
Bishops Mills Natural History Centre - http://pinicola.ca/bmnhc.htm
Mudpuppy Night in Oxford Mills - http://pinicola.ca/mudpup1.htm
Daily Paintings - http://karstaddailypaintings.blogspot.com/
South Nation Basin Art & Science Book
http://pinicola.ca/books/SNR_book.htm
RR#2 Bishops Mills, Ontario, Canada K0G 1T0
on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44* 52'N 75* 42'W
(613)258-3107 <bckcdb at istar.ca> http://pinicola.ca/
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