NewMexiKen bought a bag of birdseed last month. Most mornings for a few weeks I’d spread some around the back patio. While I sat here amusing and informing my seven readers, I’d watch the birds come and eat the seed, fight with each other — you know, the whole bird nation dynamic.
The seed ran out and I haven’t gotten any more. The jays came by a few times and gave me some crap about there being no seed, and the doves still come around with a mournful look wondering what happened. (Get it? Mourning doves, mournful look. Damn, I can be so clever.)
Anyway, I think I read once that if you start to feed birds you take on some sort of obligation to be consistent because they become dependent. I assumed that wasn’t true this time of year, but is it? If I buy another bag of seed and train the birds to come by again, am I under some sort of ethical obligation to keep it up? Is it just a seasonal thing? What about when I go away? Do I have to take 50 or a 100 birds to the pet hotel?
Oh, and there’s the whole thing about identifying birds. I think bird watching and life-lists are a hoax. I can’t differentiate among the run-of-the-mill little birds. You seen one sparrow, you’ve seen ’em all if you ask me.
(But I did buy a field guide to Birds of New Mexico
Strangely, I have wondered about this very same issue recently. I frequently send my girls out into the front yard with stale bread, crackers or popcorn for the birds. I do this to benefit the birds but also to buy myself five minutes of peace. But I have wondered, since we get a lot of repeat visitors, if we are ethically obligated to continue. I also wonder if I am harming the birds with our snack choices for them. I dont want to contribute to bird obesity. If you feed the birds, are you obligated to do it in perpetuity and to use high quality organic bird feed?
If you end up taking them on vacations with you, and I think you should once they become your dependents, remember that you can carry twice the load capacity of your vehicle if you can keep half of the birds flying at all times.
My father has the same dilemma with feral neighborhood cats that he started feeding a few years back. He buys huge bag after huge bag of cat food, and he even has me or my sister come to feed the cats when he is out of town. I think he has just accepted it now as his ethical obligation. Looks like you’re stuck for life, if you want to do the ethical thing :=).
I think the first bag is free, after that they should have to pay. Of course you could always invite the neighbors cats over, Darwin and all that stuff.
One of your seven, Mi3ke
I say, they found somewhere to eat before you came along, and they’ll find somewhere else to eat if your little al fresco bird cafe goes away.
But then, I’m from Virginia, home state of Michael Vick. So you may not want to listen to me when it comes to questions about the ethical treatment of animals.
We have 6 or 7 (it varies ) chickens that we feed in our back garden but it’s a free-for-all when you turn your back – every bird in the neighbourhood arrives, napkin tucked round their neck…. and do they all complain if we should sleep in ! I estimate that with the feed and the free-loaders, the chicken eggs run at around $17.65 each. There may be other eggs out there somewhere, but they’re liable to need smaller eggcups than we currently have.
See ? Eight readers. I come here every day, but since not being a resident of your wonderful land I’m not entitled to make political comments – on the very rare occasions you make reference to such things. But I enjoy your sense of humour and on a lot of topics, share your anxieties.
Best wishes
Kim
I go the easy route when it comes to feeding birds. We just seed our grass, and then watch them flock in and eat all the seed before it can set. Grass seed is probably more expensive than bird feed, but we’re dumb enough to do it every year (or twice a year sometimes). They must laugh at us as they sit in those trees above our house.
I would only worry about the ethics if I enticed a migrating species to remain in a climate they could not winter in.
I used to feed birds even going so far as to buy the seed in bulk when it went on sale until finding a family of mice being raised in the middle of the seed.
It also had become less enjoyable because the larger squawking birds had displaced the smaller songbirds.
You have to observe the seasons. You can draga bird into the winter or late fall with free seed, but you can’t cut them off until weeds go to seed next late spring.