Junk food – kills birds

It is not necessary to kill birds with kindness. Many of us love to have birds visiting our gardens. But it is distressing to see misguided members of the public ‘helping’ birds by providing bread, seed, sugar water, honey and fatty meats. These are all junk foods for birds and sadly introduce disease and distress to the birds.

Why not feed birds artificial food?

  • Salt present in bread and processed foods is not present in bird’s natural diet.
  • Fat also limited in natural diet. Kookaburras eat lizards, frogs eat insects etc, all low in fat unlike the processed meat often fed to them.
  • Commercial Bird Seed is often not the type that the birds would naturally eat. Seed left out in damp conditions rots, grows mould and introduces disease to the birds.
  • Spread of disease by concentrating food and birds in large numbers in one place.
  • What happens when you stop? Birds often become dependent on the provision of food and lose the ability to forage for themselves particularly if they have been reared to this type of feeding by the parent birds and not taught how to find food in natural circumstances.
  • Illness ‘Runners’ are created by a virus spread from bird to bird and causes loss of flight feathers and therefore prevents flying. These birds become easy prey for cats and foxes. They also can get a bleeding disease, which is caused by a lack of pectin normally obtained from the nectar of flowers and is not in honey or sugar. Viral, fungal and bacterial diseases can result in many birds dying a slow and painful death.

What do native birds do?

  • Pollination – many Australian plants need birds to fertilise them so that they can produce seed. Without the birds, reproduction of native flora species can be severely affected. (European Bees do not do this job)
  • Dispersal of fruit – many Australian plants are dependent on birds to spread their seed, often seed viability depends on passing through a birds gut.
  • Behaviour changes – aggression and increased stress through different species feeding together. Birds can often be observed squabbling like rats around feeding tables. They also become aggressive toward humans scavenging for unnatural food (like camp sites and resorts)
  • Feral Birds – If you live in a city area the only birds you sometime attract are feral birds, rats and cockroaches, the more food they get the more they breed increasing feral species.
  • Wants of people versus the needs of the environment – it is unfair to treat creatures as though they are there for our own pleasure only without considering the welfare of the animals. Often people have a mistaken belief that birds need supplementary feeding. This is an old European idea where plants and insects shut down over the long cold winter. In Australia plants do not shut down and there is plentiful food all year round. Lots of native flora flower in winter the birds are adapted to the provision of natural food and move around as necessary.
  • Ecosystem – The Australian environment is intricate and complex, and has evolved over millions of years. Much disruption is caused by habitation loss and agriculture what little remains of our natural heritage need to be protected not further disrupted by inappropriate treatment of fauna.

Attracting birds to your garden

The best way is by planting native locally indigenous plant species and providing a simple birdbath in a place that is safe from cats. Plant species should include understorey plants like native grasses and ground covers shrubs and trees. The more diverse the flora the more fauna species will be attracted in your garden, plants should be planted close to create a dense understorey to make birds feel safe, untidy gardens with lots of logs and dead branches is what most fauna are attracted to. Most birds eat a balanced diet, 90% eat insects plus nectar, seed or fruit.

Jenny Adams – Treecreeper