do backyard bird feeders really help, or are we interfering with the natural feeding process of birds and squirrels etc…
In: 51
Truly we are just artificially increasing the carrying capacity of the land. In other terms the amount of wildlife that a given area can naturally support.
What happens when individuals decide to stop putting feed in feeders? The wildlife that has come to depend on that now suffers. Yes they can go next door, but are those neighbors now feeding at an increased rate to offset what has been lost due to the loss in food elsewhere? If not than the carrying capacity of that area has just shrank. Is one feeder going to make a huge difference, probably not. But if this small change is magnified over several thousand households, or several hundred acres of land. The impact can be seen in the natural wildlife in the area.
Yes it is nice to bring wildlife to your yard. That was not the question, but there always is a trade off to some degree when doing so.
Just my 2 cents is all.
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