Just Feed Wild Birds and Make a World of Difference.
reprinted from Droll Yankee
Why feed wild birds?
It might be hard to believe that one person feeding wild birds in his or her yard can help restore the balance of nature.
But it’s true. Because in nature, everything is connected. And everything matters.
Wild birds are essential to biodiversity – our planet’s way of maintaining its own health. By wreaking havoc on wildlife habitats with our roads and buildings and suburban lawns, we’ve thrown biodiversity out of balance. Like canaries in a coal mine, our declining bird populations are warning us that our environmental health is in jeopardy. Feeding backyard birds is a simple yet effective way to favorably affect bird populations and encourage and sustain biodiversity.
It’s a natural sequence:
- The more you feed the birds in winter, the greater number of birds will survive to raise their young.
- The more you feed the birds during nesting season, the less time the parents will need to stay away from the nest foraging for food.
- The better the baby birds are fed, the higher their survival rate.
- The more baby birds that survive, the more insects they consume.
- The fewer insects you have, the fewer chemicals you’ll have to use.
- The fewer chemicals you use, the faster your immediate environment will be brought back into balance.
- The more that your immediate environment is in balance, the more natural predators of insects you’ll have.
- The fewer chemicals you use, the healthier you, your children, your pets, your yard and the water supply will be.
- The healthier the habitat is, the more birds there will be.
- The more you feed the birds, the sooner all of this will happen.