Tweets,
\
With regard to the potential for Anna's - Rufous Hummingbird competition, I
suspect not, as Anna's in Washington are almost never seen outside of
urban/suburban environments (with the lone exception of Lyle), at least in
my experience.

Gene Hunn.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Stewart Wechsler" <ecostewart at quidnunc.net>
To: "tweeters" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2004 8:17 AM
Subject: Feeding Birds:who gains? who loses?


> To feed or not to feed? (and who to feed?) That is the question:
>
> There are costs and benefits, winners and losers
>
> Who wins? WE WIN! It's a lot of fun to have them come to our homes and
> windows. It cheers up our dismal winters, might even prevent a few
> suicides. It gets a lot of people to appreciate birds more than they ever
> would otherwise. It hooks your visitors on birds that wouldn't otherwise
> have come to appreciate them. People want to know what kind of birds they
> are seeing, then buy bird books then get learn more and get hooked. More
> bird enthusiasts hopefully means that when legislators want to turn the
> Alaska National Wildlife Refuge into an oil well more people who know and
> care that our shorebirds breed there will object. They may even care that
it
> harms the Spectacled Eiders they see in those books but that they never
seen
> here.
>
> Feeding also usually helps the jays, chickadees, juncos, goldfinches and
> siskins, house finchs, starlings, anna'a hummingbirds, eastern gray
> squirrels, (and at night the norway and black rats) and other critters
that
> eat what we feed them. It also helps a few merlins and sharp-shinned
hawks
> and owls (feeding on the rats) that eat those that we directly and
> unintentionally feed.
>
> The result is that we usually end up with a higher population of many of
> those critters than would occur in that habitat (usually already altered
by
> humans to the detriment of native diversity).
>
> Who loses?
>
> Jays, Eastern Gray Squirrels and rats raid bird nests. I don't know which
> species fall victim most often, but I would expect that there are some
> species we don't see as often anymore that are most vulnerable to this
> predation. If any of you have info on this I would be interested.
>
> I have been planting native plants througout my friends property to turn
it
> back into a more natural habitat. The squirrels and (possibly jays?) seem
> to know just where my favorite trilliums and violets were planted and dig
> them up to cache the peanuts that we so enjoy feeding the jays. Another
> friend who has been doing similar native planting curses the squirrels
that
> his neighbor feeds peanuts to for the same reason.
>
> The Purple Finch has become rare as the House Finch, (native only to the
SW
> US and Mexico), has become abundant and ubuquitous. Has the House Finch
> been a factor? Another e-mail on this subject had a link to a study on
this
> I haven't read yet, but I suspect House Finches are a factor.
>
> Rufous Hummingbirds have apparantly declined as the range of the Anna's
has
> expanded north, due apparantly to winter hummingbird feeding, and have
> become quite common, at least in the metropolitan area. Are they in any
way
> responsible for the decline of the Rufous? I don't know, but I suspect so.
> Do Anna's defend their territories against Rufous, or compete for limited
> nectar? I'd like to know if and how Anna's may be replacing rufous, but I
> still love seeing the Anna's.
>
> In addition to habitat destruction, are Eastern Gray Squirrels an
important
> factor, in the rarity of native Douglas Squirrels in metropolitan areas
and
> in pushing the native Western Gray Squirrel to the edge of extirpation in
> western WA?
>
> We know that starlings replace bluebirds and martins, out competing them
for
> limited nest holes. Do chickadees outcompete anyone for their nest holes?
>
> What other species lose out?
>
> While Eugene Kreidler siting the mass extinction of Hawaiin birds says
that
> "birds" need a leg up, implying that feeding them is a good thing. It is
> good for most of the species that eat what we feed them (and possibly bad
> for a few that we feed, but who would be healthier if they ate natural
> food).
>
> but Kelly Cassidy writes:
> Do you think any of the birds that went extinct in Hawaii would have been
> saved by feeders? Are any of the currently endangered birds in Hawaii
being
> helped by feeders? Are there any endangered birds anywhere being helped
by
> feeders?
>
> In ecology some species winning usually means some losing. When we say we
> help "the birds" we might ask which birds we help and which other
organisms
> are hurt.
>
> In the final analysis I think feeding birds, as a whole, is a good thing,
> but it comes at a cost.
>
> Stewart Wechsler
>
>
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