Hi Kelly,

I don't disagree with cautions about possible negative effects of bird
feeding, but there are also some myths that continue to be perpetuated
because of a lack of critical examination. One of these is the idea that
certain species have increased their ranges because of bird feeding. While
this is true for some recent range expansions, it doesn't make any sense for
species that expanded their ranges before bird feeding was widespread. It is
important to keep in mind that the widespread feeding of wild birds is a
relatively recent phenomena.

Because of the timing of the western expansion of House Finches, I think
it's highly unlikely that bird feeding had anything to do with it. This
species arrived in the Pacific Northwest long before bird feeding was
popular or widespread.

I have a copy of Edwards and Stirlings' 1961 paper titled, "Range
Expansion Of The House Finch Into British Columbia. They cite habitat
modification by humans as the primary cause of the expansion.

thanks,

Guy L. Monty
Parksville, BC