Are we helping or harming?
This is a response to someone who was feeding birds and found Pine Siskins
dead.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Karen McMains <karen.mcmains at gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Feb 16, 2012 at 12:45 AM
Subject: Feeding Birds
To: WHATCOM BIRDERS <whatcombirds at lists.wwu.edu>


We are diligent feeders, and negligent feeder-cleaners, and have seen no
problems; we live next to Padden Creek, so perhaps the concentration of
birds and variety of habitat makes our laziness ok? We have seen no sick
birds. (Or perhaps we are feeding the raptors?)
P.S. we have tons of birds, and only one suet basket, and one seed feeder.
We would love advice if you all think we are doing something wrong. No dead
birds, lots of the usual suspects such as juncos, towhees, varied thrushes,
robins, finches, the once-daily flock of bushtits, now the grackles
(growl!), nuthatches, woodpeckers (can't tell hairy from the other kind),
the occasional flicker, and a Cooper's swoops through and gleans lunch
every once in a while. Tons of siskins these days. We leave our windows
deliberately dirty (Ha! nice excuse!) and have few collisions, like one
every couple of years and not fatal at that..
All advice welcome!
Karen

On Wed, Feb 15, 2012 at 9:01 PM, Adena Mooers <adenaf
coliiddler at gmail.com<adenafiddler at gmail.com>
> wrote:

> We found a dead PISI under our feeder this week and saw another one that
> looked a bit sick sleeping in a strange place mid day. I think we will take
> our feeders down. Ours are cleaned with bleach regularly but I still fear
> that we concentrate feeding birds in one area so that they pass disease
> from one to another.
>
>
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