Subject: [Tweeters] Feeding birds...
Date: Sat Feb 13 13:29:54 PST 2021
From: Claire Acord - cacord at gmail.com

Hello Tweeters,
I feel that the advice to remove feeders, both seed and hummingbird, is
rather shortsighted.
As a long time livestock farmer I know that good nutrition can see an
animal through many types of illness that would have killed an animal
already in poor shape due to malnutrition. I also have observed that even
with an outbreak of e-coli, salmonella, or other pathogens of that type,
some animals will not become ill, or not ill enough to appear sick, young
animals, those who are in bad condition will be the ones to sicken the most.
So, it seems to me that removing a source of good nutrition from many kinds
of birds to stop the spread of salmonella in Pink Siskins might be throwing
the baby out with the bath water. Especially in the hungriest time of the
year (Feb. & March, not much left over food from last fall, no new food
from the coming spring), paired with the extreme conditions now being
experienced by our birds with below normal temps., and above normal
snowfall, I can only think birds would be dying of hunger.
I am continuing to feed wild birds, in as clean a manner as I can, and I
have not seen any sick birds here. I think the loss of birds in general
would be high without supplemental feeding in this stressful time making it
worthwhile to continue feeding them. Perhaps you feel the same?
stay well
and
enjoy our birds
Claire
raising sheep on Whidbey Island
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