Bird Brains

One of the enjoyable things about this area of Northern Minnesota is the wildlife and one of the hobbies of home owners and land owners is feeding birds, squirrels and deer. It is very common to see back yard feeders and there are whole sections in retail stores dedicated to the back yard feeding of birds. In quite a few homes you will see a window with a chair and a bird identification book. Every season brings new species of birds to the back yard from common to rare with out even having to leave the comfort of your home. In this area you can see species of birds that some bird watchers travel thousands of miles to see.

That is why it was shocking to read about Cuyahoga Falls City council trying to pass an ordinance to regulate bird feeders. The argument is that spill from feeders falls to the ground and decays and causes birds to become sick and die. Jerry James, city councilman alleges that the death of bird was traced back to decayed seed from bird feeders. It was not stated how they came to this conclusion. Was there a biologist or veterinarian involved in the biopsy of these birds? If there was some scientific investigation nothing was put out there for the public to see.

When you read about this kind of news you wonder when some do-gooder will porpose the same type of legislation for your area to "save the little animals" from the bad humans so that they will get votes at the next election. Many who live here are close to nature and have a great concern for nature and will do anything they can to conserve nature without the extra help of new laws.

From Jerry James's statement to Akron News Now, you can conclude he knows very little about bird feeding. You would have to assume that people are dumping fifty pound sacks of feed onto thier lawns for birds to feed on, and that ankle deep piles of feed are rotting on the ground. This is probably the idea that Jerry James has about people who feed birds. The truth is bird seed is expensive and most people who feed birds want very little waste. The other truth is that wild birds are quite finiky about what they eat and different species eat in different ways and varied types of seed. A good example of this is that you probably will not see an American finch or House Wren eating wheat or milo seed. If the Cuyahoga Council was serious that would have stated what types of rotted seed had caused bird deaths. My guess is that they don't have a clue. For many birds you want to attract them with expensive types of seed such as Nyjer seed.

According to the Cuyahoga Falls Patch Chris Stranahan, owner of Wild Birds Unlimited Franchise says: "I've seen nothing posted on th ODNR (Ohio Department of Natural Resorces) website" about birds mortality from decayed bird seed.