Darryl N. Jones

* I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book. *

Ecologist Darryl Jones poses some basic questions in this book on the esoteric subject of bird-feeding:

1. Why do people feel the need to feed wild birds?
2. What techniques and food do people use?
3. and, is doing this a good idea at all?

The concept of feeding birds, while it goes back a long way, is quite controversial. In Australia there are very strong beliefs that humans should not offer food to wild birds. However, in colder climes, it is quite common for people to leave food out for birds to get them through the harsh winters. A bird-feeder himself, Jones travels to different countries and discusses what they feed to birds, and when.

Jones notes that there is a surprising paucity of studies into this activity, given both its popularity and the controversy it attracts. He manages to track down some behavioural studies that classify people's reasons for why they feed birds and work out which reasons are the main drivers for this habit. I didn't really find this convincing due to the sparsity of the data.

Jones really hits his stride when talking about the use of bird-feeding to protect endangered species in places like New Zealand. The discussion on the Kakapo is really interesting. Unfortunately the conclusions are mixed; in some cases feeding worked, in others it seemed to disrupt natural breeding habits. Bird feeders are also shown to be vectors for infection and have caused large and widespread outbreaks of disease.

In the end, Jones has no firm conclusions to offer, not least because there is so little data. For myself, I thought that the documented cases where bird-feeding did harm outweigh the behavioural reasons people have for offering food to wild birds.… (mer)

This book took me a while to get through, but for good reason. It is dense with information, absolutely packed with a thorough breakdown of every study that has been done on feeding wild birds and the way that it affects their development and place in the world. The ultimately disappointing fact about all of these studies is that... well, there aren't very many of them. [a: Darryl Jones|169343|Darryl Jones|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] brings to the forefront the fact that although we've been feeding birds for about as long as we have existed as a species, we have no real idea how this impacts them. It's a sobering thought.

The book breakdowns all we really know about bird feeding. The history of the birdseed industry, how some corporations have taken advantage of its popularity to offer up subpar, and even poisoned, food (here's looking at you, Miracle Gro), how bird feeding can aid in conservation, whether to feed in winter or year round, and how it can be harmful if you don't practice stringent hygiene with your feeders. Ultimately, the message to take away from this book is that more work needs to be done. Hopefully after this book is more widely known, more work will be done.

Feeding has been proven to be beneficial to birds in times of aberrant weather. Hard winters, droughts, periods of harsh storms - that's when the feeder is vital. In times of plenty, or general normal weather, the feeder is just one more source of food. It supplements the diets, but it is in no way vital. A diversity of food benefits the birds, as does higher quality food. Black oil sunflower seeds, a nyger feeder, hummingbird food... it's all good. Ultimately, though, we feed because it makes us happy and helps us reestablish beneficial relationships with nature. Do it now and then, and do it right, and you can get years of enjoyment from it all.… (mer)