Probably, many of us remember from childhood the need to feed birds in winter, and some even made their own feeders from scrap materials.
However, now you can find the opinions of ornithologists who call for stopping feeding birds during the cold season.
We invite you to find out what reasons scientists give in favor of this decision.
Natural selection
Winter is a time of natural selection for birds. Those that were unable to find enough food during the cold season and did not survive until spring are excluded from the breeding process because they have shown their weakness.
This means that only the strongest individuals capable of producing healthy offspring will begin breeding in the spring. If weak birds are allowed to breed as well, this will lead to a general weakening of the population.
Wrong food
The food that people offer to birds does not always correspond to their real needs in nature.
We are talking about duck bread, the question of whether it is beneficial or harmful is still controversial, or about roasted salted sunflower seeds, which are definitely not suitable food for birds.
Episodic feeding
In addition, people who feed birds do not always adhere to a strict feeding schedule.
However, if a bird gets used to eating from a feeder, it will fly to it every day. If a person forgets to fill the feeder on a certain day, the bird wastes energy flying to an empty feeder and loses precious time searching for other food, which in cold weather can be fatal for it.
Whether to help sparrows and titmice survive the winter or not is everyone’s decision, but if you still decide to join this good cause, try to take into account all the comments and not make mistakes.
Previously, we explained why a cat should not sleep in its owner's bed .
