Bird feeding is like teenage sex: it’s more or less unstoppable. The problem with this approach, argues Darryl Jones in Feeding the Birds at Your Table, is that it’s not stopping anybody beyond relatively small circles of committed environmentalists. Wild birds will lose their ability to forage for themselves and you’ll upset their stomachs or make them fat or transmit germs from dirty feeders and water baths. Feeding birds will cause the two Ds: dependency and disease. Local councils, vets, national parks – all offer the same simple head-shake. When it comes to feeding birds, just about every potential source of authoritative information on what to feed native birds and how to do it offers the same injunction: Just don’t. In Australia, we have our own Just Say No brigade, and its results are just as ineffective. Abstinence-only campaigns don’t cut unplanned teen pregnancies but they do allow the Christian Right to breathe easier. That doesn’t stop conservative governments attempting to re-install them every time they return to power. ‘Just Say No’ campaigns against pre-marital sex in the United States tend to fail miserably. In this guide Darryl Jones suggests better ways to do it. Many Australians enjoy feeding our native birds. Tags: Australian birds/ bird feeding/ Darryl Jones/ Feeding the Birds at Your Table/ magpies DARRYL JONES Feeding the Birds at Your Table: A guide for Australia.
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