Article - Bird feeders and safety issues

Bird feeders and safety issues.

Did you consider everything involved?

By Joshua Pellicioti
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Birds enhance the quality of our backyard experience by their simple presence. They fly around our yard like spots of color through the air. They are with us during the day and bring life to our ears. They are a constant company that may become a relationship overtime. As birds come back to your land, you get to know them by observing their behaviours. To maintain this relationship, it is essential to keep your backyard as safe as possible for our feathered friends.

This might seem very simple on the surface, but, let me inform you of something, it is not. A lot of factors come in consideration when trying to keep birds safe in your backyard. In this article, I will discuss the hazards of having feeders.

Initially, when buying a bird feeder, you must be sure that this feeder is well designed to keep a bird safe. Often, you will find artisan bird feeders that look gorgeous, but are they really safe? Take the time to analyze this feeder. Make sure that it will not harm your friends. For example, is there a piece of material that is sticking out that could injure a bird (cut, impate, etc)? Is the material used to create this bird feeder possibly toxic for birds? For example, if there is paint on the feeder, could it be toxic to the birds?

Once you have analyzed your bird feeder, you must constantly maintain it. A lot of people put up bird feeders and do not take the time to maintain these feeders to the proper level. This can become hazardous to birds quite quickly. It is essential to keep your bird feeder cleaned, otherwise toxic bacteria and germs can immerge and the health of your friends would be in serious jeopardy. Depending on your region, the food you are giving to your birds and the time of the year, wash your bird feeders every week to keep them in a clean and safe condition. Please take into consideration that I am giving out a personal estimate based on my understanding of bird feeding. This matter does require a bit of reflection and judgment on your part.


Now there is always a matter of keeping your feeders in a good shape. Birds often like to play around and bite on different materials. They probably will be biting off pieces of your feeder and it is your responsibility to keep those feeders in a safe state. As an expample, a bird could bite off a piece of materiel and leave an edge sharp and sticky, therefore potentially harmful. It is very important to constantly keep an eye out on the shape of your feeders to make sure that they are safe for your feathered animals.

Also, you should always make sure that your feeders are well surrounded. It is essential for birds to have refuge at all time. Although you may want to leave your bird feeders out in the open so you can get better glances at them, you should always put up your feeders next to a hideout spot. For example, to put up a bird feeder next to a conifer tree would be especially optimal. Is it essential to give your birds a good view from the feeders so they may detect any sudden occurring danger that could arise.

It is necessary for you to do this because, I believe, birds will try to avoid your backyard and feeders if they do not feel safe in this environment.


Please, the last point is crucial. Either put up bird feeders, or do not put up bird feeders. Whatever you do, do not feed birds when you want to feed birds. Is it very important to stay constant while bird feeding. Depending on the season, certain birds might decide to build their home nearby thinking that your feeders are a sure source of food. If you abandon them in the middle of the season, you are forcing these birds to go look elsewhere for food and you might be forcing them to find a new home. This action could have a serious impact on a bird’s life and I must stress the fact that you really have to reflect on rather or not you really want to put up bird feeders. If you decide that you do want to have bird feeders on your yard, then accept that it is a constant responsibility and, please, act accordingly.


Having bird feeders on your lawn is a lot of work, but for passionate bird lovers like us, it definitely is worth the effort.

Joshua Pellicioti.

06-Nov-2010
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About the Author

Joshua Pellicioti is the webmaster at [Seuls les administrateurs ont le droit de voir ce lien]
He also manages the site’s forum and has a weekly discussion topic about bird related subject where he takes input from bird amateurs and professionals to afterwards write an article about the subject. If you want to help Joshua write his articles and want to have passionate discussions about bird related matter. Drop by is forum: [Seuls les administrateurs ont le droit de voir ce lien]
everyone is welcome and thebirdsite.com is where bird lovers share their passion.