AN AVIAN CONSPIRACY

 

As winter gives way to spring, I continue to wonder, what is the connection, psychological or otherwise, between humans and the compulsive need to feed the birds?  Almost every retired individual I know and many others develop a strong affection for these hardy creatures that will appear in our backyards when some seed is offered.  From several blocks away, our properties on South Wade in East Washington sound like an aviary, if we have all filled our feeders.  Favorite bird photos show up in this newspaper with great frequency.

This phenomenon appears to cross all political and economic boundaries and somehow fills an important niche in our lives.  We spend more than $3 billion a year on food for birds, and $800 million a year on bird feeders and other accessories.

 Many of us are not avid bird watchers and would never consider getting up at the crack of dawn to find them in the field.  We prefer viewing from porch windows with a cup of coffee and the morning paper.  Like serious birders, seeing a rare species in a place that it is not normally seen is grounds for celebration, but only if the event happens on our terms of comfort and space.  We have not been able to control our children or our retirement accounts, so why not the daily visit of nuthatch and finch.

I sometimes fear we may alter migratory habits by offering the avian community an easier domestic alternative when the leaves start to fall.  Such was the fate of Canadian geese that no longer fly south because of viable food sources around golf courses and manmade lakes. Moreover, ornithologists believe that bird feeding interferes with ecological processes, causes malnutrition, facilitates the spread of disease and increases the risk of death from cats, pesticides, hitting windows and other causes.  Of course, none of this impacts our desire to provide a feeding frenzy and enjoy the spectacle.

Some of us welcome squirrels and deer to the show, but most try to exclude all mammals as interlopers.  It is birds we want and all types of contraptions will be employed to exclude the others.  Raptors are acceptable, even though our feeders have provided the stage for the killing grounds.  After all, nature is nature and the swoop of a red tail hawk is fine entertainment.

Earlier this winter, I spent some time trying to film a blue jay and red cardinal fighting over the same peanut, thinking it would make a great political statement for the election.  Unfortunately, my avian friends were showing more compromise skills than Congress and it was not to be.

 One wonders, who is really in control of this feeding enterprise.  Research has shown that thousands of years ago, dogs and cattle were pulling the evolutionary strings as they charmed humans into providing a free ride, through domestication.  Maybe the birds are on to something and we are the ones being coaxed into buying the most expensive sunflower seeds to dispense on even the most blustery of winter days.  Heated bird huts anyone?