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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsEver since you posted this I have been observing and you're right.
I usually throw out bread for the birds. Today, I took some old baguette bread outside looking to feed the birds. There were none. Theyre usually up on the telephone lines or in the trees.I havent heard them or seen them either recently.
Very strange.
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Ever since you posted this I have been observing and you're right. (Original Post)
live love laugh
Sep 19
OP
I don't know 🤷🏽♀️ I just see them ... small brown ones, sometimes small with red breasts.
live love laugh
Sep 19
#3
Bev54
(12,997 posts)1. Maybe died of malnutrition?
live love laugh
(16,026 posts)4. Wow I didn't know this.
Cirsium
(3,058 posts)8. Thanks for that
From that article:
Bread offers wild birds absolutely ZERO nutrition. ZERO. But, how could it possibly harm them, if it has zero effect? Simply, bread fills up a small stomach in a hurry. The bird doesnt know the food is useless, but leaves feeling full and satisfied, nonetheless. This is a deadly combination of factors, considering how many calories birds need to eat in order to survive.
To begin with, birds must be very efficient eaters due to rapid metabolism and the small size of their stomachs. Birds need to max out every meal in order to take in enough nourishment. This means a bird will always take full advantage of each and every feeding opportunity. Ideally, they should be filling up with food that has a high density of the proteins, fats and carbohydrates they require. The food Nature intended. Bread is not that food.
The bird doesnt realize it has wasted an opportunity to be nourished, it has eaten its fill. It will continue going about its business, its body burning calories just the same. With a stomach stuffed full of nothing. With no calories to metabolize to stay warm or provide energy to evade predators.
For a small bird, this can lead to tragedy very quickly. A Black-capped Chickadee can freeze to death overnight, with its stomach full of bread.
To begin with, birds must be very efficient eaters due to rapid metabolism and the small size of their stomachs. Birds need to max out every meal in order to take in enough nourishment. This means a bird will always take full advantage of each and every feeding opportunity. Ideally, they should be filling up with food that has a high density of the proteins, fats and carbohydrates they require. The food Nature intended. Bread is not that food.
The bird doesnt realize it has wasted an opportunity to be nourished, it has eaten its fill. It will continue going about its business, its body burning calories just the same. With a stomach stuffed full of nothing. With no calories to metabolize to stay warm or provide energy to evade predators.
For a small bird, this can lead to tragedy very quickly. A Black-capped Chickadee can freeze to death overnight, with its stomach full of bread.
Cirsium
(3,058 posts)2. Can you ID them?
What birds do you usually see? Thanks.
live love laugh
(16,026 posts)3. I don't know 🤷🏽♀️ I just see them ... small brown ones, sometimes small with red breasts.
Cirsium
(3,058 posts)9. Thanks
Likely House Sparrows if you are in a developed area, and maybe House Finches as well.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/House_Sparrow/overview
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/House_Finch/overview
leftstreet
(37,846 posts)5. They're gathering to shit on the Kirk memorial
maybe?
live love laugh
(16,026 posts)6. We can hope can't we?
Srkdqltr
(9,055 posts)7. Depends on the time of the day. 4 pm today and there are no birds a round. Who knows.
Im in Michigan near Lake Eerie.
usonian
(22,009 posts)10. I've had a lot if quail since I have been scattering birdseed.
More so than the usual bluejays and woodpeckers.