MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • April 2, 2023
Q. Just how reliant on bird feeders are birds? A. bird feeders do: They are a tool for making birds easier for us to see. Putting more food out in the environment will help birds, but it is just another source in their diverse “basket” of offerings. The seeds we put out are an easy and generally abundant food source, but birds have spent more than 65 million years evolving to find food during times of both abundance and drought, so it makes sense that a few decades of artificially feeding birds won’t have a drastic impact on their behavior. ~ Maine Audubon Staff Naturalist Doug Hitchcox