Birds at My Table

Darryl Jones

Description

Darryl Jones is fascinated by bird feeders. Not the containers supplying food to our winged friends, but the people who fill the containers.Why do people do this? Jones asks in The Birds at My Table. Does the food even benefit the birds? What are the unintended consequences of providing additional food to our winged friends?Jones takes us on a wild flight through the history of bird feeding. He pinpoints the highs and lows of the practice. And he ponders this odd but seriously popular form of interaction between humans and wild animals. Most important, he points out that we know very little about the impact of feeding birds despite millions of people doing it every day.Unerringly, Jones digs at the deeper issues and questions, and he raises our awareness of the things we don't yet know and why we really should. Using the latest scientific findings, The Birds at My Table takes a global swoop from 30,000 feet down to the backyard bird feeder and pushes our understanding of the many aspects of bird feeding back up to new heights.

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 mars 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781501710797
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

TheBirdsatMyTable

TheBirdsatMyTable

WhyWeFeedWildBirdsand Why It Matters

DarrylJones

ComstockPublishingAssociates animprintof CornellUniversityPress Ithaca and London

Copyright©2018byCornellUniversity

Allrightsreserved.Exceptforbriefquotationsinareview,thisbook,or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

Firstpublished2018byCornellUniversityPress

PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica

LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData

Names: Jones, Darryl N., author. Title: The birds at my table : why we feed wild birds and why it  matters / Darryl Jones. Description: Ithaca : Comstock Publishing Associates, an imprint  of Cornell University Press, 2018. | Includes bibliographical  references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017046553 (print) | LCCN 2017047034 (ebook) |  ISBN 9781501710803 (epub/mobi) | ISBN 9781501710797 (pdf) |  ISBN 9781501710780 | ISBN 9781501710780 (pbk. ; alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Birds—Feeding and feeds. | Birds—Effect of human  beings on. | Human-animal relationships. Classification: LCC QL676.5 (ebook) | LCC QL676.5 .J66 2018  (print) | DDC 598.072/34—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017046553

CornellUniversityPressstrivestouseenvironmentallyresponsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetable-based, low-VOC inks and acid-free papers that are recycled, totally chlorine-free, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at cornellpress.cornell.edu.

ThisbookisdedicatedtoReneeChapman, Dave Clark, and Josie Galbraith. Pioneeringanewlookatanoldpractice.

Prefaceix

Acknowledgmentsxvii

Contents

1.WhyBirdFeedingMatters

2.CrumbstoCorporations:TheExtraordinaryHistoryand Growth of Bird Feeding31

3.TheBigChange:WinterorAlways?69

4.TheFeederEffect:WhatAllThatFoodCanDo96

5.WhatHappensWhenWeFeed?Insightsfrom Supplementary Feeding Studies137

6.TaintedTable?CanFeedingMakeBirdsSick?171

7.FeedingforaPurpose:SupplementaryFeedingas Conservation201

8.ReasonsWhyWeFeedWildBirds241

1

vi i i

Contents

9.BirdFeedingMattersEvenMoreNow:ThePromiseand Risks of a Global Phenomenon263

Appendix:SpeciesMentionedintheText283

Notes289

References303

Index315

Preface

Welovetofeedbirds.Thisveryday,peoplethroughouttheworld,from all walks of life, will willingly provide food for wild birds. The foods they offer may vary from discarded food scraps to elaborate home-prepared mixtures or expensively marketed products. These may be simply tossed onto the back lawn or presented via a complex system of tubes and plat- forms. Such activities may be as casual as a whim or undertaken with a specific goal in mind; they may be part of a vaguely regular routine or a carefully planned strategy. Whatever the process, the central idea is much the same: to provide food for wild creatures, usually close to home. It is often an intimate encounter; we are inviting birds to share our table. Formanyofusthiscanbeaprofoundlymovingexperience,analmost magical interaction with nature. Providing food may also be a gesture of care, a heartfelt form of humane assistance to apparently fragile and vul- nerable creatures. Lots of people feed birds as a way of aiding their wel- fare or their preservation, while others simply enjoy seeing wild animals close up. And there are a multitude of other reasons and motivations for