As temperatures drop and natural food sources become scarce, many people offer food to garden birds to help them survive winter. However, Sean McMenemy, founder of Ark Wildlife, cautions that one common feeding practice could be doing more harm than good.
A frequent mistake is leaving out kitchen scraps such as bread, leftover rice, or general food waste. While these items might seem like a generous offering, they are actually lacking in the vital fats and proteins birds need to maintain their health in colder weather.
Bread, in particular, is problematic. It is low in essential nutrients birds require during winter and can lead to serious health issues. Stale or damp bread has the potential to grow mold, which causes respiratory infections in birds. Additionally, wet or spoiled bread can harbor dangerous bacteria like salmonella and E. coli.
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If you want to provide safe kitchen scraps, opt for chopped fruit, plain cooked vegetables, and uncooked oats mixed with seeds or suet. For a hassle-free and nutritious option, sunflower hearts, suet pellets, and year-round seed mixes are excellent choices suitable for many common garden birds.
To ensure feeding stations are accessible to smaller birds while discouraging aggressive species like magpies, consider using smaller feeders that are harder for large birds to reach. This also helps reduce squirrel theft of bird food.
If you want to avoid large flocks of starlings dominating your feeder, try offering smaller grains such as wheat and rolled oats, which are favored by robins and tits but often ignored by starlings.
By making these smart feeding choices, you can support garden birds effectively without causing unintended harm.