Hand Feeding Bluebirds

Earlier posts on this topic are probably found under Feeding Philosophy and Feeding Mealworms

From: Shari Kastner [mailto:smk"at"teamv.com]
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 6:05 PM
Subject: Hand Feeding my Eastern Bluebirds

Hello,

This is not a question, just a bit of excitement that I wanted to share.

Each time I put food in the BB feeder in my yard, the pair of nesting EABL get a little closer to me. It's gotten that I'm only a few feet away from the feeder when they fly down to it, so I thought I'd try to hold some mealworms out in my hand. They did a flyover very near me, but did not land on my hand. Then I tried putting the mealworms on a plate to offer to them, but they did not come to that either. Since they seem very impatient for me to feed them in the morning, I'm going to try again tomorrow.

Shari
New Berlin, WI

Hi Shari,

I guess there aren't a lot of people out there programmed to shoot tame Bluebirds, but they are wild birds,and some people will do the unthinkable.

We should try to help them by replacing their nesting cavities which we took away and trying to eliminate some of their competition ,which we introduced.

With all due respect, turning Bluebirds into front yard pets that will eat out of our hands might look cool on a photo but it will do nothing to help a wild Bluebird survive in nature.

Sincerely,
Rob Barron
Warrenton, Virginia

I completely agree with Rob. Even though it would be a thrill to have a bluebird feed from your hand, it is a slippery slope type of thing. We want them to remain wild birds and not become pets. That being said, I understand the temptation. I have had BBs come to my feeder for several years. They come when I whistle. I could easily feed them out of my hand, but I am refraining from doing that for the greater good. I often sit in a lawn chair 20 feet from the feeder and watch and photograph them.

Back when the Kalamazoo Nature Center had the Wildlife Rehabilitation Department, we got all sorts of animals. Most pertinent to this discussion, a crow was rehabbed by someone who lived very near to the nature center. This crow got imprinted to people, or at least used to them. Once it was old enough to "fledge", it was set loose.

A little while later, the front desk got a call about a "rabid crow" approaching people & making strange noises & threatening to bite. So the people hit it with a shovel. It flew off but shortly after didn't return to the rehabber's yard. (As you've probably guessed, the young crow was begging for food. It hadn't realized that only certain humans would consider it part of their "flock".)

Well-intentioned actions can backfire, & humans are rarely the ones who pay the price.

(FYI: Rabies is a mammal-only disease.)

Torrey Wenger
Kalamazoo Nature Center
Kalamazoo, MI

From: rdb2006"at"verizon.net [mailto:rdb2006"at"verizon.net]
Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 6:33 PM
Subject: For bird lovers

Hi all,

Has anyone ever tried this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjaLySEQ5Is&mode=related&search=

cheers,

--rudy

From: Shari Kastner [mailto:smk"at"teamv.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 7:25 PM
Subject: RE: For bird lovers

Hi Rudy,

Last spring, I had bluebirds coming very close to me as I was feeding them mealworms. Once outside, I would whistle to let them know I was feeding them. I would barely be leaving the feeder when they would land to eat. I was very excited by this, so I told the group about my experiences and that I was going to try and hand feed them. Most of the onlist messages posted told me not to try to tame bluebirds and one of the offlist posters got down right nasty. Being new to the list, I took everyone's advice and did not attempt to hand feed them, but I think that it would be very easy to do.

Shari Kastner
New Berlin, WI

From: rdb2006"at"verizon.net [mailto:rdb2006"at"verizon.net]
Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 8:10 PM
Subject: Re: RE: For bird lovers

Hi Shari,

Maybe those list members opposed to having them eating out of your hand as you suggested could post their reasons again. I would be interested in knowing how the effect from this differs from say, having feeders in the backyard. I can't see where there would be a danger of them imprinting on you (i.e., getting to think that they are humans too), since you are most likely not the first creature they have seen since they hatched. But maybe I'm wrong about that. Thanks!

--rudy
Central MD

From: rdb2006"at"verizon.net [mailto:rdb2006"at"verizon.net]
Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 9:23 PM
Subject: Re: Re: RE: For bird lovers

One of the things that's crossed my mind in regards to this is whether the animal (bird, raccoon, whatever)that becomes desensitized around humans might "drops its instinctive guard" a little bit from a high level to some lower level which may be detrimental in its overall survival against its natural predators? Just a thought.

--rudy
Central MD

From: Keith & Sandy Kridler [mailto:txbluebirder"at"sbcglobal.net]
Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 11:55 PM
Subject: eating out of your hand

Keith Kridler Mt. Pleasant, Texas
I will limit my thoughts to bluebirds and other small cavity nesters that might come to your hand to eat.

When you think about this hand feeding we need to realize that when we carry feed outside and place it in a feeder that these birds are smart enough to know/see that we humans are bringing the food and they probably don't have a clue why we bring perfectly good food out of the house and place into feeding stations:-)) With holding food from the feeders and making the birds come to your hand for the food or coming for a special treat we hold in our hands is probably not much different to the birds landing on our fingers or on the edge of a feeder.

The biggest danger I see to the birds would be if they went and landed on a neighbors outstretched hand and the neighbor got scared and smacked the bird. There is also a remote chance you might live next door to a boy with a BB gun and the "tame" hand fed bird might fly down within range of his gun.

I watched Scotty Scott as he fed Brown headed nuthatches, chickadees and titmice from his finger tips and even watched as birds climbed down across his face to grab pecan bits right from his lips. I was actually surprised that these birds were afraid of me and would not come to Scotty when I got too close while trying to get some photographs.

I doubt if feeding a few birds from your hand would endanger the local population and they may be smart enough to not trust all humans. Was it not Snow White who had bluebirds coming to her hand? We hand raised bluebirds, blue jays, Purple Martins and others over the years and it is amazing to have these wild creatures to return to your shoulder when they get hungry.
We did have problems sometimes when they went across the road to the neighbors. KK

From: rdb2006"at"verizon.net [mailto:rdb2006"at"verizon.net]
Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 8:02 AM
Subject: Re: Re: Re: RE: For bird lovers

Rob,

You make some strong points there. Humans have cast a large footprint on the planet. But like you say... that's no reason to stop trying.

--rudy
Central MD

From: rdb2006"at"verizon.net [mailto:rdb2006"at"verizon.net]
Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 8:16 AM
Subject: Re: eating out of your hand

Thanks Keith. Very interesting ideas and experiences. Sometime when you get a chance, I'd enjoy hearing about what the problems were when they went across the road to the neighbors.

--rudy
Central MD

From: happywebl"at"comcast.net [mailto:happywebl"at"comcast.net]
Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 10:23 AM
Subject: Re: For bird lovers

I've never been a fan of attempting to "tame" any wildlife, but I've had Stellar's Jays join my picnics many times. I think they would even go as far as to steal the food from your mouth if they had the chance! They are fearless, and will land on your picnic table and hop right up to your plate if you don't run them off.

I've also seen Pine Siskins all over tourists in the town of Mendocino (similar to the U Tube video). They gather in large flocks and understand somehow that the tourists are just there to feed them and mean them no harm.

I also had a neighbor who raised a robin one summer. It returned for several seasons and would land on her when she was working in the yard. It wouldn't do that with anyone else in the neighborhood though, so it seemed to recognize individuals.

The birds in my yard recognize me and don't leave when I'm filling the feeders. The hummingbirds try to chase me off when I go out to get the empty bottles -- they buzz my head. The Bluebirds recognize me also, because as soon as I fill the jail feeder they are there. I whistle when I put out food, and they seem to recognize the sound.

Best if we can enjoy them from afar, but it is enjoyable to see them up close and personal sometimes.

Barbara in Cloverdale, CA

From: Kelley Family [mailto:herbsho"at"centurytel.net]
Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 11:46 AM
Subject: Re: For bird lovers

We love hiking the trails in Rocky Mountain National Park. Especially in the fall when the crowds are gone and the Aspen turn golden.
It is not unusual, when stopping to take a bite, to have birds approach quite close clearly begging.
How did these birds "learn" that we could/would provide food? I would not
expect this of a wild bird.
Did we offer a few crumbs? Yes.
Did we reinforce their behavior? Yes.
We enjoyed their company and were willing to pay for it.
I suspect many hikers before us had offered food to these wild birds.
Now, the big question. After reading the discussions in this thread, did we cause harm?

Herb Kelley
East Central Missouri

From: Paula Ziebarth [mailto:paulaz"at"columbus.rr.com]
Sent: Saturday, February 10, 2007 11:00 AM
Subject: Re: For bird lovers

Herb,

This is an interesting question. I suppose technically backyard birdfeeding stations are the same as your little handout in the park to some degree. I think the potential problem with feeding wildlife is the food that is fed and whether the animals rely on it to survive.

Let me give you an example of an appalling thing I saw. At a very crowded amusement park in central Ohio, at a concession area, I observed people throwing bits and pieces of their meal to a pair of Canada Geese and their goslings. These birds were being fed chicken nuggets and enjoying them immensely. That is not a healthy diet for a goose. These geese should be eating grass. How are the goslings going to develop on a diet of chicken nuggets? And then there is the obvious problem of nuisance and hygiene concerns with a bunch of large birds getting a bit demanding and defecating where people eat. I was chasing the birds away and the family next to me was giving them a McDonald's Happy Meal. Now what happens in the winter when the amusement park is deserted? Perhaps those goslings grew to be a bit unhealthy on that summer diet of chicken nuggets and can't fly very far or never learned how to forage - now what happens to them?

Recently I went to a fancy resort in the Bahamas. Signs were posted everywhere to tell people not to feed the birds. There were quite a few birds there, but they stayed away from the outdoor restaurant areas because people read the signs and didn't feed the birds. No nuisance. Healthy wildlife.

I look at backyard birdfeeding in winter months differently. I offer foods that should be a healthy diet (no chicken nuggets) and that help to sustain many different species during some very severe cold snaps like we are having right now. I got a call last night from a man near me who found a nestbox full of dead EABL. They had frozen to death due to our severely cold temperatures. I feed a high energy suet mix to my overwintering EABL here and they are doing well. I hear EABL song every time I step out back to fill the feeder. I think helping the birds build up their fat stores can make the difference between life and death on winter nights that have wind chills below zero. Our daytime temperatures have mostly been in the single digits for a couple of weeks now.

Paula Z
Powell (Central) Ohio

BEST OF BLUEBIRD_L CLASSIFIEDS HOME | Audubon Society of Omaha | The Bluebird Box | Bluebird FAQs | Search | Contact me

All material was originally posted on the Bluebird_L or Bluebird mailing list, and has been reposted here with slight modifications to make the posts more readable in an HTML format.  In cases in which quoted material has been deleted to save space, this is indicated by an ellipsis (...)

For more information about Bluebird_L, check out http://www.cit.corn.edu/cit-pubs/email/using-lists/index.htm. If you wish to contact the author of a post, you will need to edit the e-mail address, replacing "at" with the "at" symbol (above the number 2 on your keyboard). (This change was made to discourage spammers.)

If you are the author of a posting and would like to see a particular post (or posts) removed from these web pages, please contact me with the web page address, title of post, and date and time of the post(s), and I will remove whatever material you like.  If you have a different opinion from one posted here, you need not contact me, as often I will have a different opinion too. The intent is to try and provide both sides to the issues facing bluebirders, and to do so in an impartial and objective manner.

If you have problems, encounter broken links (unless they are within an e-mail thread, as I do not maintain those links), or have suggestions on how the site can be improved to make it more useful, please contact the Best of Bluebird-L Classifieds webmaster. 

Website design by Chimalis