Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2003 18:59:32 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Dave Kidwell Subject: Re: Feeding ducks????? In-Reply-To: <3E419CF8.5020006@starpower.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I agree with Rob entirely. I work at a park where dependent waterfowl (both domestic and wild) area a severe problem. To add to the case against feeding, here are some additional observations I have made: -The birds have caused severe erosion problems. People only tend to feed when the weather is nice (warm and not raining). So when they are not fed the birds, especially geese, will forage on their own and drastically reduce the vegetation in the area. - The feeding attracts large numbers of gulls and pigeons, which defecate everywhere and usually snatch the food before the waterfowl can. -People see the birds being fed, and drop off their unwanted birds! -Domestics and wild birds (Mallards) begin to interbreed. Although this leads to some interesting color combinations, it is not right. Since I began working at the park several months ago, I have pulled an average of 1 bird out (dead) a month, probably due to malnutrition. I also firmly believe that the concentration of birds has so decimated the habitat of the lake that it has become unusable to other waterfowl. Besides one day when a pair of Ring-necked ducks were present, I have only had piscivorous birds present the entire winter (Hooded Mergansers, a Common Merganser, and a Common Loon), and this is probably because the state stocks the lake. It is the goal of the park to stop the feeding of birds, but we are fighting generations of habit. So please, where ever you are, DON'T FEED THE BIRDS! Dave Kidwell Annapolis, MD dkdiwell@mindspring.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================