[sci.bio] EXPERIMENT IN BIRD BEHAVIOR

arf@chinet.chi.il.us (Jack Schmidling) (07/31/89)

aliens/e5 
 
               ALIENS IN REC.BIRDS 
 
First a few words about the netequitte question brought up. 
 
Considering the volume of birding postings I have seen since  
I started reading this newsgroup, the idea of even bring up  
the subject seems a little outrageous.   I have no problem  
killing subjects I am not interested in as long as they are  
generally related to the overall topic, birds in this case. 
 
However, the indoor "birders" need to recognize that it is a  
courtesy extended by the birders defined in the charter and  
in the event of a substantial increase in voulme, the  
"little old ladies in the tennis shoes" have priority. 
 
                 ......................... 
 
                 ALIENS AT THE FEEDER 
 
                        Part I 
 
Some of you may remember the cartoon published in Audubom  
some years ago that outraged so many bird lovers.  It was  
the "final solution" for sparrows.  It was a bird feeder  
that somehow trapped sparrows and dropped them down a shute  
where a hungry cat was waiting.   
 
Were it not for the fact that I loathe cats even more than  
sparrows, I would have probably built one. So I came up with  
a method that is not only much more humane but it is great  
fun and works on squirrels too. 
 
I have come to the conclusion over many years of feeding and  
studying birds, in an urban environment, that indiscriminate  
bird feeding is counter-productive. 
 
The most obvious problem is that you enhance the already  
greater survival rate of the more aggressive alien species.   
As an ecosystem can only accommodate a given number of  
birds, the alien birds displace the native species and  
diversity suffers. 
 
The not-so-obvious problem is that having a hoard of  
screaming sparrows, house finches and pigeons around all the  
time, seems to discourage the native birds from even  
attempting to feed.  The reason it is "not-so-obvious" is  
that you have to stop feeding totally (difficult for bird  
lovers to do) for awhile to discover that there are more  
native birds around than when you feed.  
 
Selective feeders like hummingbird and thistle seed feeders  
are a limited step in the right direction but making food  
available for cardinals, blue jays and other desired species  
has always been a problem here.  They are only occasional  
visitors and as luck usually has it, the feeder was cleaned  
out by the sparrows or squirrels and they go away with ill  
feelings toward the habitat. 
 
 
               THE NOT SO FINAL SOLUTION  
 
To deal with the sparrows and squirrels, I ran a wire out to  
the large, centrally located tray feeder and put a very loud  
buzzer at the feeder end of it and a switch and battery in  
the porch viewing area.  When a sparrow shows up ... BUZZ ..  
gone, instantly.  This, system requires an observer/operator  
of course but when you get right down to it, most people  
feed birds so that we can watch them anyway. 
 
It solves the immediate problem of never again having to  
look at a sparrow in the feeder but it also provides great  
opportunities to experiment with bird behavior.  For  
example, can they be trained to give up and never come back? 
 
If you put a very small amount of food out when observing,  
there will never be any at other times.  Can they be trained  
to come around on your schedule?        
 
Do all birds react the same way to the buzzer?  
 
Unfortunately, the answer to the last is a frustrating no.   
And would you be surprised to find out that all the  
squirrels in my neighborhood seem to have a hearing problem? 
 
         ..........to be continued............ 
 
In part II we will tell you how we overcame the ultimate  
nuisance and post some of the results of the experiment. 
 
Jack Schmidling  (arf)