Hello and welcome.

This is the Science of Birds.

I am your host, Ivan Philipson.

The Science of Birds podcast is a lighthearted exploration

of bird biology for lifelong learners. This episode, which is number 60, is about feeding wild birds,

as in humans providing supplemental food for wild birds. Lucky snacks the birds wouldn't have access to in a natural setting.

This, of course, typically involves a contraption called a bird feeder.

I imagine many of you listening have one or more of these things in your yard right now.

I've got a few myself.

When you or I hang up a bird feeder, we're feeding

wild birds intentionally. This intentional feeding is what today's episode is about. We're not

talking about unintentional feeding. So this isn't about crows finding scraps at the city dump,

Jays stealing your trail mix in a

campground, or vultures picking meat off your bones after you got lost in the desert and

perished under the cruel sun. Millions and millions of people all around the world feed wild

birds intentionally. At such a massive scale, you have to imagine

this would affect birds significantly, and in many ways. And it absolutely does. Without really

meaning to, humans have been conducting a worldwide experiment on birds. Scientists still haven't unraveled all the consequences of feeding

wild birds. But it's clear that by offering so much supplemental food to birds, we're causing

things to change for them in ways both good and bad, and probably in some ways we don't understand yet. Which brings us to the big

question, should we or shouldn't we feed wild birds? This is still being debated by scientists,

conservation organizations, and bird lovers everywhere. And I'm pretty sure this will be one of the

...