I was just watching this lecture on the Gresham college channel and I was surprised to learn that we spend so much on bird food compared to mainland Europeans countries combined, this is having a noticeable impact on the beak sizes of great tits as they need a longer one to get at the food inside the bird feeders, I would love to hear if you feed birds and what your relationship is with your local avians.

More about the study for the text lovers – https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-41696123

by Successful-Peach-764

31 comments

  3. That’s crazy, I had no idea evolution could have such a dramatic change in just 50 years

  4. My mother spends around £150pa on peanuts for the birds, who can empty a feeder in about 8hrs.

  6. I spend about £5 a bag every month or so. We’ve got a load of sparrows, blue tits, great tits, coal tits and blackbirds who frequent our feeder. We’ve ever had a Jay show up once.

    When the feeder is empty we see them a lot less and we don’t bother much in the summer, or when the Starlings are nesting

  7. I feed the birds but last year thought maybe I was overdoing it when a young blackbird which was being fed by its mum near the patio came into the kitchen hopped onto the table and started crying for food.

  8. Does anyone else feed the squirrels? They’ll raid the bird feeders if they’re around.

  9. i started this game, quickly became apparent i was feeding rats more than bird’s. i have a patterdale terrier, this wasn’t a good combo. i stopped feeding birds

  10. We’re also probably destroying our countryside and their habitats more than anyone else, so it’s probably needed.

  11. My wife has a bird song app on her phone so she can figure what birds are in our garden. We have bird feeders all over our garden. My in laws are bird nerds. Bird spotting holidays etc. We are a family who love birds… Always pointing out birds of prey and talking about birds with our young boys…. But then we adopted two cats a few months ago… Man those fuckers love killing or catching the lovely wildlife around our garden. I saved a couple of tits this weekend alone. My wife saved a mole this morning. We have tried keeping the cats inside, but they just go stir-crazy!

  13. My mum is being eaten out of house and home by the garden birds. When I got to fill feeders they all sit on the roof looking down and barely even wait until I’m back in to start munching. I feel bad for them because she’s selling her house, I think she needs to put in a covenant that the buyer keep feeding them or at least agree to wean them off that garden 

  14. My mum buys 6 loafs of bread 4 are for the birds plus loads of bird feed. They have 2 – 3 very large feeders around the house

  15. Im always in two minds when feeding the birds. I do enjoy watching them, but someone resent paying/chore of feeding them. Plus you end up cleaning their shit.

    At least there’s no vet bills.

  17. Might explain why I put a bird feeder out late last year and not had a nibble. Clearly spoilt for choice.

  18. Got to the point pigeons aren’t scared of even my cat in the garden they get that well fed, they will come into the kitchen looking.

    Had a magpie try and get through the damn cat flap!

    Birds also made a hole in the roof to nest so get the wonderful chirping of absolute little dickheads every morning too now.

  19. I’ll bet that doesn’t even count the dry cat food I buy for the neighbourhood crows.

  21. I moved to Portugal and tried feeding the birds here and they completely ignored the feeder. We have some of the same birds here too but they just don’t know how to use the feeders.

  22. One time a squirrel had managed to get right inside one of my so-called squirrel proof bird feeders and was so distracted stuffing its face I managed to sneak up on it to scare it away, whereupon it actually let out a tiny high-pitched scream! Still feel a bit bad about that TBH 🤣

  23. There’s actually a lot of evidence to suggest that bird beaks are growing in size due to climate change. 
    Birds are very well insulated by feathers all over their bodies except the beak and feet, which are the only places heat can escape. As temperatures rise, surface areas of bills have increased too to offset the temperature change so they can regulate themselves better. 
    Bird specimens of one species from 150 years ago have significantly smaller bills than modern ones. It seems most prevalent in corvids. 

  24. You mean we have the greatest Great tits in Europe? Woo Hoo!

  28. I’m not surprised. I’m not from the UK, and was stunned as I saw bags upon bags of different bird food in stores.

    I grew up in the alps, and there were usually 2-3 different versions of bird food available at the bigger stores, and that was it. I also only know like 3 people there who purchase them (including my mum lol).

  29. Something, something, great tits, something, longer pecker.

  30. I always get my fat balls out when tits are around.

  31. On a related note:

    You know how robins are known for being brave? How they will hang around near people – especially gardeners?

    Well that is an exclusively British thing. On the continent, they used to eat robins, so robins learned to avoid people.

    In the UK, robins feature prominently in our folklore, so we never hunted them, so British robins are brave!

    Kinda makes me proud.

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