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FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions
Why do you have to feed "natural food" to
birds? Birds have evolved like all other animals to fill a certain part of the eco system. With that came certain adaptations for eating. Many birds eat particular types of food because their body can process that food into energy. As humans have a different type of processing plant, it is important that we do not make the mistake of thinking that birds can eat the same type of food as we do. Our digestive system is very different, has different enzymes, different absorption capabilities and does a totally different job. We are able eat food
that we process and change into something different from what it
originally was, before we eat it. Birds are not able to do this. Also
we are able to break down in our intestines food that birds normally
have no access to, such as cheese. Birds are not normally able to get
any dairy products in the wild so they have not evolved the processes to
metabolise them very well. In fact most of our Australian native
animals have intolerance to dairy products and feeding them can cause
major problems for the animal. It is difficult
sometimes to provide natural food all the time while a bird is in care,
so it is important to make sure that the non-natural food you are
providing is not unbalanced. It is also important to give the bird at
least some natural food every day to make sure that you keep the bird
interested in food and encourage independence. Artificial diets are
often made up of ingredients that are easy for us to get; things that we
associate with being healthy; or a recipe that someone else has used
successfully. When you look at a diet, it is important to look at
whether it reproduces the things that are normally in a birds diet. For
example, if a bird is a protein dependant bird, the diet needs to be
high in available protein, not fat or carbohydrates. If the bird is
dependent on carbohydrates, they must be provided in the artificial
recipe, in a form that the bird can digest without wasting energy trying
to break it down. When you are caring for a young orphaned bird, education to the natural diet is essential before it is released. If this does not occur, the bird will die within a short time after release. If the natural diet is fed and fed in a natural way, this is never a problem. It is important as responsible carers to learn how and what a bird eats and reproduce that in care. For instance, birds that catch insects on the wing MUST be taught to do this, as it is not necessarily instinctual behaviour and it takes time to develop the skills that will be needed to capture sufficient food to thrive. If the arguments above
don't convince you what to feed your dependent birds, this one logical
reason should - we know that the food a bird eats in the wild is perfect
for that bird, so it is common sense to give that food in care. We then
know that we are providing exactly what the bird needs. We intelligent
humans don't always know what is best for animals - they do!
What is wrong with a Magpie with weak or
apparently paralysed legs that regularly visits my yard for a feed? Weak legs can be caused
by a few reasons. The most common reason for weak legs in insect eating
or whole body eating birds is incorrect diet. Many birds in urban
areas are encouraged to be dependant on humans for regular handouts of
food. Humans as a general rule like to feel that they are helping the
birds and enjoy the company of these animals. They do not think about
the long term potential impacts they can have on the health of the birds
or they prefer to not think about it. Humans usually group birds into types that like to eat a particular food. Often we only see, or think about the obvious. There are often many other things that are being eaten that the general public is unaware of. For instance, the common Budgie is kept in a cage and is usually fed only a diet of mixed seed all its life, but the budgie also eats, insects, fruit, green seed and vegetation in the wild. How many humans give all these other things to their cage birds? Only a minority unfortunately - and the Budgie is only provided with a portion of its' diet for its' entire life. So it is with the birds
that visit our gardens. We put out fatty mince meat to feed the local
magpies, kookaburras, butcherbirds and currawongs for example - because
we think of them as meat eaters. Similarly, we refer to bird of prey
(eagles, hawks, falcons and owls) as meat eaters. All of these birds
are, in fact, WHOLE BODY EATERS. They do not only eat the muscle tissue
of their prey - they eat the whole carcase of mammals, birds, reptiles,
fish, or insects that they catch. Unfortunately, most humans who feed
these birds in their backyard tend to provide only fatty meat and this
causes an imbalance in the minerals required for bone development, heart
functioning and other vital bodily functions. The bird may not appear
too suffer short term but the life of the bird can be shortened, major
health problems occur and the bird becomes unwell. When meat only is fed to birds, the calcium component that is found in the body of the insects, or in the rest of the body of the prey animal is missing, thus causing the mineral imbalance in the dietary uptake. The correct growth of bones, beaks, feathers and claws, good heart function, healthy nerve tissues and the activity of certain enzymes for digestion all rely on calcium for proper functioning. If this element is not available in correct levels the whole health of the bird will suffer. The practise of adding a calcium supplement to meat does not fully address this problem because the calcium additive is not fully absorbed. Personally, I don't support the practice of feeding birds in the backyard. Not only are we generally providing an insufficient or inappropriate diet; we are to some extent making a local population dependent on human handouts that can rapidly diminish with the human feeders leaving the neighbourhood; we are encouraging population growth beyond what the local natural environment can support; and feed stations can become a vector for the spread of disease. I know my view is not shared by everyone, so maybe the best encouragement that I can give is - if you are going to feed birds in the backyard, you should only provide a snack, rather than a meal, and it should only be some food item that is part of the natural diet, it shouldn't be every day and it should not be at a regular time. The easiest, balanced
diet to provide to whole body eaters and insect eaters is pinkie rats or
mice. These can be bred easily all year round, are a complete food
within a neat package, can be frozen and sliced to the right size. You
can also inject most medication into the body of the dead food for ease
of dosage. Further discussion of
this topic is covered in detail in my book "Caring for Australian Native
Birds"
How do I get a bird that I have hand-reared to
fly away and not keep begging for food? This situation arises
from a very common mistake made by many carers of wild birds. Every animal when it is
young has a period of time where it is sensitive to the thing
(parent/carer) looking after it. This period of time is, in fact,
called the "Sensitive Period". This process is referred to as
"imprinting". Every animal undergoes this process. In humans we call
it the BONDING time. The young animal is then emotionally bonded to the
mother figure. Many experiments have been done and the mother figure
can be a mop head, a picture of a donkey or other ridiculous things.
The best one is always the appropriate mother. When you are hand
rearing a fledgling bird, it is important to remember that the bird must
return to the wild and recognise that it is a bird. For this reason it
is necessary to make sure that the bird does not bond or imprint to you
as its mother figure or, as some people prefer to call it, be
"humanised". This does not mean that you do not look after it; it just
means that you need to put a barrier of some kind between you and the
bonding process of the bird. This is very simple to do and takes very
little extra effort. After all, the reason you are caring for the bird
in the first place is to give it a chance of being a member of the wild
population. The easiest form of
barrier is to use a puppet on your hand and arm when you are feeding the
bird. These puppets only need to be the right colour and not the right
size. The shape is not important and so these can be very easily made
to go around the arm of the person feeding the bird. Material puppets
can be re-used over & over again. A carer who regularly hand rears
young birds should have a collection of appropriately coloured puppets
for the birds that frequently come into care. Eyes are important on the
puppet, as you must avoid eye contact with the young bird. There is a
pattern of a puppet in my book.
The next most important
thing to avoid is association with particular sounds that are human in
origin. We often unconsciously talk to young animals to try and calm
them down and this extends to when we are rearing as well. It is not a
natural sound for a bird to associate with and should be avoided at all
costs. A tape playing the calls of the type of bird you are rearing
during feeding will stop you imprinting the bird to the sound of your
voice. It will also make you more aware of how often and how much you
talk to the birds you are rearing. Be aware that things like the TV, or
other generated noise can also be triggers to imprinting. One of the easiest
things to do to avoid imprinting is to rear more than one of the same
types of bird together, or if that is not possible, group the young
birds with similar birds. Honeyeaters often have similar behaviour so
if only one of a species is in care, put it with other similar species.
Adults of the same species that are in care will also help the bird to
associate with others of its own kind so carers need to be aware who is
looking after other birds and swap them around to group them together. Imprinting affects all parts of the life of the bird. If it is not taught how to recognise food, how to be part of a group, who it should mate with, be predators aware, how to behave like a wild bird, or what other birds are, then the hand-reared bird will never be able to be a "wild" bird and will never take its place in the wild, because it won't be able to fend for itself, find a mate and breed etc. In fact, it will most probably die within a few days after release. My husband & I ran a
ten-year project on banding rehabilitated birds, during which nearly
10,000 birds were banded. Many of these were hand-reared orphans. Many
of these orphans that returned to care in a short time were starving,
due to lack of food recognition training or imprinting to certain
feeding habits. This is a sad indictment on carers who start with the
motivation of wanting to help animals that are affected by human
problems, only to affect the birds chances of return to the wild by not
doing a few simple things to prevent imprinting. Having hand-reared a
bird that is imprinted to humans it is sad to find out that the process
of imprinting is irreversible and the bird will never be able to be part
of the society that it should be part of. The bird is destined to a
life of no man's land. It will not be a positive part of the bird
society and will be a nuisance to the carer or other humans who have to
get on with looking after other wildlife. Imprinting so often ends with
the need to euthanase the bird that has had so much inappropriate love
and attention provided to it by a well-meaning carer. Many studies have
been done to see if imprinting can be reversed and even after removing
the bird from all human contact for years, and then reintroducing
humans, the behaviour was still present and reoccurred immediately.
What is the best food to feed a Kookaburra? If the Kookaburra is in
care, the best food to feed is an assortment of the natural food plus a
good balanced diet that provides all the vitamins, minerals and protein
required by a kookaburra. There are a variety of insects available to
purchase or breed such as wood cockroaches, mealworms, and crickets.
Insects can also be collected from the garden if you don't use
pesticides. The best food available to feed a kookaburra is pinkie rats
or mice. These provide a balanced diet with all the required components
neatly enclosed within the skin. If they are fed slightly furred they
also provide the required roughage for birds like kookaburras. If the
bird is an adult, adult mice or half grown rats are a good size. Wild Kookaburras being
fed by humans to attract them to the garden should NOT be fed mince
meat, steak, dog or cat food or any other form of meat-only diet. This
causes imbalance of calcium and phosphorus, causing long-term damage to
the bird. The best way to feed Kookaburras visiting your garden is by
providing good habitat for the things that they can catch themselves.
Skinks are a favourite food of Kookaburras and they are easy to attract
and encourage to breed. Lots of rocks, wood or leaf litter provides good
homes for skinks, plus a moist soft area for them to lay their eggs, and
lots of ants to eat, are the perfect conditions. In no time at all you
will have the kookaburras visiting to have a snack. Kookaburras also
eat insects, so the planting of trees that provide insects with food -
such as nectar, flowers or sweet sap - will attract insects. Watching birds going
about their natural behaviour is much more rewarding than having them
perform on que. If an area provides natural food and habitat, the birds
are more likely to set residence in your yard, thus allowing you to
watch all the day instead of just when they arrive for their daily
handouts. Why do pee wees peck at car tyres or windows? Pee Wees as well as
other birds are territorial at certain times of the year. This usually
coincides with the time that they are setting up their breeding areas
and want to make sure that no other birds of the same species are living
in the area that will support them, their mate and their young. Much of
this territorial behaviour is based on food supply and preservation of
their young for that year. The act of pecking at
windows or any reflective material is as a result of the bird seeing an
image of itself in the window and thinking that it is another bird of
that species. This means that there is an invader in the territory and
they attempt to drive the invader out. The bird does not realise the
reflection is himself and will spend countless hours attempting to force
his image to leave. The sad part about this behaviour is that the bird
will often neglect other responsibilities in order to preserve his
territory, thus the young may not get adequately fed or the nest may not
get built. The simple solution to
the behaviour is to remove the reflection by covering the widow on the
outside with newspaper, putting white shoe cleaner on the reflective
part of the car wheel or covering the mirrors with a simple cloth that
you can remove when you get into the car to drive. These things may be
tedious over a long period of time but this aggression usually only last
for a month or two around November, December. If you enjoy the birds in
the garden, it is a small effort for a short time to ensure that they
stay and keep breeding in your area. The other birds that may display this behaviour include, Wrens, Willy wagtails, Magpies, pee wees,
What is the best time to release a bird back to the wild? Timing of release can be critical for some birds. The most important of these are the birds that have to leave your area for migration to another country, another feeding area or another climatic area for breeding or return after breeding It is important to be aware if a bird is a migrating bird and coincide your release well before that migration to allow the bird to get fit, join up with others if necessary or become orientated geographically to allow for successful migration. The minimum time recommended for this process is two weeks. If release cannot be effected before migration time the bird will be severely compromised sometimes to the point of certain death. To keep a bird in captivity for the rest of the year if migration is missed is impractical and should not be considered. The stress on a bird due to forced non-migration is severe and unnecessary. It is also very difficult to feed these birds for the entire winter over period on a natural diet as well as not having the bird become accustomed to humans. Generally the process has been tried several times and the results are always unsatisfactory. For release times of non-migrating birds, the bird should be assessed and considered in relation to the other birds of that species in the wild. If the bird is a daytime bird, the most practical time of release is early morning. This gives the carer time to observe the bird for part of the day, retrieve it if necessary or allow the bird a reasonable time to familiarize itself with the territory. Night active birds should be released on twilight to allow the maximum time for feeding and adjustment into the area of release before the need to settle and camouflage for the day. Always feed the bird prior to release. Birds that are territorial will be difficult to release at certain times of the year due to the aggression of the local flock. This can be reduced in a couple of ways. If possible care for birds in their own territory so they maintain contact with their own flock, or care for them in an area where the locals are reasonably tolerant. Young birds of territorial birds are usually tolerated better and often can be adopted by the local flocks. This process works well with Magpies, Kookaburra, Noisy Miners, and Choughs. The best timing of release for adult territorial birds is the time of least aggression for that species, which is usually after their young for that year have been weaned and are beginning to disperse. Young birds can be released at almost any time but the real problems are for adult birds. Territory is maintained while breeding is going on so when that responsibility has passed the vigilance of the flock decreases and adults can often move around between flocks. If you would like an answer to a specific question please email me on the address listed below. I am happy to answer questions for those of you who, like me, are still learning about the process of rehabilitation. |
Feathers
& Foxtrot 