I recall when I was a kid growing up, I thought feeding birds at the park or beach was fun. I don’t think I ever thought it would harm anything or anyone, until I discovered a few facts.
When I saw what they do on the Seal Beach Pier, I realized that maybe there is substance to what I had learned about not feeding wild birds. The fact is that there are too many birds flocking out there.
I don’t blame the bird watchers—I blame the people who feed the pigeons and don’t understand why it isn’t healthy.
Today, I had the pleasure of speaking with a gentleman from Bolsa Chica Conservancy on the telephone. In the past, I have been educated by a friend who has spoken to them about, for instance, dogs running free and it not being good for the preserved wetlands area (it scares the wildlife and disrupts the balance of nature).
My question was, if there was a law against feeding wild birds. The preserve worker stated that while the public visits the nature preserve, they are strongly urged not to feed anything. They also have park rangers there to protect the wildlife and to enforce the California state law against feeding wild birds in designated preservation areas.
The difference is that outside of preservation areas, there is no one manning of nature, at least not on foot, unless someone complains, and then there are limited city laws to help out.
In the city of Seal Beach, to be fair, there are two of which I found related to the subject of feeding or keeping birds:
“Municipal Code 7.05.100. Feeding Wild Birds. No person shall feed any wild birds that are confined in an enclosure on private property. Municipal Code 7.05.120. Prohibited Animals. No person shall keep any of the following animals: … fowl …”
In laymen terms, this means the residents are not allowed to keep a wild bird in their enclosed back yard and feed it—it’s not a pet. It’s when birds become domesticated that they are at a huge loss, because the balance of nature becomes lopsided.
Let me explain:
Fact: Wild birds are free and can live on their own without human help in feeding them. According to the California Department of Fish and Game, the public is encouraged to wash down the concrete areas around their homes when wildlife releases feces on it. Why? Washing down helps keep potential disease away from the domestic home. These wild birds may harm the health of your domesticated animals without even touching them, if they eat and drink out of the dishes they see from the sky.
I never thought this was true until one day many years ago I left my dog’s dish uncovered and came to find the birds having a field day with the food all over the yard and the water was murky from all the dirt and guano in it. I was glad I was home to clean it up, for it could have posed more than just a problem for my dog—it could have polluted our home too if we had not been aware of it.
After that I purchased a small old table at a garage sale to protect my dog’s food from a wild bird’s droppings. The advice that initiated this idea came from a dog rescue program.
One last essential fact about wild birds is that if they get fed domestically they will come back to feed in the same place. This is not good in domestic terms, for the pattern of finding food naturally stops.
If a wild bird was not being fed in that same place it would leave and go to another source in the wild again.
Domestic foods plainly do not have enough nutrition for them. Birds know what nutrition they need and how to get it on their own. They feed like the wildlife they are.
In the many years I have lived in my neighborhood, I have seen birds come and go. One thing is for sure—they love to feed off the 33 cherry bushes I have in my backyard. They love my palms in the front yard as well. They also love the few plants I have—I see them flutter around them all the time and it’s absolutely breathtaking.
One of the best ways to really enjoy birds is to plant things that attract them, which most people already have—most trees and plants.
Hummingbirds, for instance, love the color red, so it’s not necessary to have a bird feeder—a red hibiscus is perfect. By planting nature around you, it keeps the balance in the environment and you can still appreciate the beauty in the birds you see around you every day.
Enea Ostrich is a longtime resident of College Park East in Seal Beach.
