Virginia Tech study looks at how people are influenced by their backyard bird feeders

Feeding birds in your backyard may affect bird health

ROANOKE, Va. – A new Virginia Tech study takes a look at how people who feed birds are influenced by natural changes they see that are caused by their bird feeders. 

In the United States, more than 57 million households feed backyard birds, spending more than $4 billion annually on bird food.

Researchers Ashley Dayer and Dana Hawley, of Virginia Tech, wanted to know how feeding birds can influence a person's actions. 

The study was conducted in collaboration with researchers from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia, and their findings were recently published in People and Nature. 

Using a survey of 1,176 people who feed birds and recording their observations of birds in a database, researchers found that many noticed natural changes in their backyards that were caused by feeding, including an increase in the number of birds at their feeders, or other animals such as cats or hawks. 

According to the study, one of the surprising results  of the study was that "when deciding how much to feed birds, people prioritized natural factors, such as cold weather, more than time and money."

Though some believe the effects of feeding wild birds is good, others argue that could negatively impact the health of birds. 

“Feeding wild birds is a deceptively commonplace activity. Yet, it is one of the most intimate, private, and potentially profound forms of human interaction with nature. This perceptive study uncovers some of the remarkable depth associated with bird feeding and discerns that people who feed birds are alert to a wide range of additional natural phenomena,” said Darryl Jones, a professor at the Environmental Futures Research Institute and School of Environment and Sciences at Griffith University in Australia, who was not connected to the study.