by Darryl Jones
Proliferation
The next marker in this story is not the appearance of any specific item or event but the spectacular proliferation of products that accelerated during the late 1980s and early 1990s. This period may be regarded as the advent of the wild bird feeding industry per se, with the founding or consolida-tion of a series of specialist companies providing a range of items for sale to a growing community of feeders and bird watchers now interested in feeding and willing to pay. This was a significant moment: when sufficient numbers of the public, almost certainly already engaged in regular feeding, began to seek to enhance their practice with commercial products. For reasons that have yet to be discerned, enough people were willing to buy the newly available seed packages and dispensers that a few visionary entrepreneurs decided to fill the demand.73
Although there are numerous individuals who could be mentioned, two stand out. In 1981, Jim Carpenter founded Wild Birds Unlimited, selling sunflower seeds and simple tray feeders from a store in Indianapo-lis, Indiana. Today, his company oversees almost 290 stores throughout the United States and Canada, selling more than sixty types of seeds for wild birds (including the recent addition of Jim’s Bird-aceous Bark But-ter) and a seemingly endless variety of feeders.74 In 1987, Chris Whittles launched the first company in Britain to specialize in wild bird foods. Now known as CJ Wildlife, this is still one of the largest suppliers in the region and today has spread into nine European counties. The emphasis has continued to be on quality of the source products and the research basis of the many seed mixes and cakes. At last count, CJs offered 117 varieties of bird food and 184 different types of feeders and accessories.75 Recall that in the 1970s, relatively few people purchased the mere handful of products that were then available. From free crumbs to the Deluxe Evri-Bird Crystal Dome Multi-Feeder in a few decades: a remarkable and largely unexpected industry!
A World of Feeding Birds?
This vibrant, innovative, and undoubtedly lucrative industry is still relatively new. It is also unashamedly ambitious, with all sorts of plans to expand the offerings available: new niche seed mixes, high protein “fat plus” balls, ever more elaborate dispensers, the latest technology aimed at thwarting the fluffy-tailed marauders, and so on. The problem for the companies involved is that this particular sector seems to be approaching saturation. Recruiting new participants has always been a challenge, and while the many imaginative advertising and promotional programs still seem to be working in the big established markets of North America and Britain, some companies are starting to think more broadly: the obvious next step is new markets—in new countries—altogether. But this is not as straightforward as it seems. It may not be as simple as translating the packaging and replacing the bird image used in the advertising. Local practices and attitudes can have a major bearing on the success of a new product attempting to make a mark in a different country. One example I am aware of relates to attempts by a major seed company to break into the Australian wild bird food market. While Australia is a country with a large proportion of people feeding, the majority of foods being offered is not packaged seed. Every Australian supermarket does offer various wild birdseed products, but these are not big sellers. What a lot of people are buying for their birds is made of high protein (i.e., meats and cheeses) for the various carnivorous species that are the typical feeder birds of Australia. The natural diet of these species is meat in the form of worms and grubs. If so, perhaps it would be possible to manufacture something like a high-protein artificial worm. This was a concept that got as far as a trial product—they looked something like segments of whole-wheat spaghetti and just might have worked (I have seen Australian Magpies stealing pasta from alfresco cafés), but the project was suddenly canned for reasons that were never revealed. (Of course, live, dried, and frozen mealworms are now readily available in many countries.)
Ideally, the seed companies need places where lots of people already feed birds regularly and may, therefore, be inclined to buy items to promote their well-being. As we have already discussed, people everywhere have always fed birds informally, without the need for purchasing anything. However, certain communities and maybe even entire societies are more inclined to feed than others, and to do so in an ordered, systematic fashion: organized bird feeding is a regular feature of some countries but not of others. Being aware of these differences would be of great interest to the feeding industry, and it is highly likely that they already have detailed information on the practices of many potential markets. This is exactly the sort of data I would love to see, but it is unlikely that I am going to gain access to such “intelligence.”
To the best of my knowledge, nobody has even attempted to determine the feeding status of entire countries; no such information appears to be available in the public domain. There are, however, some excellent recent investigations of the characteristics of feeders in general from several parts of the world, which include the fascinating issue of what motivates people to feed birds. This complex topic is so central to our story that it is explored in a section by itself (Chapter 7), but it is peripheral to what I am proposing here. I am considering feeding at a much larger scale: the apparent national, possibly even cultural, tendency of a large proportion of the population to practice wild bird feeding. And no, I’m not going to specify a particular number: “large” will have to do.
Before starting, we need to return to the difference between simple spontaneous feeding and the more organized, planned practice. This is important as it allows us to distinguish between countries where feeding is common throughout and countries where it is not, without the distrac-tion of the universal “tossing a chip to the gulls” version of feeding. This is part of our grand plan of trying to piece together the influences and circumstances that have led to the international phenomenon and industry we see today.
The usual approach when investigating a new research question is, of course, to consult the literature. After more than a decade of an unhealthy obsession with this topic, I am fairly sure I have seen almost everything published, at least in English, and have a decent network of colleagues to interrogate and query, including many in non-English-speaking countries. After consulting all these sources, I feel confident in stating that no one has yet attempted a comprehensive bird feeding survey of the countries of the world. And I am not about to try. What I will attempt, instead, is to list those countries where organized bird feeding is a common practice. What I will not be attempting is to list countries where feeding does not occur; this would assume that such information was actually available. It is not, so the absence of a country from the list means only that I could find no relevant information.
A separate but important issue is those countries where organized bird feeding is practiced but on a more limited scale, perhaps restricted to specific societal groups or targeting certain types of birds. Initially I attempted to compile such a list but was forced to abandon this task simply because of the paucity of data. We simply do not know what is happening in most countries. Instead, I will discuss a few places where we know at least something.
The list of feeding countries is based on what I could glean from the published material and many discussions with international colleagues. To these worthy and studious endeavors, I must add a far more enjoyable mode of research. In late 2014, I attended a large scientific conference in Malmö in southern Sweden, covering a topic nothing whatsoever to do with bird feeding. Finding myself surrounded by colleagues from almost every European country as well as a wide selection of others, how could I resist? Over many a coffee or beer I would innocently change the topic of conversation (“So, do they feed birds where you come from?”) among a group of, for example, South Africans, Belgians, Brazilians, Japa-nese, Poles, and Swedes. This unorthodox—and unauthorized—approach turned out to be illuminating. My initial queries started extensive e-mail exchanges and debates, many of which continued for months. Obviously my approach cannot be regarded as a legitimate method of data collection, but i
t did corroborate information I had already gleaned.
What this preliminary and incomplete approach allows me to do is list countries where feeding is commonly practiced. To aid clarity, the countries are listed in continental groups.
Countries where organized wild bird feeding is practiced by significant proportions of the population
Europe: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom
North America: Canada, United States
Oceania: Australia, New Zealand
As a scientist trained to assess the strength of arguments based on the information presented, the methods used to collect it, and the results of the statistical tests applied to the data, this list is not something I am willing to die for. Nonetheless, I feel quietly confident about the countries included, although it is undoubtedly incomplete. There will be others I have missed, but those countries listed have been corroborated from several sources.
The first feature to note about the countries listed is that of cultural heritage: all are either European or societies of predominantly European background. Although most are from the Northern Hemisphere, the two Southern Hemisphere countries, Australia and New Zealand, were settled relatively recently by Europeans (South Africa is a special case discussed below). This might tempt us to conclude that wild bird feeding is simply “European.” A closer inspection of the list, however, also reveals that most of the European countries listed are from the northern part of the region while the European countries not listed are all from the Mediterranean. France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece are all missing. So, to come to an early and oversimplistic conclusion already, countries where bird feeding is widely practiced are typically colder. Noting the two Antip-odean exceptions, inclusion in this list is by climate: a national tendency to feed wild birds seems to be fundamentally about provisioning birds in winter. It would appear that some individual practices are reflected at the national level.
Such revelations may be embarrassingly self-evident, but bear with me; there are important patterns yet to emerge. The next task is to consider those countries not listed but where some level of organized wild bird feeding certainly occurs but is practiced by a relatively small proportion of the national population. The group below is very obviously just a start but may be useful for discussion:
Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, France, Greece, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, South Africa, Spain
We can start with the Mediterranean countries already mentioned. There really does not seem to have been a tradition of widespread organized wild bird feeding in these places, even though some regions— the north of France, the Pyrenees, the mountainous parts of Italy, for instance—certainly experience sufficiently cold winters to at least provide the normal setting for the most familiar expression of the practice. Some such feeding almost certainly does occur in these places, but I can find no information of how much. Evidence is accumulating of genuine organized, regular feeding becoming popular in some areas, usually because of promotion by bird and conservation groups. Indeed, there are some localized sites where bird feeding is relatively intense, but due almost entirely to the presence of large numbers of northern Europeans. This is particularly evident in Spain where enclaves of British (Costa del Sol) and German (Empuriabrava) retirees now live, bringing their feeding habits with them. Similarly, cultural influences appear to be associated with feeding being far more prevalent in British Gibraltar as compared to the adjacent Spanish townships.
It has proved difficult to find much in the way of useful information for most Central and South American countries, although there can be no doubt that wild bird feeding occurs to some extent in most. This does seem largely focused on hummingbirds and occasionally certain parrot species. Given the European influence mentioned already, it is possible that the practice may be restricted to certain social groups. But it is difficult to be any more explicit.
In South Africa, a sophisticated feeding and wildlife gardening culture has developed recently.76 In terms of the ready availability of feeding-related products, the detailed nature of the advice, and the enthusiasm of the participants, the scene in South Africa is clearly vibrant. Nonetheless, the practice is distinctly confined to the minority European community and evident mainly in certain cities, notable Cape Town and Durban.
Winter Only?
Beyond the simple proportion of the population engaged in feeding, the critical difference between the “minority” feeding countries and those listed as “significant” feeders is the issue of winter feeding. As mentioned already, the feeding of birds in winter correlates directly with the widespread expression of the practice. In countries where winter feeding does not occur regularly, the proportion of the human population feeding birds is much lower. Furthermore, in the “feeding” countries, the feeding of birds at times other than winter has become a critical point of discussion.
This point was forcefully emphasized during my opportunistic conversations in Sweden with colleagues from many European countries. Indeed, it was somewhat surprising to hear the same strong sentiment expressed repeatedly: yes, bird feeding was common in many European countries but only during winter and certainly not at other times. Vigorous debate then ensued as to what might be the most appropriate triggers for the “proper” starting time for provisioning—a particular date, the first snow, the first frost, for example, were all advocated—and similarly, when to stop. These discussions often became quite animated when it became clear that some countries actually practiced feeding all year round. For some, this was almost a violation of a well-established, cross-cultural norm; for others, continuous feeding was a simple and natural extension of the winter practice. The different perceptions and reactions among these well-educated and well-traveled colleagues was fascinating to witness and indicated that this issue was of great significance to the story.
All-season, indeed continuous, feeding, appears to be such a profound change in long-held practices, if not traditions, that I consider this to be the most significant development in the recent history of wild bird feeding. Exploring how this change came about and why it is important requires a chapter of its own.
3
THE BIG CHANGE
Winter or Always?
It is a glorious golden autumn day, something fairly unusual for central Poland during September and definitely to be enjoyed while it lasts; the wind, rain and cold will be coming any day now. Skeins of migrating Graylag and Bar-headed Geese steadily cross the clear blue skies, while the hedgerows are alive with southbound warblers and flycatchers. My guide and colleague, Piotr Tryjanowski, a professor at nearby Poznan University, is striding through the fallow fields toward a huge cylindrical roll of hay, apparently having spotted something of interest. I am doing my best to keep up, but the “new” birds keep appearing: Whinchat, Crane and just now a magnificent Black Woodpecker—Europe’s largest—has flown by, direct but heavily and unmistakable. “There, and there too!” Piotr whispers hoarsely, peering in one direction with his binoculars and pointing his left arm in another. Somehow I manage to follow his double directives and spot them both in succession: a Great Grey Shrike and a Red-backed Shrike! Five “lifers” in the space of half an hour; I am ecstatic! Piotr shrugs. “Good but not so special. We expect them at this time of the year, but I guess you are lucky.”
The Great Grey Shrike is just one of the species Piotr has studied intently, but it is certainly a favorite. “Unfortunately, you rarely see shrikes in gardens,” he explains, a pity because Piotr has just added wild bird feeding to his lengthy array of research interests, and it is the reason for my visit. “There is a long tradition of feeding birds in Poland, especially the hanging of fat and suet on trees. This may have started when farmers noticed birds feeding on hanging pig skins, though today most people probably use commercial products.” Feeding mixtures are widely available but most people seem to us
e the “little house” feeders on a pole. Feeding is also a prominent community activity, with many informal groups of neighbors organizing a roster to keep a local communal feeder, located in a park or street, supplied with seed. Probably a majority of schools in Poland maintain a feeder in the school grounds. “It’s just normal here,” Piotr observed.
