Is it OK to toss out bread crumbs to the birds? This may sound like a simple question but I like birds and don’t want to hurt them by feeding them the wrong diet. 
As far as diet goes, I don’t think it will particularly hurt them. Birds that feed on grains, or omnivorous species, will eat bread crumbs. Species that don’t usually feed on that kind of thing will not.
I suppose in extraordinary circumstances, such as when no other food at all is available, they might develop either a deficiency or an overdose of some additive if they fed on bread exclusively, but I think such a thing would be extremely rare.
And I assume the question is related to my staff report:
Yes. Great report, let’s hear some more from you!
I’ll keep feeding my fine feathers friends.
Thanks
On a somewhat larger scale, what about feeding bread to ducks? There’s a duck pond on campus, and with as many people as feed them, bread has to be a much bigger and easier part of their diet than anything natural. In fact, I would doubt that any natural food source in the vicinity would be adequate to support anywhere near the duck population we have. Is this to an extent that it would be a problem?
Well, I dunno, I’m not really a bird nutritionist. Given that many commercial breads have a lot of sugar, and that the ducks probably don’t get a lot of exercise, I suppose that they could be getting a trifle overweight. But then, I don’t expect that too many ducks die of heart problems.
Seriously, commercial bread has a lot of necessary nutrients, and is often vitamin-enriched. Offhand, I would guess the ducks are probably getting much of what they need in their diet, and can probably make up the rest by eating an occasional bug, frog, or dropped Big Mac.
…not to mention the West Side Sparrows, those gangs of Zonotrichoids that are key to the disappearance of dropped buns, fries and other starch foods in the urban landscape.
In all seriousness, it would not surprise me if sparrows and pigeons have adapted somewhat to urban food droppings, and can tolerate them better than their suburban or rural peers.
Vlad/Igor
My God! The West Side Sparrow Gang! :eek: Be afraid.
And don’t go to Sausalito. Hitchcock awaits. 