More out of curiosity than anything, I’ve been wondering this for a while. How many dopers go out of their way to offer food to wild or semi-wild things?
And why do you do it/don’t do it? (Is it the aesthetic appeal of having a pile of birds battle it out for supremacy around your bird feeder? Or because that feral kitty with a missing ear might make a good mouser, if only he had all of his teeth?)
I have had bird feeders in the past, but our house now is very near a forest preserve. There are SO many animals right at our doorstep, and they’re such a nuisance, that we don’t put out any food at all.
We see deer walking through our yard every single day. We hear coyotes howling almost every night. Raccoons, possums, woodchucks, etc etc etc. Feeding the little things would attract the bigger things.
Feel for you there. A friend of ours has a farm bordering Appalachian Trail, and she’s got bears wandering through back yard. They hide their trash and can’t have a normal compost heap as a result…
For what it’s worth, Geneb and I feed birds year-round, along with a semi-stray cat who seems to have given up on bird hunting once he started getting regular meals. We’ve also been known to toss crumbs to house sparrows outside a Panera.
We feed the birds, squirrels & chipmunks daily, and leave food out for other wildlife (generally raccoons) since by now we’re resigned to knowing that they’re going to get at the food anyway, and they’re better mannered if they don’t need to rip open trash bags or up-end a compost bin.
Sattua, I’ve spotted coyotes in town several times, but only have had one in the yard once despite leaving food out for whoever a couple times a week. Like bears, they don’t seem to like getting close to the house.
I feed the birds (finch feeder, regular feeder and hummingbirds in summer, as well as growing bird-friendly plants, and leaving them through winter.) It’s fun for me and the kitties to watch, and it’s cool that I can attract such a variety in the city. I live in a VERY urban area and have all sorts of interesting critters (some times I am sure I inadvertently feed rats and pigeons, but I also have a tribe of finches, nuthatches, cardinals, chickadees, etc.) I also try to attract pollinators for my garden, so I have bee blocks and I plant all sorts of things just to feed and attract bees and butterflies and such. And the hummingbirds are sort of an added bonus, damn I just love 'em! They’re like yard eye-candy!
I have a squirrel feeder on my tree that that I dump a handful of peanuts or almonds onto once in a while. Usually in the fall or winter months.
We had a bird feeder but all it ever attracted was house sparrows, starlings and grackles. They can go find their own food.
I have a bird feeder and a squirrel feeder. I love seeing wildlife in the yard. I miss the deer we used to see all the time back in Ohio.
My bf sometimes feed the birds in winter, because he likes to see them. But more important than food is water, since it can go days and days without raining, or if there is frost.
It’s not that I go out of my way to feed deer, woodchucks, voles, gophers, etc.,…it’s just that I have a garden up north and the damned things view it as their personal salad bar.
I finally got a finch feeder put up in my tree, and enjoyed the birds all summer from my new deck.
Then, my tree fell down 
So, I am not currently feeding any birds until I can plant a new tree.
Please stop feeding the squirrels. In our complex, we have one resident who does so and has attracted seemingly every squirrel in a 100km radius. As a result, they eat all my plants (well, the roots anyway) or dig them up to bury the food. Also, the birds have all been scared away. (Yes, I have tried blood meal, they just work around it unless I use enough to kill the plants.)
There are no pretty flowers in our neighbourhood because of this.
Two large silver maples with multiple holes in the trunk means I have every squirrel in the neighborhood regardless. They’re fat enough in the spring & summer on maple seeds that they’ve never damaged the landscaping, they just scamper around in the trees.
I don’t feed any wildlife regularly but I do occasionally take bread crusts down to the park to feed the ducks and I’ve also used bird seed to lure birds in the park for photos.
This time of year, I keep two suet blocks up, plus two bird feeders (filled about 2x a week) and throw out corn on the cob for the squirrells.
Don’t feed cats or dogs other than my own. I don’t see any strays - though hubby saw cat prints chasing bunny prints in the snow. We don’t think that cat is a stray as much as a pet cat that roams.
almost forgot: we have a bird bath defroster so that they can all get a drink - and rinse it out about once a month, refill it biweekly.
I don’t feed birds any more. I used to, but all the nice pretty birds got chased away by the grackles, who are ugly, noisy, and rude. I particularly don’t feed squirrels, as they will chew on the phone lines (and probably the cable lines, too) and make our service unreliable and then non existent.
This new house has a GIANT live oak tree, which has dropped a gazillion acorns, and which drops new ones daily. We have a bunch of fat squirrels in our back yard. Even in the winter, they’re fat.
There was a “stray” cat in the neighborhood I used to live in that I would feed occasionally, although he didn’t really qualify as wildlife. I use quotes because he was more of a communal pet than a stray - he was fat, well-socialized, and would hang out with whomever on the block was out on their porch.
I feed two abandonded Great Pyrenees almost every night. These dogs are about 1 mile and a half from my farm. The place where they are had livestock, which was not tended and starving. After many threats, they took the calves and goats to the livestock auction, but left the dogs. I’m working on finding them another home with livestock to guard.
I dump feed that the horses couldn’t eat out in the fields for the birds and occassional deer, and through old produce out there, too.
I’ve bought a live trap and I’m trying to trap a feral cat my neighbor is threatening to shoot. I’m going to try to make it a barn cat. My hope is with regular food and hay to sleep in, it won’t want to leave.
StG
I have a bird feeder that gets raided by squirrels regularly. I got some new bird food fairly recently and the birds don’t seen to care for it- there are very few birds coming by right now. I have seen as many as a dozen squirrels in my back yard at a time.
I do it just because I like to see the birds and squirrels. I especially like the woodpeckers.
I don’t leave food for dogs or cats other than my own, but do get raccoons and possums.
I don’t feed the wildlife on purpose (except for the hummingbirds in the summer), but there are critters that use my place for a snack bar. The deer like our horses’ water trough in the winter, and I’ve seen as many as seven of them crowding into our little barn to clean up leftovers after the horses finish.
We have year-round seed eaters and hummingbirds, so we put out feeders in the winter for them. We have a squirrel-proof seed feeder, but they will come after the suet feeder on occasion.