Do you feed wildlife?

I don’t feed, but I have a bird bath.

I started feeding the cat our neighbors left behind a few weeks after they left. I didn’t realize he was alone for a while, but he was probably an indoor cat because he was starving to death. At first I was just planning to feed him and keep him outdoors, but he’s sitting on my lap right after about a month of that silliness.

Also someone dumped house bunnies in our neighborhood. They are definitely house bunnies and not wild rabbits and they showed up together about a month ago. They are not too shy. They will let a person or even a cat or dog come right up to them before they bound away.
I will admit I am giving them food. We live in an inner city area so I’m hoping I can eventually catch them and bring them in before someone or thing eats them. They’re so cute. That’s why I do it, dang it. Because they’re so cute!

That’s some polite bears.

On our balcony, still feeding Henry and Maggie and a few other pigeons detailed in my pigeon thread.

I have a bird feeder that I fill with safflower seed. I only use safflower seed because it appeals to native birds but (usually) is not very attractive to squirrels or the non-native pest species like house sparrows and grackles. I am a big believer in trying to help the native species out.

I have hummingbird feeders, kept up all winter as well as summer. Who doesn’t love hummingbirds? I tried birdseed a few summers ago for the other boidies, but the squirrels made short work of that. Somebody feeds squirrels around here because I find the goddamn peanut shells in my dug-up potted plants, pissing me off. :slight_smile: I inadvertently fed the raccoons when I accidentally left a bunch of dog food samples in the carport. That led to a raccoon party in our driveway at 3:00 a.m.! I tossed some stale pumpkin seeds into the adjacent woods for the squirrels, just because I was feeling kind, but I don’t regularly feed anything wild, except the hummers.

The deer and bunnies I do not feed–they just come through and eat without invitation.

Now that our barn cats spend half their time sleeping/living on the porch, I’ve had to stop putting a feeder up. I used to have one up to put the leftover food from my parrots’ feed cups but now I put the leftovers in a covered bucket and when I’ve got it about half full, I dump it out near the end of the barn where the birds have a lot of cover.

We put fruits and veggies that are starting to go “over” out for the deer and other critters, and we have a special place in back of the barn that the hay our horses won’t eat goes to feed the deer.

I once made fed a couple of kookaburras from my timber balcony. It was great watching them kill a few raw sausages originally destined for the bin.

Within a week, there was a dozen; loudly demanding food in beak-meets-glass morse code. I ignored them. They pecked my house down and laughed their heads off.

I use feeders on my deer lease. Half the time I seem to be feeding hogs, though.

There seems to be a lot of this about. My ‘stray’ cat has a nick out of an ear and is missing a tooth. I think it was left behind by the previous owners of my house and (usually) sleeps in the corner of the garage. It has stopped catching birds, frogs etc. either it’s getting old or it’s just not hungry enough to bother. I let it sleep in the hall over the last couple of winters when it’s been well below freezing at night. Chucking it out in the morning is a bit of a chore.

I have peanut feeders out for the birds, squirrels get into those. Left over cat food goes out for whatever gets to it first, usually magpies.

I used to leave cat-spurned kibble out for the local hedghogs but I haven’t seen them for a while.

Ho hum. That was my plan too. Kitty still gets kicked out each morning though, I’m not that soft.

They being the friends, not the bears. :smack:

I put squirrel food out for the squirrels (and the occasional lucky rabbit) in the winter and early spring.

I started to last winter, I really enjoyed watching the birds and squirrels, but it got EXPENSIVE fast. It ended up after a month or so I was spending more money feeding them than I did my dogs. I couldn’t afford it so I stopped. :frowning:

I work in downtown DC. Our parrots pick through their seeds and pellets and we toss the leftovers, which often contain a lot of usable food, into a bin. Most of the times it’s cold out (and occasionally other times too) I remember to grab a container and pack the leftover parrot food into the city with me, to scatter for pigeons, sparrows, and starlings. I know a lot of folks don’t like them, but they do get by in the urban landscape, and this is a probably a much better diet for them than the junk food people usually throw to them.

I will walk along a pond and throw tiny little bread balls to bluegill just to watch them swarm all over the place, that’s probably the closest I’ll get to feeding wildlife.

I go down to a pond occasionally and feed them bread with my daughters. Mainly because they (the daughters) find it amusing.

Only trolls.