Studies have shown that wild birds rely on many different sources of food for survival. Even birds that regularly visit feeders usually rely on them for less than 25% of their food supply, with wild food sources providing the rest. Wild birds have survived on this continent for millennia without people feeding them, and could do so again. People didn’t start feeding wild birds in North America until the late 1800s. Some people feel that human-caused habitat loss increases the need to provide food for our feathered friends. This is true, to some extent, in more urban areas. The flip-side to this is the millions of acres of habitat that were lost to grow the crops for the bird seed in the first place.

Feeding birds during cold winters in the Northern latitudes has been shown to increase the survival rate of chickadees. I’m sure that it isn’t nearly as important down here in the South because snow cover is what prevents them from finding food in northern states. Even when it gets cold here in Chattanooga, wild food sources are still available.

A Wisconsin study, conducted in the middle of winter, sheds some light on this problem. The conclusion was that birds who regularly visit feeders find wild food sources when their feeders are suddenly taken away, and they survive just as well as birds that depend entirely on wild sources. During a typical winter, wild food sources are enough to ensure the survival of wild bird populations.

So if for some reason you quit feeding the birds in your yard, they will find other sources of food to survive. Birds do tend to get into a routine of checking food sources. If you stop feeding them, it may take them awhile to come back to your feeders as part of their routine.

Feeding birds can be a tremendous benefit to people because in our increasingly urbanized world, feeding birds has become our primary interaction with wild animals.