Feeding birds mince starves them of life-saving nutrients
Mince and bread lack calcium and vitamins birds need, leading to weak bones and feather loss that proves fatal in the wild.
Wildcare Queanbeyan is urging residents to stop feeding native birds mince and bread, especially during hatching season. Birds fed these foods develop weak bones, rubbery beaks, and poor feather growth-conditions called metabolic bone disorders that prove fatal when chicks leave the nest.
Several young birds in the Queanbeyan River area have shown bone and feather deficiencies linked to incorrect feeding. Coordinator Marianne Gates says birds like kookaburras and magpies get everything they need from natural prey like bugs and small animals.
She warns that baby birds fed solely on mince and bread won't survive long in the wild. Feeding also risks spreading avian flu when sick birds gather in the same spot, she adds.
- Wildcare Queanbeyan
- Organisation warning
- Marianne Gates
- Coordinator
- Hatching season underway
- Season
Why it mattersWell-meaning feeding harms the birds people are trying to help, and spreads disease through bird populations.
AustraliaAustralians wanting to support native birds should leave them to find their own food instead of offering scraps.
✓ Claims checked against the source. checked 9 d ago
