Many people have memories of going to a park and tossing
out scraps of bread to feed the pigeons and ducks. It is not unusual for people to put out bread
that has gone stale in their backyard feeders, too, so that it "doesn't go
to waste". However, caution must be
taken with offering bread, as it may actually do more harm than good.
Bread molds fast outside and injesting these molds can
cause a whole range of illnesses in birds.
Bread offered in too large pieces may also cause blockages in birds'
digestive tracts. Crop stasis, a
condition where the crop fails to empty properly and food ferments leading to
secondary yeast infections, can result from bread consumption.
Bread is more likely to attract nuisance bird species,
particularly European Starlings, House Sparrows, and pigeons.
The biggest problem with offering bread is that it does not
offer proper nutrition to birds. Birds
that fill up on bread feel full, but have not obtained the fats and proteins
needed for survival. Many of our
favorite feeder birds have digestive systems that rely on calories obtained
from dietary fats, not dietary carbohydrates, for daily health and survival.
Consider the following facts:
- Dietary fats supply bird with energy, essential fatty acids, and pigments.
- Fats are the most concentrated energy source that a bird can consume.
- Fats are the only dietary component that is deposited intact into a bird’s tissue.
- Stored fats are the primary energy supply that fuels a bird between meals, throughout migration, and during a chick’s embryonic development.
- In small passerines the amount of fat stored is a function of overnight energy expenditure used to maintain metabolic rate and body temperature. Up to ¾ of fat reserves may be used in one night and replenished the next day.
- When fat reserves are depleted, protein, mostly from muscles, is depleted to sustain energy needs.
These seeds all also offer more protein calories than
bread. 100 grams of bread offers about
30 protein calories, while black oil sunflower gives 74 protein calories. There are 56 protein calories for safflower,
91 for peanut chunks, 70 for sunflower chips, and 84 for nyjer thistle.
If you do decide to put out bread, we suggest following
these guidelines:
- Only put out an amount of bread that the birds will eat in a day; food left on the ground overnight may attract undesired visitors such as rats and raccoons.
- Brown bread is better than white.
- Crumble bread into tiny pieces. This is especially important during the breeding season so that it is only eaten by adult birds. Dry chunks of bread will choke baby birds, and a chick on a diet of bread will not develop into a healthy fledgling.
