It might be hard to believe that one person feeding birds in their yard can help restore the balance of nature.
But it's true. Because in nature, everything is connected. And everthing matters.
Wild birds are essential to biodiversity --- our planet's way of maintaining it's own health. By wreaking havoc on wildlife habitats with our roads and buildings and suburban lawns, we've thrown biodinersity out of balance. Like canaries in a coal mine, our declining bird populations are warning us that our environmental health is in jeopardy. Feeding back- yard birds is simple yet effective way to favorably affect bird populations and eccourage and sustain biodiversity.
It's a natural sequnce: the more you feed the birds in winter, the greater number of birds will survive to raise their young. The more you feed the birds during nesting season the less time the parents will need to stay away from the nest foraging for food. The better the baby birds are feed, the higher their survival rate. The more baby birds that survive, the more insects they consume. The fewer insects you have, the fewer chemicals you'll have to use. The fewer chemicals you use, the faster your immediate environment will be brought back into balance. The more that your immediate environment is in balance, the more natural prddators of insects you'll have. The fewer chemicals you use, the healthier you, your children, your pets, your yard and the water supply will be. The healthier the habitat is, the more birds there will be. The more you feed birds, the sooner all of this will happen.
So just feed the birds. And make a world of difference.
( Norman Bell ) ( Droll Yankees )