Yes, it's wintertime. Temperatures just dropped to 5 degrees farenheit today. For many people, this is a sign to stay indoors and crank up the heating. It's also a sign for some high school kids to finally forgo the baggy shorts or miniskirt in favor of pants. But as much as frozen hair, cold hands, slippery roads, and failing car engines cause us inconvenience, nature- as it is with most things- bears the worst of the elements.It's really amazing, actually- how some creatures manage to survive the winter. Ducks will frequent any open patch of water, no matter the temperature. Animals will take shelter under bushes and snowbanks. But it's not the temperature or state of being cold that is usually the problem. For most birds, the greatest challenge is finding food. Birds that eat seeds, berries, and rodents often have an advantage over those that eat insects and plant matter. But even for these, survival is often a matter of resourcefulness and luck.
There's an ongoing discussion as to whether humans help or hinder birds in terms of their winter survival. While on one hand, we're destroying endless swaths of habitat, we're also planting shrubs, putting out birdfeeders, and creating artificial shelter. The urban environment that we inhabit creates large rodent populations, which in turn, feed hawks and owls. As proof of this, ELEVEN Long-Eared Owls (which are usually quite hard to find) showed up in the middle of downtown Chicago last winter.
By planting ornamental trees, we have also enabled certain birds to survive much further north than they would otherwise. Robins, for instance, can now be seen throughout winter in most states (I even saw some today!). A robin's winter diet usually consists of berries so we've actually increased their food supply by planting cherry and crapapple trees.
And finally, there are birdfeeders, which provide many species (doves, cardinals, blue jays, finches, and sparrows) with an inexhaustable food source. According to the 2007 Survey of Wildlife Related Recreation, more than 55 million Americans over the age of 16 feed birds, so this definitely has an impact on bird populations.
The fact that birds depend on so many of our artificial conditions may seem a bit disturbing, but even in spite of this, I don't see a problem with helping birds in the winter. First of all, nature is nature. If people have the capacity to drive species extinct, I believe we at least ought to help the others. Save for pigeons, starlings, and house sparrows, the birds you're feeding or providing shelter for are most likely native species. Secondly- just look at Earth today. Humans have altered the environment in so many ways- it would be practically impossible to go back and restore earth to its former status. Despite our recent environmental awareness and restoration efforts, we cannot recreate the past nor bring back extinct species. We can only save those that remain.
