What I have done here is posted a warning about cleaning feeders and asking those that get Pine Siskins at their feeders to stop feeding the birds for a month. I hope that these warnings are headed and help save birds.

In response to these warnings a whole series of falsehoods in the realm of bad science have been hurled. I have responded to these fully.

Now this person has made the correct point that it is the high concentration of birds gathering at feeders that can increase the spread of disease among birds and wants me to admit that I am wrong. I’m glad that he/she now finally gets the point of my original post, but where he/she differs from me is on what degree and form of action is needed to remedy the problem.

If the problem of bird feeders acting as vector for disease worsens I will change my position.

Generally feeding birds is harmless and even helpful to birds. None of the birds coming to my feeding station are dying. In addition I do not think that I would have the pair of California Brown Towhees rearing a brood of young here every year if it were not for the supplemental food I provide. There would not be enough food. This is due to the obsession people have with keeping grasses short on their property; which causes the grasses to never to produce any grain for birds to eat.

But alas, asking people to not mow their grass is seen by most Americans as absurd as never washing your dishes. That is one I will not even try; but planting native flower gardens, native shrubs and trees, and not using any pesticides is something that helps the environment without bringing on the wrath of neighbors.

It is nonnative pet cats and feral cats, the use of pesticides, nonnative birds, and habitat destruction and habitat elimination that destroy native bird populations. Properly maintained feeders generally do not. In fact, a person who is feeding birds is much more likely to become aware of these deeper problems and is more likely to do something about them.

In addition to the above threats, the pet bird trade is a huge problem for bird populations internationally. The pet trade could even drive some species to extinction as rarity makes a species even more expensive and profitable for smugglers. Captive bred parrots are all descended from birds taken from the wild and should never be bought because this only encourages the continued smuggling of wild birds. In addition, parrots are highly intelligent creatures that want to be flying over their jungle homes and freely socializing with fellow parrots, not sitting in cages and socializing with humans.

As for my "messiah complex" when it comes to "animal and vegetable kingdoms", it sounds to me like someone may still be upset about me pointing out what an extremely stupid thing it was to release nonnative European Fallow Deer on the Central Coast.