
Urban Birds Are Evolving to Be Fed - nz
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/01/urban-birds-are-evolving-to-be-fed/551120/?single_page=true
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ChuckMcM
Tl;dr - birds that eat at feeders a lot are evolving beaks that are better
suited to eating the sort of nuts that people put in such feeders.

That wrapped in a tale of angst about conjunctivitis, losing touch with
nature, and change in general.

I did look up the bird feeders that are inset in your window frame to allow
for better visualizing. They are pretty cool.

~~~
acomjean
I had one of those inset bird feeders. They work, but being in a urban
environment I ended up attracting pigeons...

My cat loved the one way plexiglass in the feeder and would watch the birds
seated on back of a chair. The birds really can't see through it.

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telesilla
The title is a little disingenuous: the author concludes that while city birds
are evolving to be fed, it's not necessarily detrimental as studies show that
birds constantly seek backup food sources.

Interesting article nonetheless and it certainly makes me reconsider my own
bird feeding practice. It's been years at least, since I gave bread to ducks -
I'd love nothing more than to see permanent signs at lakes and ponds pointing
out how bad bread is for ducks.

[https://www.popsci.com/feeding-ducks-bread](https://www.popsci.com/feeding-
ducks-bread)

~~~
M_Bakhtiari
>White bread in particular has no real nutritional value

I've never understood this claim that a lot of people seem to make. There's
plenty of starch and protein in it, two vital macronutrients. Same with the
bizarre claim some people make about breakfast cereals, that you're better off
eating the box it comes in. No, you're not, humans cannot digest cellulose.

~~~
forgotmypw
If you consider that the cereals are made of wheat and corn that with traces
of pesticides, sugar, synthetic ingredients, and so on, all of which cause
health problems, the cardboard box starts to seem more appealing.

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autokad
considering i ate almost entirely cereal growing up and was much healthier
than most of the people i grew up with, that claim is not worth its weight in
font.

~~~
paulryanrogers
One data point? Are you sure most of the people you know were eating healthier
than you?

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LanceH
One is more than none.

~~~
bmurphy1976
One is a data point. You can draw any line you feel through it but that
doesn't mean it's a trend. You need more data.

~~~
pessimizer
It wasn't an argument about a trend. The question of whether you can drive a
car by filling its gas tank with cola instead of gasoline is answered after
you fill a car with cola instead of gasoline, then drive it. There's no need
to establish a trend.

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dingaling
The authorities where I live are trying to dissuade people from feeding birds,
due to a rat problems, and instead focus on putting out clean accessible water
or growing bird-atttacting plants.

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ddoran
I couldn't help but think of "Pigeon House" [1] in Stoneybatter, Dublin,
renowned among the city's residents for the roost of pigeons that sit on its
roof [2] waiting to be fed, and by the locals trying to avoid them.

[https://www.dublininquirer.com/2017/11/15/in-stoneybatter-
am...](https://www.dublininquirer.com/2017/11/15/in-stoneybatter-ambivalence-
about-the-pigeon-house/)

[https://twitter.com/ciarancuffe/status/689492575460421632](https://twitter.com/ciarancuffe/status/689492575460421632)

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euyyn
A dozen paragraphs in, still no sign of what the title claims, only
storytelling about the author's life.

Can anyone that read it summarize or copy the actual "birds are evolving to be
fed" part?

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avsbst
So when one of Badyaev’s undergraduate students, Clayton Addison, noticed that
the male finches on campus in central Tucson were not singing a rapid trill
that’s essential for attracting females in the nearby desert, the lab was able
to dig into the data for answers. Comparing the beak sizes, bite forces, and
diets of the two populations, the researchers showed that the urban finches
rely so heavily on feeders that their beaks have adapted: they’ve become
longer and deeper to accommodate the sunflower seeds typically on offer, which
are much larger and harder than the small cactus and grass seeds that rural
finches eat. This adaptation has altered not only how urban males sing, but
also what urban females prefer in a mate. It’s a pattern that Badyaev has
since found in other places where finches live in the shadow of humans, the
same large beaks arising from a surprisingly diverse array of developmental
pathways. Such varied routes to an identical end—a beak strong enough to crack
sunflower seeds—may be one way that nature hides variability from the swinging
axe of natural selection.

Evolutionary theory aside, however, I was stuck on one point: There’s such a
thing as a finch Brooklyn accent—thanks to feeders like mine.

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jbattle
My neighbor maintained a bird feeder which brought in tons of different
species. He moved and we're back to sparrows / pigeons / redwing blackbirds
(summer) and the occasional crow .

Ironically the birds I was most enjoyed watching at the "bird feeder" were the
red wing hawks that would sometimes come in for a meal

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mudil
Number of times I've seen something pretty amazing. Here in Portland I've seen
little birds, like sparrows, picking and eating squashed insects from front
bumpers of the cars. They just fly up and pick those insects that stick to
cars when cars drive at night.

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macawfish
Maybe we can learn to cultivate tick and mosquito hungry birds.

