7 Reasons to Think Twice Before Getting a Bird Feeder

3. They can be pricey

The costs of maintaining a feeder can add up. “I have a suet feeder and buy cakes for those,” Rutter says. “There have been times when the birds have eaten an entire one in a day. And then there have been times where it’s taken a whole week.”

Rebecca Delahaye-Beekman, 61, from Dyer, Indiana, feeds between 30 and 50 birds daily, as well as a bunch of squirrels, at five feeders and spends $55 a month on birdseed. “I have to fill them every three to four days in the spring, summer and early fall, then about once a week in the winter,” she says.

If you want seeds that won’t sprout plants under your feeders, you’ll need to buy ungerminated seed, which Adam Brewerton, a wildlife conservation biologist with the Utah Department of Wildlife Resources, says can be more expensive. There’s also the cost of specialty items, like squirrel guards and even, in a situation like Foster’s, a whole new bird feeder when a bear makes off with it.

4. Sick birds could infect one another

Last year several organizations, including the Audubon California chapter of the National Audubon Society and the Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota, urged people to take down backyard bird feeders and birdbaths during a massive outbreak of the avian flu. While some organizations say this may not always be necessary in times of outbreaks, experts note that not encouraging birds to gather in one spot during a viral spike may have some benefits.

“By using feeders, we attract large congregations of various birds — a melting pot of passing this infection on to birds that are healthy,” says August Abbott, owner of bird rehabilitation center BrokenBirds.org and a certified avian specialist for JustAnswer. She equates this to throwing a big dinner party during the heart of COVID — no masks, in an enclosed area. 

“All it would take is one person with the virus mingling among a hundred more to infect the entire room,” she says. “That is what could very easily happen at an innocent bird feeder in your location.”

Brewerton notes that the strain of avian influenza currently in circulation seems not to be affecting songbirds, thus making it less likely to spread by sharing real estate at feeders. “But artificial concentration of birds always leaves disease transmission as a worry,” he says. “Careful and regular cleaning will mitigate,” he explains.

5. Bird feeders attract unwanted critters

Birdseed can lure creatures not of the avian variety to your yard. Squirrels, chipmunks and raccoons love the seed, and they can become destructive and knock down feeders or gnaw through plastic to get to what they’re after. You’ll also need to come up with a system for storing your birdseed, as rats and mice can chew through plastic bags of seed stored in places like your garage.

“You always want to make sure that you put any birdseed in an airtight, sealed container,” ideally metal, Rutter says.

6. They bring health concerns

“Whenever you feed wildlife, and it brings multiple animals together and concentrates them, it always increases the chance for disease transmission,” says Brewerton. “And backyard bird feeding has always been the most common and widespread practice of feeding wildlife.”

In situations where birdseed is spread out with easy access, like on a platform feeder, birds may poop right into the feed. If another bird eats the contaminated seeds, it can spread salmonella. “It’s not necessarily a direct risk to humans, as you’re probably not going to be eating contaminated birdseed yourself. But you might touch it, it might get on your hands, and then you might go eat a snack or something,” he explains.

Birds can also carry mites and insects. When Brittany Hodak, 39, and her family put up a bird feeder, they noticed an increase in ticks near their home in Franklin, Tennessee. “Our exterminator told us bird feeders were the number one contributing factor to ticks in our backyard and therefore on our dogs,” she says. “We got rid of the bird feeders and the ticks were gone immediately.”

Rodents coming into your yard to eat birdseed may also carry diseases.

7. They can harm local wildlife

Many people place bird feeders near windows, but Rutter warns that this can cause birds to fly into the glass and be injured or die. To help avoid this, outfit your windows with decals, UV stickers, bird tape, netting or screens to help feathered visitors see the glass.

Having a bird feeder can bring lots of kinds of birds into your yard, including invasive nonnative species.

“Starlings, for example, will often take over a bird feeder,” Brewerton explains. “They’ll actually pretty aggressively chase other birds away from it.”

Also, when birds congregate, neighborhood cats can gather to more easily pick them off.

Editor's note: This article was originally published on July 6, 2021. It has been updated to reflect new information.