_{Bird Feeding Bible}

_{The Birds at My Table: Professor Darryl Jones, urban ecologist from Griffith University, spreads the word on his soon to be published book. This is a popular science book that absolutely anyone can understand. Science is about doing the research and then telling people in the most effective way. This is a far cry from the currency of success in the university system in getting papers published in prestigious journals that hardly anybody reads. Subtitled “Why we feed birds and why that matters”, the book is an exploration of everything you could possibly think of to do with feeding birds in backyards.}  

_{Part of the motivation for writing the book was to counter the prevalent Australian attitude that such backyard bird feeding is the wrong thing to do. Given that about four million people in Australia actively buy food specifically to feed the birds in their backyards, this is obviously extremely popular. Bird feeding is a genuinely important and profound connection with something wild, an experience done on a daily basis.  One person he interviewed said, “They (the birds) don’t need to come. They could decide not to visit but for some reason they are willing to come from their wild lives and visit me in my home.” As hosts, bird feeders have to make sure the food is good quality and clean and that the food is spread so birds aren’t artificially concentrated in one place, preventing fights and the spread of disease. Hosts also have to be aware that predators will take advantage of concentrations of birds at particular times of the day.}

_{In other parts of the world the average size of birds coming to feed is small, like the blue tits and chickadees in the US. The main birds coming to feed in Australia (magpies, butcher birds, rainbow lorikeets and cockatoos) are much larger and, because magpies are the top visitor, meat is the most common food provided, unlike other parts of the world.}

_{Whatever food is provided (mince, seeds) it turns out that it is only a small fraction of the birds’ diets as they are still getting most of their food from the natural world. This means that bird feeders can go on holidays and even stop altogether knowing that it will not affect the birds.}

_{The official date announcing the book by Cornell University Press is 21 March for the US and the UK but in Australia, the local publishers, New South Publishers, will have them available in bookshops around 10 March. Unlike other parts of the world Australia has never had a guide about backyard bird feeding, so at $27 this might become the bible of bird feeding in Australia}