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The Food Chain

Factual: Food & Drink

Examining what it takes to put food on your plate

The Food Chain examines the business, science and cultural significance of food, and what it takes to put food on your plate.

The joy of feeding birds

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The Food Chain: The joy of feeding birds

Magazines & Reviews

02/03/2023 GMT

BBC World Service - The Food Chain, The joy of feeding birds

Who’s getting more out of this human-animal interaction – the birds or us?

Humans have been accidentally feeding wild birds for millennia; any leftover food scraps to be scooped up by opportunistic, feathered friends.  

The deliberate feeding of birds, however - placing seeds out on a feeder in the garden, taking crumbs to a nearby park or lake – is a more recent, cultural phenomenon. In some countries, it has deep significance and one of the most popular ways humans interact with wild animals – and it’s big business. In other places, it’s practically unheard of.  

So, why do humans feed wild birds?  

In this programme, Ruth Alexander delves into the many aspects of this human-animal interaction and asks the question; who’s benefiting more, the birds or us? Ruth speaks to urban ecologist, Dr Darryl Jones, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and to keen bird feeders Dan DeBaun, in Minnesota, US; Fung Sing Wong in Singapore; Bylgja Valtýsdóttir in Reykjavík, Iceland; and Antony Tiernan, in Surrey, UK. 

If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk 

(Picture: Blue tit on garden feeder. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)

Producer: Elisabeth Mahy

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