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Comment by christophilus | Hacker News Reader

An alternative narrative: if feeders favor dominant/ bully birds, it might help the less dominant ones by freeing up just about every other spot in the area. If you knew the high school bullies were hanging out in the gym 90% of the time, the gym is actually helping you avoid the bullies (assuming you don’t have to go to the gym).

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But what if the bullies reproduced yearly? Wouldn't you want to reduce the bully's food supply?

The bullies tend to be loud and annoying. So I'd personally prefer not to have them in my yard. Geese are the worst.

Our bullies here in London are ring-necked parakeets. They are the most bad-tempered birds on the feeder, preferring to peck at each other, and other birds, than to actually eat. I keep one feeder with a cage over it to give the smaller birds a chance. Luckily they only come mid morning and late afternoon, so again the other birds get to eat in peace.

Spring and early summer we have breeding starlings who also cause a commotion on the feeder, but that is more of a good natured scrum, they eat very fast and disappear in seconds.

Only in the short term. The additional food allows for additional bullies to survive, so now the bullies occupy their old stomping ground AND the bird feeder. And of course the new bullies need nesting sites that they’ll happily take from submissive birds.

Maybe, but I suspect many of the birds I see around are made of the very food my wife puts out. Would be curious to see more study.

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