Is a House the Same As a Lake?

[The Hammer]

The birds that I give bird-feed to all seem pretty keen to eat it all up

I call it urbanisation

Many species are in decline, such as starlings. Feeding them helps reverse their decline and increase their numbers

Before anyone fed them there were way more such birds, they had larger populations before anyone fed them anything, so it's not as if feeding them artificially inflates their population


There are no such beasts where I live so that's not an issue for me

Somethings may be ok, such as a small amount of birdseed in a feeder (if you looked at the first link). But it's still best to leave them alone. And bird populations are in decline due to urbanization, the encroach of humans and our pet predators that eat them, cats. So your still creating a buffet for someone.

Cats Pose an Even Bigger Threat to Birds than Previously Thought

Photo by Ian Barbour / CC BY-SA 2.0 Cats’ bad reputation among bird-lovers may be well deserved. A new study estimates that domestic cats, considered a global invasive species, kill...

www.audubon.org

 

[Kathryn]

Somethings may be ok, such as a small amount of birdseed in a feeder (if you looked at the first link). But it's still best to leave them alone. And bird populations are in decline due to urbanization, the encroach of humans and our pet predators that eat them, cats. So your still creating a buffet for someone.

Cats Pose an Even Bigger Threat to Birds than Previously Thought

Photo by Ian Barbour / CC BY-SA 2.0 Cats’ bad reputation among bird-lovers may be well deserved. A new study estimates that domestic cats, considered a global invasive species, kill...

www.audubon.org

My cats are indoors only, thank goodness. I agree, they can get out of hand. One time I had an outdoor cat and I watched her stalk a bird, kill it, and then eat the entire thing. It was actually pretty shocking. She ate it all - feathers, feet, beak, everything.

I put out birdseed occasionally but not much and not that often. TRUE STORY TIME! I recently moved and I now live in southwestern Ohio. Everything is different here! The birds are, especially. I noticed bright yellow finches here that I rarely saw in Texas.

 

[Eddi]

Somethings may be ok, such as a small amount of birdseed in a feeder (if you looked at the first link). But it's still best to leave them alone. And bird populations are in decline due to urbanization, the encroach of humans and our pet predators that eat them, cats. So your still creating a buffet for someone.

Cats Pose an Even Bigger Threat to Birds than Previously Thought

Photo by Ian Barbour / CC BY-SA 2.0 Cats’ bad reputation among bird-lovers may be well deserved. A new study estimates that domestic cats, considered a global invasive species, kill...

www.audubon.org

I don't feed them huge amounts, I just put a bit of seed out to help them out - they bring beauty to the garden and I value them as parts of the natural world

There is little chance of cats getting them as the feeders are high up where no cat could get them

I believe that in Australia it is illegal to have cats and that they are treated as an invasive species

 

[The Hammer]

I don't feed them huge amounts, I just put a bit of seed out to help them out - they bring beauty to the garden and I value them as parts of the natural world

There is little chance of cats getting them as the feeders are high up where no cat could get them

I believe that in Australia it is illegal to have cats and that they are treated as an invasive species

Cats are an invasive species wherever they go. Which is why mine stay indoors. With the exception of like, Egypt where they are the native desert cat afaik.

 

[SalixIncendium]

10 calories from a lump of bread is 10 less calories they need to scavenge from wherever

Please do not feed birds bread. It is very bad for them.

Bread offers wild birds absolutely ZERO nutrition. ZERO. But, how could it possibly harm them, if it has zero effect? Simply, bread fills up a small stomach in a hurry. The bird doesn’t know the food is useless, but leaves feeling full and satisfied, nonetheless. This is a deadly combination of factors, considering how many calories birds need to eat in order to survive.​

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To begin with, birds must be very efficient eaters due to rapid metabolism and the small size of their stomachs. Birds need to max out every meal in order to take in enough nourishment.This means a bird will always take full advantage of each and every feeding opportunity. Ideally, they should be filling up with food that has a high density of the proteins, fats and carbohydrates they require. The food Nature intended. Bread is not that food.​

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Bread is Bad for Birds - The Backyard Naturalist

Please don't give wild birds bread, crackers or other human snack foods. Bread has zero nutrition for wild birds. In fact, bread, crackers, chips and other human snacks are, in some ways, WORSE than feeding birds absolutely nothing. Why? Because bread is bad for birds. Bread is really, really...

thebackyardnaturalist.com

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I keep a feeder of black oil sunflower seeds just outside my door.

 

[Eddi]

Cats are an invasive species wherever they go. Which is why mine stay indoors. With the exception of like, Egypt where they are the native desert cat afaik.

Domestic cats can breed with European wildcats - and produce hybrids

There are wildcats up in Scotland

But their existence is threatened by them breeding with domestic cats

 

[Eddi]

Bread offers wild birds absolutely ZERO nutrition

I don't feed them bread

they should be filling up with food that has a high density of the proteins, fats and carbohydrates they require.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/BusyBeaks-...pcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A1FOS008AJQHHO

 

[SalixIncendium]

I don't feed them bread

https://www.amazon.co.uk/BusyBeaks-...pcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A1FOS008AJQHHO

I don't feed suet, because as a vegetarian, I feel it's a bit hypocritical to feed birds beef product.

 

[mikkel_the_dane]

Setting aside the interesting choice of words with "reduce" there - this isn't the case. Living together with the flows of the gods does not mean returning to hunter-gatherer lifestyles. Agriculture can (and was and is) easily be part of this. Hell, production of consumer goods can even easily be part of this. The key is to follow are more indigenous mindset like described in Dr. Kimmer's book where I recently posted up an excerpt here, so I'll just refer back to that: Ecological Personhood (debate)

The problem is specific economic systems and ways of life that are profoundly greedy and take, take, take without giving back. It's not hard to imagine human homes being designed in ways that actually respect the surrounding ecosystems in which they exist. It's being done, already. Green roofs. Urban wetlands to catch stormwater runoff. Permeable pavement. Native landscaping and getting rid of biotic lawn deserts. Programs like LEED for building design. Permaculture instead of industrial agriculture. And on and on...

Yeah, reduce wasn't a good choice of word. But yes, your post is good and you are right.

 

[We Never Know]

Cats are an invasive species wherever they go. Which is why mine stay indoors. With the exception of like, Egypt where they are the native desert cat afaik.

Yep.

"Outdoor domestic cats are a recognized threat to global biodiversity. Cats have contributed to the extinction of 63 species of birds, mammals, and reptiles in the wild and continue to adversely impact a wide variety of other species, including those at risk of extinction, such as Piping Plover.

The ecological dangers are so critical that the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists domestic cats as one of the world’s worst non-native invasive species"

Cats and Birds

Cats and birds are an unhappy combination. Instinctive hunters, free-roaming cats threaten birds and other wildlife.

abcbirds.org

 

[Eddi]

I don't feed suet, because as a vegetarian, I feel it's a bit hypocritical to feed birds beef product.

You can get vegetarian suet

I don't know about for birds but I know you can for humans

I've made vegetarian dumplings before, can't tell the difference between those and ones made using beef

 

[SalixIncendium]

You can get vegetarian suet

I don't know about for birds but I know you can for humans

I've made vegetarian dumplings before, can't tell the difference between those and ones made using beef

I haven't found any vegetarian suet, and I'm sure if I did, it would cost more than I'm willing to pay.

 

[Tomef]

It has been suggested that a house is no different than a lake, in that they both are places that they both host life.

With regard to our ecosystem, are there any differences between a house and a lake? If yes, what are those differences?

I suppose you could say a house is constructed for the sole purpose of housing people. Providing a living environment isn’t the only purpose of a lake, maybe not even the primary purpose.

 

[Tomef]

You can't drink from a lake

You still can in some places. You could in most of Europe til the middle of the last century.

 

[mikkel_the_dane]

You still can in some places. You could in most of Europe til the middle of the last century.

I was absurd.

 

[Tomef]

I was absurd.

You were absurd or you were being absurd? ;-)

 

[mikkel_the_dane]

You were absurd or you were being absurd? ;-)

English is not my 3rd language.

 

[Tomef]

English is not my 3rd language.

Sorry just poking fun a bit. I’m a mean person

 

[☆Dreamwind☆]

...one is uninhabitable underwater?...

 

[Nakosis]

It has been suggested that a house is no different than a lake, in that they both are places that they both host life.

With regard to our ecosystem, are there any differences between a house and a lake? If yes, what are those differences?

House - a building for human habitation, especially one that is lived in by a family or small group of people.
Lake - A lake is a body of water that is surrounded by land.

WRT the ecosystem, I'd say the the impact on an ecosystem from a house is usually has a much greater footprint than a lake.