Percentage of birders in Australia - and feeding

["Greg" <>]

Hi Michael,

The issue of feeding Australian birds has been dealt with ad nauseum on 
Birding-aus so I don't want to stir up a hornet's nest (or is it wasp's nest 
in Australia) but the following points are pertinent:
objections to feeding birds are not solely based on environmentalists' wild 
claims - there is a strong view within the scientific community that the 
disadvantages outweigh the advantages;
there may be a greater case for feeding birds in the UK and the US where 
extreme winters occur and natural habitat has, in many cases, been lost;
despite pleas, recommendations, requests etc. some people will continue to 
feed Australian birds.
Barbara Salter's wonderful book is in my library but I would hope that the 
work that she pioneered has advanced now to the stage where some of the 
practices of earlier decades are now seen as inappropriate.
Greg Clancy