Episode
Okay, but are bird feeders helping or hurting?
- Podcast
- Okay, But... Birds
- Published
- Apr 16, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 1966
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://okaybutbirds.com
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Summary
E19. More than 55 million Americans feed birds, and it's not exactly clear the birds asked us to. Dr. Olivia Sanderfoot , Research Scientist and Project Leader of FeederWatch at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, joins Scott to unpack what four decades of data tell us about whether feeding birds helps them, hurts them, or is really just for us. In this episode you'll hear about: Why bird feeding is mostly for us, and the handful of moments when it actually tips the scales for birds What forty years of FeederWatch data reveal about shifting ranges, feeder dominance, and the bird that definitely should not be bossing everyone around How to keep your yard from becoming an ecological trap, plus the best way to feed birds that doesn't involve a feeder at all Ready to join the longest-running winter bird monitoring program in North America? Sign up for Project FeederWatch's 40th season at feederwatch.org . You don't even need a feeder. Want more exclusive clips from this and future episodes. Signup for our newsletter, Bird Droppings, at okaybutbirds.com to get bonus content not available anywhere else! All audio, video, and images in this episode are either original to Okay, But... Birds (© Okay Media, LLC) or used under license/permission from the respective rights holders. Bird media from the Macaulay Library is used courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology as follows: European robin audio contributed by Matthew D. Medler, ML140049 Cooper's hawk audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML94518 American crow video contributed by Jay McGowan, ML472843