I've been travelling to the USA on holidays for 20 years and everywhere I go I see bird feeders. This is true in private gardens as well as nature reserves and wetland areas. The most famous case of bird feeding was the Bald Eagles in Homer, Alaska - " On the Homer Spit in Alaska, Jean Keene (Eagle Lady), fed bald eagles from mid December through mid April for almost 30 years. She started with a pair and the numbers grew to about 200. Jean passed away on January 13, 2009. She was 85.
An ordinance passed by Homer officials to ban eagle feeding on the Homer Spit was to go in effect, but an emergency ordinance has allowed eagle feeding to be extended for 60 days following Jean Keene's death. Since eagle feeding had already began for the winter, wildlife officials agreed it might be best to taper off the feedings." Most nature photographers in North America have been to Homer for this spectacle and many of the famous Bald Eagle photos were taken there.
I was in the Palo Alto Wetlands yesterday near San Francisco (
http://baytrail.abag.ca.gov/vtour/map3/access/Btpalto/Byxbee.htm ) . They have a large pond where people feed ducks and it is next to a large landfill ( rubbish dump ) which attracts thousands of birds.
I stayed in Flagstaff , Arizona , last August and I walked around the streets looking for hummingbirds. Every garden in the street where I was staying had hummingbird feeders and other types of bird feeders.
Scottsdale , Arizona , which has 200 golf courses ( mostly built in the last 20 years ) all with ponds attracts hundreds of thousands of ducks and geese to the desert. The water comes from the Colorado River over 1000 miles away by canal. If you want to photograph ducks close up , this is a good place to visit.
I understand in the UK the Red Kite feeding attracts photographers from all over the country.
My point is that this is not something that's of interest to bird watchers, but of great interest to bird photographers. It goes on all around the world but not so much in Hong Kong. Does this mean we are right and they are wrong.
I'm still not sure myself .
Neil
