[cobirds] Re: Feeding dry rice instead of birdseed

Thank you. My mother usually puts out birdseed and suet in the winter, but in this last storm she ran out and couldn't restock, but still wanted to put something out for the birds. She thought it would be okay this once to give them dry rice and oatmeal that she had in her pantry. I did find that article from Cornell, which made me feel better.

Cheers!

Mikele Painter, Lakewood

On Wednesday, March 17, 2021 at 7:41:51 AM UTC-6 Greg Levandoski wrote:

Hi Mikele,

If Cornell thinks it's safe, it probably is.  Sounds like it could be somewhat messy if it gets wet though.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/im-getting-married-next-month-is-it-true-that-rice-causes-birds-stomachs-to-explode/

From another perspective, sunflower kernels have 50-100% more calories per gram and more than 3x the protein than white rice, so while rice may not hurt them, it might not as easily provide the fat calories they need to stay warm during our winter nights.

Please let us know if you see any concerning results if you try out rice. It might be best to start in conjunction with other food types to see what they prefer.  And if anyone knows how well the other nutritional (vs. caloric) needs of wild birds are met (or not) by what we feed them, I'd be interested in that myself. 

Best,

Greg Levandoski

Longmont, CO

On Tuesday, March 16, 2021 at 5:19:55 PM UTC-6 mikele....@gmail.com wrote:

Hi all,

I've heard conflicting stories about the safety of feeding uncooked rice to wild birds. Does anyone care to make recommendations for or against this practice? 

--
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "Colorado Birds" group.
To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en
* All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate
* Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/CFO/Membership/
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/78db106f-6a4b-4883-b06f-2908e7685aecn%40googlegroups.com.