Tourism Best Management Practices for the birds

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Jaime Bricker

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Aug 27, 2024, 3:25:52 PMAug 27
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Good Morning, Skagway Bird Club,

 

I observe a lot of crows on Broadway eating human food. Lots of popcorn and fried bread. Some of them develop lighter colored feathers or leucism. It’s my understanding that diets low in protein may contribute to leucism.  But I’m having a hard time locating research about it. And whether it has a negative impact on the birds.

 

I understand that it is not illegal to feed crows. But is it ethical?

 

If we knew feeding them was creating a negative impact on species, we could create a program around the science to educate people not to feed them.

 

I thought it would be best to start the conversation here with Skagway’s avian experts.

 

If we have evidence that it is not good for the birds, or if we can suggest healthy alternatives, I can add those suggestions to the Skagway Visitor Department’s Tourism Best Management Practices Program, Relocation guide and even help educate people via social media.

 

Gunalchéesh / Háw’aa / Quyanaa / Thank You

 

Jaime Bricker   Tourism Director

Explore Skagway

Municipality of Skagway Visitor Department

PO Box 1029, Skagway, AK 99840

p: 907.983.9720 m: 907.612.0120

w: www.skagway.com e: j.br...@skagway.org

pronouns: she/her

   

PUBLIC RECORDS LAW DISCLOSURE: This e-mail and responses to this email are subject to provisions of the Alaska Statutes and may be made available to the public upon request.

 

 


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Klensch-Furbish

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Aug 28, 2024, 1:03:28 PMAug 28
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 This is a great idea!  I'm out of town now, but am willing to help do research on this when we get back in a few days.  In the meantime, welcome any others interested in looking into this.

Elaine

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Jaime Bricker

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Aug 28, 2024, 1:10:06 PMAug 28
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Hi Elaine,

Thanks for your offer to assist. I will take you up on it!

 

Rueben Cash at STC gave me some AMAZING language and resources to consider. I will work this winter to build a program around educating businesses and visitors and would love your help.

No rush. Good winter project!

 

Reuben Said:

“Feeding wildlife is never a good thing, apart from the potential health risks of consuming an unnatural food (fry bread and popcorn don't grow on trees!), it introduces a new dynamic to an otherwise functioning system.  If crows are given food that does not occur naturally in the environment, it creates a false carrying capacity.  For example, during COVID we did not have a ton of food waste, and the crow population likely reflected this in terms of births and survival.  Once the town opened back up, visitors followed their natural impulse to care for living things and started giving them food, allowing some crow families to grow larger than they would have in a natural setting.  Once all the visitors leave, that food source goes away but the new crows do not and we sometimes witness starving and death.  It's the same situation with the mountain ash berries and our population of waxwings - there should not be clouds of these birds in Skagway, but we maintain the population by providing them with an unnatural food source.  

It's hard to fight the urge to help a critter out, but something people should be aware of: crows are smart.  They know if they act injured they might have a chance of getting sympathy food.  They follow garbage truck routes and know that a green traffic light causes traffic to proceed.  They also recognize faces and will return to folks who feed them.  I have a soft spot for all living things so my impulse is always to help, but I've learned to attenuate that impulse by considering the carrying capacity of a system.”

Should we feed wildlife? A call for further research into this recreational activity

 

A Framework to Evaluate Wildlife Feeding in Research, Wildlife Management, Tourism and Recreation

 

Anthropogenic impact of feeding on wild avifauna abundance and behavior in an urban ecosystem

 

Wildlife health and supplemental feeding: A review and management recommendations

 

Too close for comfort: contentious issues in human-wildlife encounters (To feed or not to feed: a contentious issue in wildlife tourism)

 

 

From: skagway-...@googlegroups.com <skagway-...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Klensch-Furbish
Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2024 9:03 AM
To: skagway-...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [External Email] Re: [SkagwayBirdClub] Tourism Best Management Practices for the birds

 

[ATTENTION: This Email was received from outside the Municipality]

mikek...@yahoo.com

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Aug 28, 2024, 3:05:15 PMAug 28
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Hello all,

Thank you for addressing this issue. My feeling about leucism in crows is that we are seeing a natural occurrence ( Dave Sibley calls it “rare but regular” ). If the cause was dietary, we should be seeing more leucistic individuals.

I agree with Reuben’s point about the “carrying capacity” of a given locale. Feeding crows provides a reliable (but unnatural and unhealthy) food source for a breeding population which allows them to increase in number. Year-old crows are learning to beg for food instead of foraging in the intertidal zones and coastal rainforests. The crows mostly survive the winter by migrating.

I feel that people feeding crows is bad for the crows and should be discouraged. Would posting signs help?



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On Aug 28, 2024, at 9:10 AM, 'Jaime Bricker' via Skagway Bird Club (also -> sites.google.com/site/skagwaybirdclub) <skagway-...@googlegroups.com> wrote:


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Gunalchéesh / Háw’aa / Quyanaa / Thank You

 

Jaime Bricker   Tourism Director

Explore Skagway

Municipality of Skagway Visitor Department

PO Box 1029, Skagway, AK 99840

p: 907.983.9720 m: 907.612.0120

w: www.skagway.com e: j.br...@skagway.org

pronouns: she/her

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Furbish - Klensch

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Sep 14, 2024, 1:21:30 PMSep 14
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I agree with Reuben's and Mike's comments about flock capacity, group dynamics and individual behavior issues. I looked further into whether what we're seeing may include health issues for the individuals with white feathers.

The 2 most well-known causes of white feathers showing up in black birds are albinism and leucism. Unfortunately, there is confusion about the definition of those terms.  It's far from settled, but these seem to be the most common biological-scientific and general-use definitions for albinism and leucism.

ALBANISM results from an inherited recessive genetic condition that that prevents melanin pigments production and affects the whole body of an animal. Different large groups of animals have different types of melanin pigments, may use them in different parts of their bodies, may have other pigments in addition to melanin - so the effect can differ between types of animals (example: animals that have more than melanin in their iris pigments can be albino without having pink/red eyes).  A more general-use of the term "albino" can mean any whitish or mostly pigment-lacking organism, including plants where it usually refers to chlorophyll rather than melanin.

LEUCISM results from often inherited genetic mutations acting on many types of pigments or from developmental errors in pigment cells, that can affect most or parts of the body. The effect can be overall muted pigmentation, or bold on-off patches of pigmentation. A more general-use of the term "leucistic" can mean any organism with an appearance similar to leucism, no matter the underlying cause.

NON-GENETIC CONDITIONS - lack of pigment coloration can also result from injury, sickness or aging.

In dark birds, white feathers can result from malnutrition, called "McDonald's disease" when associated with too much human food, like french fries in a fast-food parking lot. The same condition is linked to eating too much white bread, popcorn, etc. The white feathers are not simply a different color, they are also weak and brittle which can physiologically impact the bird. Rehabilitators treat these birds by restoring good nutrition and protecting them until their next molt, when the new feathers come out dark and strong.

I think it is highly likely that our crows and ravens who spend too much time begging for popcorn or fry bread, or getting too much food from garbage, are experiencing "McDonald's disease" in Skagway.  

Here are some reference links:


https://corvidlove.com/how-to-deal-with-white-feathers/   - describes what a rehabilitator must do for a bird with McDonald's disease

https://mybirdfeed.com/do-birds-eat-popcorn/   - a good explanation of why feeding birds popcorn can be bad for them


Good discussion.  In the past, the bird club stayed away from advocacy, but maybe this time the bird club would like to join with others to promote ways to get the crows and ravens away from the bread and popcorn?  


Nola L

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Sep 15, 2024, 11:12:15 AMSep 15
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Thank you, Elaine, for this interesting, thoughtful, and informative research!


Jaime Bricker

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Sep 16, 2024, 12:22:38 PMSep 16
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Agreed. I really appreciate what I’m learning from this group.

The Skagway Visitor Department will work on some language this winter to help educate people on the matter.

 

Gunalchéesh / Háw’aa / Quyanaa / Thank You

 

Jaime Bricker   Tourism Director

Explore Skagway

Municipality of Skagway Visitor Department

PO Box 1029, Skagway, AK 99840

p: 907.983.9720 m: 907.612.0120

w: www.skagway.com e: j.br...@skagway.org

pronouns: she/her

   

PUBLIC RECORDS LAW DISCLOSURE: This e-mail and responses to this email are subject to provisions of the Alaska Statutes and may be made available to the public upon request.

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