Submitted by supernice in birding

I've had a pretty awesome relationship with a family of birds that lives in a bush next to my home. I posted before about how they just started coming right up to me, even landing on me from time to time.

The two little ones are pretty grown now, and starting to get a little territorial, which I guess is normal. I'm worried that if I keep feeding them, it's not so good for them in the long run. What do you think? Am I just being paranoid?

They've gotten to the point where they come right up to my door and start chirping if I don't come out of the house for a while. I thought it was cute for a bit, then wondered if they are getting too dependent on me. I was away from home for a few days recently, and when I came back as I approached the front door, the 2 young ones flew right at me, so close to my face that I ducked! Am I feeding them too much, or where they just greeting me?

If anyone here has experience with wild birds, I'd love to know if I'm just getting worried over nothing. I don't want to cause them any harm.

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Bird wrote

You may be feeding them a bit to much, try to cut down on it and take a less active role in their lives. I would say that you can keep feeding them though, but just to be careful with it as it could form a dependence that could harm them in the future (such as damaging their ability to forage for their own food) but to not stop feeding altogether suddenly.

Squawk

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supernice OP wrote

Thanks Bird, I appreciate it. I think I may have gotten way too involved with them. It's so hard though, I love them :) I'm going to have to show some restraint from now on.

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