Please don't feed the ducks

In recent years, feeding of ducks and other waterfowl has become massive on the shores of the lakes. Every day, dozens of people throw pieces of bread into the lake, some of them porridge, and joyful birds willingly flock from all sides to the gratis, delighting children and adults.

It is very cute and fun to watch how ducks fight over pieces of food, and even attract a brood of their adorable ducklings to this.

Wild ducks fed in the warm season become practically tame. Getting used to regular, but far from healthy food, their natural feeding instincts aimed at finding food are dulled, and with the onset of winter they are in no hurry to fly away, remaining in a “bread” place. Yes, and it is difficult for them, overweight, to do this.

In an effort to quickly fill their stomachs with bread, ducks begin to ignore their natural, more wholesome food. An unusual, carbohydrate diet, in which there are no substances useful for ducks, significantly reduces the natural immunity of birds and causes fatty hepatosis (liver steatosis) in them.

Our lakes, with their rich aquatic vegetation, are a food paradise for water birds. Under natural conditions, ducks feed on aquatic plants and filter the water with their beak in search of various invertebrate trifles, which are so rich, for example, thickets of water lilies.

It is possible to feed waterfowl only during extreme wintering periods, when they may indeed be on the verge of death, and even then, of course, not with bread.