Nature Notebook

What could be cuter than watching a child feed bread to a family of ducks? Maybe watching a healthy duckling learn to search for natural food. That won’t happen if families continue to share their human food with the birds.

Ducks, like us, LOVE bread. It is their “junk” food. They would prefer to eat that rather than their more nutritious “vegetables.” If the treats are always available, the ducklings don’t even have to learn how to forage. They become the pond equivalent of couch potatoes and are malnourished.

The excess weight makes flight (needed for escape from predators and migration) difficult. In addition, a diet of human junk food can cause a metabolic malady called Angel Wing, which results in an incurable growth in wing bones that limits flight ability.

So, visit the ponds and the ducks but leave the treats at home, please!

Become a backyard naturalist with the I-Naturalist app! Join our How-To session on Sunday, July 13 from 2 – 3 p.m. at the Nature Center to learn the ins and outs of this neat app for your smartphone! This is a program for anyone and everyone who loves to be outside. Please call (269) 927-4832 to register; Member/FREE, Non-member/$5.