![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/house-wren-6371-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"house-wren-6371-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nThis is what happens when false and misleading information is widely distributed amongst the bird-loving community. Or any community for that matter.<\/p>\n
Recently a Facebook post whose author has a broad following among bird enthusiasts falsely claimed that feeding mealworms to birds can be deadly for them. This of course caused considerable concern and even consternation amongst those who feed birds in their back yards, wild bird rehabbers and businesses that sell bird food. Folks feed birds because they love them so you can imagine their reaction to any claim that they might be killing them.<\/p>\n
Much (though not all) of the misunderstanding resulted from the author’s apparent ignorance of the fact that many songbirds regurgitate pellets as a means of discarding undigestible material in their diets such as insect exoskeletons, including those of mealworms. Most bird enthusiasts are well aware that owls cast pellets and many know that other raptors do too. But apparently it isn’t widely known that even many songbirds cast pellets. That’s how I got pulled into the fray in a minor way. Apparently my photos of songbirds casting pellets are among the few available on the internet.<\/p>\n
But let’s not get ahead of the story. First I’m going to use some of my photos below to establish the fact that many songbirds and other non-raptors actually do cast pellets.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The smaller the bird the faster pellets tend to be thrown and the more difficult the pellets are to see so most folks never even notice it happening. That’s when the magic of photography comes into play. Here I was lucky enough to capture a House Wren casting a pellet.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/western-kingbird-6823.jpg\" "\\"western-kingbird-6823\\"")
<\/p>\n
This Western Kingbird shook its head so violently to reject the pellet from its mouth the pellet was thrown far to its right.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/eastern-kingbird-2514-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Eastern Kingbirds do it too.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/loggerhead-shrike-0202.jpg\" "\\"loggerhead-shrike-0202.jpg\\"")
<\/p>\n
Over the years I’ve been quite successful at photographing Loggerhead Shrikes casting pellets.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/loggerhead-shrike-9162-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"loggerhead-shrike-9162-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\n
This recently fledged and inexperienced Loggerhead Shrike apparently didn’t quite understand the purpose of pellets. ‘He’ caught the pellet before it fell from his mouth and then…<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/loggerhead-shrike-9171-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"loggerhead-shrike-9171-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\n
promptly mashed it up with his beak and ate it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/belted-kingfisher-5611-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"belted-kingfisher-5611-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\n
The list of pellet-casting birds is a long one and I’ve photographed many of them exhibiting the behavior including Willets, most raptor species I see regularly and even Belted Kingfishers like this one.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Followers of Feathered Photography know Dan Gleason as a semi-regular and authoritative contributor to our discussions about bird behaviors, bird biology and other avian topics. Dan taught Ornithology at the University of Oregon for many years and since his retirement he has largely and generously devoted his life to educating the public about birds. Dan and his wife Barbara currently own the Wild Birds Unlimited store in Eugene, Oregon.<\/p>\n
Dan decided to write and publish a scholarly article disputing the misleading and inaccurate information distributed by the author of the aforementioned Facebook post (now deleted) and others who have spread that misinformation far and wide – even internationally. I became involved in a minor way when Barbara asked me if Dan could use one of my photos of a songbird casting a pellet in the article. Of course I honored their request.<\/p>\n
I’ll link to Dan’s article below. It should be of interest to far more than just those who feed mealworms to birds because he discusses topics in a scientific manner related to pellet casting in general, dietary requirements of birds, bird digestive anatomy and physiology and others.<\/p>\n
Given the topics covered it’s necessarily a long article but it’s thoughtful, scientifically accurate, well written and interesting. So if you have the interest I suggest you top off your morning cup of coffee, settle in and enjoy the read. You’ll learn a lot, I promise. I certainly did.<\/p>\n
Here’s the link to Dan’s article: Mealworms – Separating Truth from Misguided Information<\/a><\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is what happens when false and misleading information is widely distributed amongst the bird-loving community. Or any community for that matter.<\/p>\n