I suspect I'm not much different from many in the wildlife conservation community that can harken back to a youth where we were touched, perhaps both literally and figuratively, by wild birds through our backyard feeders. My parents had many feeders distributed around our home and we welcomed the typical northeastern cadre of chickadees and juncos, titmice and cardinals. Dad also was known to hang a couple rib cages from one of the deer he harvested ? much to the delight of the nuthatches and woodpeckers, and to the chagrin of some of my friends who came to visit.

Our bird feeding was generational as my grandparents also had numerous feeders, and every winter visit we were able to hold sunflower seeds and invite chickadees to eat directly from the palms of our hands. The act of feeding wild birds certainly connected me even more closely to the natural world and perhaps helped pave the way for my future career.

In a new book, Feeding Wild Birds in America: Culture, Commerce & Conservation, well-known birding writers Paul Baicich, Margaret Barker, and Carrol Henderson document more than a century of bird feeding history. Over the years, Americans have moved through a series of awareness trends that have characterized our connection with backyard birds: kindness, utility, rescue, enjoyment, and study. According to the authors, "These trends have been generally sequential, but they have overlapped somewhat, one with another, often for long periods." As a result, the book focuses on the cultural and social aspects of bird feeding, and with this backdrop describes the constantly developing backyard bird feeding industry that has developed.

Starting with the late 19th century, the authors look at each decade in American history and mirror the greater societal activities with the resulting impacts on the feeding of wild birds. Each chapter focuses on a different decade and it is fascinating how broader public life and beliefs so clearly influenced Americans' bird feeding habits. For instance, feeding wild birds became a patriotic activity to support war efforts in the first and second World Wars. This reflected the overall awareness trend of "utility" because the wild birds that were attracted would help keep control of insects that could destroy agricultural crops. According to a bulletin during World War I, "To conserve our bird life, therefore, is to conserve and increase our food supply. Feeding the birds in winter is effective war work."

For me, each chapter provided a reminder of the historical developments in the country ? ones that I might not have realized would have an impact on the feeding of backyard birds. Coconut hulls were used to serve feed and suet to birds very early in the 20th century ? much earlier than I thought possible for this tropical commodity, however their importation was made possible by the American occupation of the Philippines after the Spanish-American War. Peanut butter came into wide use during World War II, so using peanut butter as an additional protein for birds was a logical step after GI's returned from the war. The growth of suburbs in the 1950's spurred the rise in lawn care and maintenance of residential backyards, and the people who were leaving rural life for these new suburbs used backyard bird feeding to maintain some interaction with the natural world.

During each decade there were advancements in the foods that were offered to birds and the technology that was used to serve the food ? and this led to the growth of the bird feeding industry. The authors describe changes from the early window bird feeding trays to the development of the Berlepsch food bell and hopper feeders in the early 1900's and innovations like tube feeders in the 1960's and 70's. They also document research into bird preferences, as well as information on how to lure preferred bird species ? and detract unwanted species ? that led to shifts in different seed and feed options.

Perhaps one of the more interesting stories related to the now ubiquitous black oil sunflower seeds. In the 1960's during the heart of the Cold War, American agronomist Dick Baldwin traveled to the Soviet Union to learn more about production of a new variety of black oil sunflower seeds that were 40 percent oil. During his trip, he asked to bring home some seeds but was turned down.

"Instead, his official host handed the packet of revolutionary seeds to the Russian woman who was Baldwin's interpreter so she could eat the seeds as a snack during their tour.  As the story goes, Dick Baldwin did his best to contain his shock and disappointment as the precious seeds were eaten in front of him. But when the visitors got into the car to head for the next field station, the interpreter quietly passed the packet of about one hundred remaining seeds to Baldwin. He later transferred the new variety of black-oil sunflower seeds to the US embassy and had them sent back to the United States for quarantine and subsequent shipment to his office in Fargo, North Dakota. In 1967 Cargill reportedly started to propagate the one hundred sunflower seeds, and by 1970 they had enough material to provide farmers with some of the new-style black-oil sunflower seeds."

Throughout each chapter, there is discussion of the primary companies involved in bird feeding including how some of their businesses launched from very different roots before seeing the growth potential of an industry solely focused on feeding wild birds. The authors document the early innovators, the family-owned businesses that became well known brands like Kaytee, Duncraft, and Droll Yankee. The book also describes the growth of independent retailers like Wild Birds Unlimited and Wild Bird Centers that focused solely on providing the best sources of seed for feeding local wild birds.

In addition to the detailed decade descriptions, the book includes a number of "interludes" that share more details on key innovations, feeding trends, species shifts, public policies, and more. I found these tangents to be some of the most interesting components of the book as they provided new insights into many different topics such as the spread of Eurasian collared doves (a feeder nuisance in our current home), to a different type of "feeding" with hawks learning to frequent feeder stations, to the development of hummingbird feeders and other feeds like mealworms and fruits to attract non-seed eating birds. It even describes efforts to secure conservation funding through efforts like Teaming with Wildlife and the Conservation and Reinvestment Act; legislative efforts that I worked on early in my career (and where I first met two of the authors). These segments are truly the heart of the book and stitch together the broader historical perspectives in the chronological chapters.

Feeding Wild Birds in America is full of interesting facts on the history and trends that have shaped this very American pastime (and, as the authors describe, the growing international trend that is drawing American avitourism). Anyone with a passion for birds and the natural world will appreciate learning about the many different facets that have impacted the growth of the bird feeding industry. Feeding Wild Birds in America: Culture, Commerce, and Conservation is available for $27.95 through Texas A&M University Press. (jas)