Nature or nurture? Southampton feeding wild ducks

When should people interfere with nature’s course?

Now, according to Southampton Town officials, who are distributing a ton and a half of corn to feed ducks that have endured a brutal winter.

In a press release, the town said it was encouraging citizens to pick up the corn and feed it to ducks since “the winter and heavy ice conditions have put a severe strain on Black Ducks and Broadbill Ducks whose numbers are already at an all time low in the North Atlantic flyway.”

This action was taken, the town said, because “several waterfowl [have] been reported to have died throughout the township.”

But Mike Scheibel, a wildlife biologist and Mashomack’s natural resources manager, said that the best plan for ducks having a rough winter is no plan.

“Dealing with nature’s weather events and conditions are all part of what wildlife populations must deal with to survive year to year,” Mr. Scheibel said. “The ability to migrate and seek out wintering areas where chances for survival are greatest is something waterfowl have been doing for eons.”

According to the most recent report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, released last year, the estimated total population of ducks was 49.2 million, which the federal agency said is an 8 percent increase from 2013’s survey, and a whopping 43 percent spike over long-term projections.

Bob DeLuca,  president and CEO of  the environmentalist organization Group for the East End, said  the question to feed wildlife or leave them alone doesn’t have an easy answer. “Every winter sick ducks, old ducks and ducks that got shot but weren’t killed, die in bad weather,” Mr. DeLuca said.

But on the other hand, he added, “we no longer live in a world where nature takes its course because humans are all over the place.”

Due to current environmental conditions, Mr. DeLuca said, people have taken on a role in the future of species in the cases of ”whether there are too many deer or not enough ducks. There is accountability and responsibility.”

In the short term, Southampton’s feeding policy won’t really have much of an effect on nature’s cycle, Mr. DeLuca said. “Some people feel better doing it and it’s not the end of the world,” he added.

But an ongoing feeding policy is dangerous. “I wouldn’t recommend this for the long term because what we’re doing  is keeping animals here that  might be moving someplace else,” Mr. Deluca said.

Southampton’s outreach to ducks might be taking East End residents’ eyes off more serious problems, Mr. Scheibel noted.  “Loss of habitat due to development of coastal areas and degradation of prime breeding habitat are of far greater over all concern,” he said.