To feed or not to feed: Feeding ducks in the Highlands and Tablelands does more harm and no good

Ducks have been a welcoming site for residents, and have offered them something else to focus on when they have gone out for a change in scenery, or some exercise.

Restrictions imposed over the weekend across regional towns have meant that residents who could access to parks and lakes would still have the opportunity to use them for exercise.

Let this be a reminder however, that if you do decide to see ducks and water fowl in your area, not to bring bread along to feed them.

While it could offer an entertaining moment to capture on camera and you think they might enjoy a snack, it would do more harm than good not only to the birds, but other animals and the natural environment.

Birdlife Southern Highlands liaison and conservation officer Christine Kelly said that feeding ducks and other birds bread was "one of the worst things to feed them."

"Because ducks were not designed to eat bread, bread softens and gets stuck to the roof of their bill," she said.

"It could lead to them not eating at all."

Mrs Kelly explained that the texture of bread, and the way ducks chewed resulted in the bread becoming a ball in their stomachs.

"It also has no nutrition," she added.

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Mrs Kelly said that while there were suitable foods ducks could have, the best thing would be not to feed them at all.

"If you threw it and the birds did not eat it, it would foul the water," she said.

"More aggressive birds would also be attracted to the area.

"Those birds would then attack the smaller birds, or attack their nests and would drive them out of the area.

"They would then attack everything else in that area."

Mrs Kelly suggested that feeding birds at home was a better alternative because it could be a "controlled environment."

The NSW government has stated that if you lived with more than two people, you could all go out to exercise together.

Residents could also establish a "singles bubble" and exercise with another person outside of the household.

The distance to venture out for exercise however would be changed from ten to five kilometres from home on August 16.

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