One of my earliest White Rock Lake memories is standing at the shore with my grandmother and a loaf of (slightly moldy) bread feeding the ducks. Of course back then we also threw paper into trash cans without a thought of recycling and we watered our yard right in middle of the day. My grandfather even smoked cigarettes. That is to say, people innocently did a lot of things back then that wouldn’t exactly be considered socially or environmentally responsible these days. But feeding the ducks? Really? I’ve heard some rumblings and mumblings lately regarding the feeding of "water birds" and how our crumbs could be causing them harm.

I did come across this article from the University of Florida entitled Why Shouldn’t We Feed Water Birds? Part of the report has to do with coastal bird feeding concerns, but some of the data could pertain to our lake — mainly the behavioral issues if anything. I know we have a lot of Back Talk readers associated with the Master Naturalists or Audubon Dallas — hopefully our local experts will chime in here.

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My inclination is to say "Give me a break already ?!" But I am willing to learn if there is in fact something to be learned.