Some Halloween decorations can be harmful to wildlife, NB bird experts say

The spooky season is here. And while it may be tempting to celebrate with fake spider webs, candles and carved pumpkins, experts say some of these decorations are scarier to wildlife than you might think.

Kelsey Butler, director of Atlantic and Quebec with Birds Canada, said the most dangerous decorations, in her opinion, are fake spider webs, usually made of cotton.

“Outside it can be really harmful to birds because when they fly through it they can get entangled or trapped,” she said. “Anything with cords or that cotton yarn material would be really good to avoid.”

Butler said fake spider webs don’t come apart as easily as real ones, so they can cause problems when large or small birds come into contact with them.

Birder Alain Clavette said these tracks are often coated with an adhesive, making them easy to stick to houses or outdoor displays.

“It’s made to stick to anything, so when birds are foraging — and maybe not even going after the net — they can still have a problem with it.”

Birds already encounter barriers like cars, buildings with windows, power lines and light pollution, Clavette said, and using these decorations just adds more obstacles for them.

He said the problem isn’t limited to Halloween either, but exists during most holiday seasons.

Clavette said he once found a dead robin in a Christmas wreath.

“It had garlands and there were all kinds of little red berries that were fake in that setup, and I think that’s what unfortunately attracted the red red,” he said.

The bird was entangled in the screen, and Clavette said he believes it “probably struggled for quite a while.”

Anything that looks like a source of food or nesting material can be deadly, he said.

“We have to be very careful about what we put out into the wild,” Clavette said. “It’s as much their home as it is ours.”

Butler said balloons are also a concern as fall turns into winter and resources become less abundant for wildlife. Birds will look for anything that looks like food, including deflated balloons.

“Birds can get entangled in the string, but can also mistake the balloon itself for food if it deflates,” Butler said. “It’s a choking hazard as it would be for a child.”

She also said to avoid using alcohol or bleach to preserve pumpkins as Halloween decor.

“I think bleach is most common, and it’s really toxic to any wildlife, including birds,” she said.

Butler recommends using vinegar as a way to preserve decorative pumpkins so they won’t be harmful if eaten, she said.

An animal would be less likely to eat a pumpkin that was freshly coated in bleach, she said, but as the pumpkin sits outside and the smell dissipates, the chances of it being eaten increase.

Clavette said painting pumpkins or coating them with a toxic substance is wasteful.

“Why not leave the pumpkins unpainted because then you can use them as food for donkeys or chickens or wild birds, pheasants – they will all come to these pumpkins,” he said.

Decorative lighting can also attract birds to homes and windows and can disrupt their flight patterns, Butler said.

Light is only a real problem at night, so setting a timer to ensure the light turns off automatically solves the problem.

She said using warmer lighting or red lighting is also a safer alternative.