It all boils down to common sense, just do what you want for your birds where you get to go, or on your property. If you don't have property and birds to take care of, it is really none of their business to tell a person how to take care of their birds.
I have been doing what I do for years and the birds do fine. The neighbors all have thanked me after I started years ago, and thats all enough satisfaction for me. And it's nice to see them in the yard all winter. I can keep an eye on how there doing, and if anything is after them. I don't have much of a problem with predators at all. And when I do, they go to a peaceful place quickly. I like them in the yard next to the pines, rather then out in a field 200 yards scratching for hrs. They pick and git, and don't stick in the open very long this way.:thumbsup: I feel what I do here works for me, and I will simply keep doing it. If I lived in the region with 2+ feet of snow, I would not be hunting any more, but I would be feeding them all winter, and plinking predators. Each area may have different circumstances going on that will determine if you should do anything for the birds, the only way to figure it out is trial and error. In my trial at my little tiny corner of the universe, I have found out doing nothing results in nothing to shoot to my dogs the following season. And they do get flushed fairly regularly all winter, dogs know there there too.
keeps em on their toes.
:cheers: