Guizotia abyssinica, the scientific name of nigerseed, indicates its Ethiopian (Abyssinian) origin. It has long been grown as a minor oilseed in India, mostly in tribal areas, with names like ramtila in Hindi, karale in Marathi or varisalu in Telugu. The English name could refer to its African origin or shiny black colour.
It is also spelled nyger. This is an initiative of the Wild Bird Feeding Institute (WBFI), a US trade association, which felt that its common mispronunciation as a racial slur could affect sales. And bird feeding can be big business. WBFI estimates that the global market valued at over $5 billion in 2021, projected to reach $6.42 billion in 2028. India exports a lot of nyger for this — which might now be threatened by Trump tariffs.
Nyger’s use for organised bird feeding is relatively recent. According to The Birds at My Table , ecologist Darryl Jones’s history of bird feeding, it arrived in the West in the 1970s along with black sunflower seeds, as part of a deep change in the Vedas , where it is enjoined as part of bhutha yajna , the caring for all life. Crows are fed as part of funerary rites, representing ancestors. Ancient Eg yptians fed falcons and ibis as representatives of their gods Horus and Thoth, respectively.
But beyond such ritual feeding, Jones notes that casual feeding of birds seems almost innate to humans: “I have seen Bornean women leaving out leftover rice for Fireback Pheasants, Nepali sherpas tossing crusts to Spotted Great Rosefinches high in the Himalayas, and Inuit hunters throwing seal fat to Snowy Owls.” We seem happy to encourage the presence of birds in our lives, their (mostly) aerial existence somehow more acceptable than terrestrial animals such as rats and dogs.
Such casual feeding differs from the organised feeding that developed in 19th century Europe. Greater urbanisation made people realise their estrangement from the natural world. Birds were a highly visible symbol of wild nature, and the fashion of using feathers to decorate hats also increased interest, with unease at the slaughter this required. A series of severe winters made people aware of starving birds, leading to the creation of feeding tables stocked with grains, stale bread and solid fats left over from cooking.
The problem was that this encouraged the more aggressive and omnivorous species, like crows and pigeons. Feeding the latter would become, as it has in India recently, a contentious issue, as is captured in two songs. In Disney’s Mary Poppins (1964), the titular nanny sings ‘Feed the Birds’ , a lovely lullaby about caring for birds. But four years earlier, satirist Tom Lehrer wrote ‘Poisoning Pigeons in the Park’ where he sings: “ When they see us coming/ The birdies all try and hide/ But they still go for peanuts/ When coated with cyanide…”
People couldn’t agree on pigeons, but the need to feed a wider range of birds was accepted. This required diverse foods, delivered by special devices. Hummingbird feeders, for example, served syrup to the tiny nectar feeders, while pulses and oilseeds attracted a wider range of birds. Nyger proved popular, with its small size ideal for trickling out of feeders. Today, companies provide complex feed mixes, which became particularly popular during Covid. For many isolated and lonely people, feeding birds was a way to connect with other living things, and the habit has not gone away.
Jones does extensive interviews to understand why people feed birds. Ritual reasons may count in India, but in most of the world, the reasons range from simple happiness to an interest in birds and connecting with nature. Another reason also emerges, which he calls, broadly, atonement. People repeatedly express anguish at human destruction of the natural world. They acknowledge some complicity, and inability to make it stop. All they feel they can do, in however small a way, is to feed the birds.
It is also spelled nyger. This is an initiative of the Wild Bird Feeding Institute (WBFI), a US trade association, which felt that its common mispronunciation as a racial slur could affect sales. And bird feeding can be big business. WBFI estimates that the global market valued at over $5 billion in 2021, projected to reach $6.42 billion in 2028. India exports a lot of nyger for this — which might now be threatened by Trump tariffs.
Nyger’s use for organised bird feeding is relatively recent. According to The Birds at My Table , ecologist Darryl Jones’s history of bird feeding, it arrived in the West in the 1970s along with black sunflower seeds, as part of a deep change in the Vedas , where it is enjoined as part of bhutha yajna , the caring for all life. Crows are fed as part of funerary rites, representing ancestors. Ancient Eg yptians fed falcons and ibis as representatives of their gods Horus and Thoth, respectively.
But beyond such ritual feeding, Jones notes that casual feeding of birds seems almost innate to humans: “I have seen Bornean women leaving out leftover rice for Fireback Pheasants, Nepali sherpas tossing crusts to Spotted Great Rosefinches high in the Himalayas, and Inuit hunters throwing seal fat to Snowy Owls.” We seem happy to encourage the presence of birds in our lives, their (mostly) aerial existence somehow more acceptable than terrestrial animals such as rats and dogs.
Such casual feeding differs from the organised feeding that developed in 19th century Europe. Greater urbanisation made people realise their estrangement from the natural world. Birds were a highly visible symbol of wild nature, and the fashion of using feathers to decorate hats also increased interest, with unease at the slaughter this required. A series of severe winters made people aware of starving birds, leading to the creation of feeding tables stocked with grains, stale bread and solid fats left over from cooking.
The problem was that this encouraged the more aggressive and omnivorous species, like crows and pigeons. Feeding the latter would become, as it has in India recently, a contentious issue, as is captured in two songs. In Disney’s Mary Poppins (1964), the titular nanny sings ‘Feed the Birds’ , a lovely lullaby about caring for birds. But four years earlier, satirist Tom Lehrer wrote ‘Poisoning Pigeons in the Park’ where he sings: “ When they see us coming/ The birdies all try and hide/ But they still go for peanuts/ When coated with cyanide…”
People couldn’t agree on pigeons, but the need to feed a wider range of birds was accepted. This required diverse foods, delivered by special devices. Hummingbird feeders, for example, served syrup to the tiny nectar feeders, while pulses and oilseeds attracted a wider range of birds. Nyger proved popular, with its small size ideal for trickling out of feeders. Today, companies provide complex feed mixes, which became particularly popular during Covid. For many isolated and lonely people, feeding birds was a way to connect with other living things, and the habit has not gone away.
Jones does extensive interviews to understand why people feed birds. Ritual reasons may count in India, but in most of the world, the reasons range from simple happiness to an interest in birds and connecting with nature. Another reason also emerges, which he calls, broadly, atonement. People repeatedly express anguish at human destruction of the natural world. They acknowledge some complicity, and inability to make it stop. All they feel they can do, in however small a way, is to feed the birds.
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