[SavvyMoon]

OK, so the bottom line here is... feeding wild birds is not the *cause* of this disease... it's just (allegedly) a danger for the spreading of the disease by being a place for birds to congregate because they all come to eat from and around a feeder?

Hmmm... Well, I have always been one to be skeptical of alarmist warnings and hysterical panics, and well- I could be wrong, but that's what this smells like to me.

Most birds are flockers... they *naturally* congregate at every well stocked feeding or drinking place; be it a bird fancier's feeder in a yard, a nice big mulberry tree, heavy with new fruit, a farmer's garden or corn field, or the edge of a pond, rain puddles, etc.

I just don't see how one can justify not feeding wild birds, especially during times of scarce food and water, just because there's a -questionably-slightly higher risk of an sick bird possibly infecting others in or around a bird feeder.
I think the risk is just about the same whether its a bird feeder or some other source of food, as mentioned before.

PS; Just to clarify: I'm not saying I'm skeptical regarding the disease described in the warning message posted, I'm just very skeptical that people taking down bird feeders or bird baths would have much effect at all on the spreading of the disease.
Diseases just have to run their course, much as we hate to see it happen that way. The fittest will survive and the species will be stronger for it in the end.