Tree girdling: watch your bird feeders

I have nothing against birds and the feeders that help them survive. However, I do wish bird lovers would consider the health of their living trees when installing bird feeders.

​Once the Katsura tree (Cercidiphyllum japonicum) "swallows" the string, there is no way to correct the situation. The girdling that occurs leads to two huge problems: 1) water and food transport are limited and eventually completely cut off.  Then the branches die.
 2) The other problem is failure at the point of constriction.

​In the above example, only one branch is affected and it's already dead. I couldn't really cut it off because I didn't want to deal with relocating the bird feeder. I suspect the branch will eventually fail. Then the owner should consider other ways of hanging the bird feeder.

​Definitely help birds in your garden but don't forget about girdling and the death it causes.