My Dad loves feeding birds. He spends a lot of money every winter buying enormous bags of bird seed. And the birds love him, too. He has quite a few visiting his feeders for most of the year (he stops feeding them in May and starts up again in September). He loves to look after them, providing cover for them to hide in by planting bushes and native plants, and going out to shovel areas for the ground feeders if the weather is bad. It gives him a sense of purpose.
However.
They are a mess. In the spring you are walking over crusty mounds of uneaten millet seeds. Now, I know that my Dad goes completely overboard with this (because he goes out twice a day and broadcasts them by hand under his hedge and at the edge of his garden), but it is a bit of an issue. For one thing he has had a problem with rats on occasion. If he lived in bear country that would also be something to worry about. Everybody likes free food, so it's completely understandable. Especially the squirrels. They LOVE him.
But, on the good side, feeding birds doesn't harm their ability to be a wild bird, and they bring charm, colour and action to your winter yard, which is nice, especially in late January. Here in Ontario that's a particularly cold and bleak time in a typical winter. And it's nice to be kind to small creatures.
One way to reduce potential problems is to keep the number of feeding stations to a minimum. If too many different flocks of birds come to one area they can spread disease around. Don't worry about trying to feed everybody. You can be assured that there are a few neighbours in the area also providing food.
Another way to protect your avian friends is to clean their feeders every once in a while. Birds don't worry about bacteria, and they certainly don't clean up after themselves, so you'll have to help them with that. That's another reason why you should stop feeding in the spring, too- they'll poop all over your garden, which isn't terribly sanitary if they do it on your lettuce.
It can be possible to transmit bacteria from the bird feeders to yourself, so along with the regular cleaning for the health of wild birds you should also wash your hands thoroughly after touching them. And if you find a dead backyard bird don't pick it up with your bare hands. Where I live we're instructed to use a shovel to pick them up, and double-bag and put in the garbage, or bury the body at least two feet deep and not in a food garden. Also, be careful about the kind of seed you're using and where it's located. Sunflower seeds will repress other plants, but they're immune to their own tricks, so if you buy a mix that has them you could plant sunflowers in your feeder area in the summer, which also provides more food in the fall.
If you do decide to feed the birds it can be nice to see what comes to your feeder, a very simple way to connect with nature and do a few little good deeds. When we get a more permanent place I'm going to put up a feeder in the backyard, too.
Another thing you can do is help scientists figure out what birds are coming to your backyard with the Great Backyard Bird Count, which happens in mid-February this coming year. If you have children (or grandchildren, or particularly close neighbour children) this might be something fun to do to connect with them. Or, just do it for yourself and your own curiosity.
Before the snow falls is a good time to start attracting birds to your yard. Enjoy!
Cornell Lab of Ornithology- All About Birds
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/beneficial/problems-with-bird-seeds.htm
https://www.thespruce.com/prevent-spreading-diseases-at-birdfeeders-386500
http://web.extension.illinois.edu/wildlife/health_birdfeeders.cfm
https://ecomyths.org/2012/02/23/hunger-games-bird-feeding-edition/
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