FreeLists / va-richmond-general / [va-richmond-general] Re: Dips in certain bird populations? but not starlings

["Jim Blowers" <jimvb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Correction to this list. I saw a huge flock of starlings at this house, and
so I am moving "starlings" from the "less" list to the "more" list. There
were at one time about 20 of them, and I had to bang on a kitchen pot
outside to get them to leave.

 

Jim Blowers

 

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From: va-richmond-general-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:va-richmond-general-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jim Blowers
Sent: Thursday, 2007 May 17 09:32
To: va-richmond-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [va-richmond-general] Re: Dips in certain bird populations?

 

These are some of the birds I saw more last year than this year:

 

Ruby-throated hummingbird

Indigo bunting

Downy woodpecker

Brown Thrasher - lots of them last year, NONE this year!

Goldfinch

House finch

American crows - we saw two this year, so far

Starlings - except for a mating pair and their brood

Grackles

 

These birds we have seen more this year than last

 

Tufted Titmouse

Flicker

White-throated sparrow (chipmunk birds)

Carolina Wrens

 

Also we saw more breeding birds than usual - a pair each of titmouses,
starlings, cardinals, and bluebirds (they rejected our birdhouse, however).

 

Jim Blowers

 

 

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From: va-richmond-general-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:va-richmond-general-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Al Warfield
Sent: Wednesday, 2007 May 16 19:50
To: feathermom_chirpling@xxxxxxxxx; va-richmond-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [va-richmond-general] Re: Dips in certain bird populations?

 

We haven't noticed any of the birds mentioned being noticeably less numerous
here. House Wrens, Blue Jays, Tufted Titmice, American Robins and Eastern
Bluebirds are coming around here more than in the past, or at least as much.
In fact we have our first breeding bluebirds this year. All the birds they
saw declining are the ones that have adapted well to human suburban living.
Crows have changed their habits now and frequent the suburbs instead of the
open fields and forests like they did when I was growing up. I suppose some
of them do that too. It's hard to compare the numbers, but I do remember
large flocks back then - in the 50s mostly. The crows walk around on lawns
now, in big trees in our neighborhood, and there seems to be plenty of them,
at least American Crows. It's interesting that these particular species were
affected. They are more associated with humans than the birds that are
mostly found in more iolated areas. Maybe that's the connection.

 

Al Warfield

 

 

----- Original Message ----- 

From: IE Ries <mailto:feathermom_chirpling@xxxxxxxxx>  

To: va-richmond-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 4:33 PM

Subject: [va-richmond-general] Dips in certain bird populations?

 

West Nile virus decimates suburban birds 

 

Excerpt:  Populations of seven species have had dramatic declines across the
continent since West Nile emerged in the United States in 1999, according to
a first-of-its-kind study. The research, to be published Thursday by the
journal Nature, compared 26 years of bird breeding surveys to quantify what
had been known anecdotally.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070516/ap_on_sc/dying_birds

 

Has anyone noticed drops in the species mentioned here?  I've definitely
noticed lower numbers of crows, specifically, in recent years, and wondered
what others were seeing as well?

 

Thanks.

 

IE Ries

 



"Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul And sings the tune
without the words And never stops at all." --Emily Dickenson
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheParakeetPerch/ 

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