[TN-Bird] Re: a bird puzzle for the week-end birder

  • From: Karen & Bob <moondance8889@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: tn-BIRD@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sun, 27 Jun 2010 18:18:30 -0500

Though not the expert that many of you are, I agree with Mr. 
Pulliam's argument.  I lived 17 years in a surburban neighborhood 
with a mixture of large lawns with some tree coverage; there, NOMOs 
were common.  Eight years ago, I moved 4 miles to a neighborhood with 
much smaller lawns, much more extensive tree coverage, and fewer 
houses per acre.  I rarely see / hear NOMOs in the neighborhood, and 
I have never seen / heard one on my property (which is very heavily 
treed, has zero lawn, and has just a bit of space cleared around the 
house planted in native plants).

I do miss the NOMOs here!

Karen Campbell
Nashville, TN
Davidson Co.

At 01:08 PM 6/25/2010, you wrote:
> > One participant in the Cumberland County Foray took me up on this
> > request and suggested that an increase in the amount of suburban
> > habitat
> > in the county might account for the increase in NOMOs, but NOMOs
> > tend to
> > be pretty common in rural and urban, as well as suburban habitats,
> > so an
> > increase in the amount of suburban habitat (and corresponding
> > reduction
> > in either rural or urban habitats, or both) should not have unduly
> > affected the distribution of NOMOs in the county.
>
>
>Here in Lewis County, mockingbirds are mostly restricted to areas
>with houses and lawns or pastures, and even then, only where this
>habitat is extensive.  An isolated house with a small yard amidst
>woodlands and brushy habitats is not a prime place; they are only
>occasional visitors at my farm even though they are abundant just a
>mile up the road along the Highway 412 corridor.  Mockers here are
>especially concentrated in the swath of barrens from Hohenwald proper
>southeast to Summertown.  In much of the rest of the county they
>remain pretty scarce.
>
>So, there are large landscape-level habitat issues involved, not just
>a simple urban/suburban/rural division.  Can you look specifically at
>the habitat changes in the priority blocks that did record mockers
>this year but did not on the Atlas?  Aerial photos should be
>available.  I'm always inclined to look hard at changes in land use/
>habitat as a first explanation for bird population shifts before
>invoking more esoteric or subtle explanations such as climate
>change.  We are at present and in recent decades changing the
>landscape far more rapidly and more drastically than we are changing
>the climate.
>
>Bill Pulliam
>Hohenwald TN
>=================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER=====================
>
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>You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds
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>______________________________________________________________
>   TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society
>        Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s)
>         endorse the views or opinions expressed
>         by the members of this discussion group.
>
>          Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
>                  wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>                 ------------------------------
>                 Assistant Moderator Andy Jones
>                          Cleveland, OH
>                 -------------------------------
>                Assistant Moderator Dave Worley
>                           Rosedale, VA
>                --------------------------------
>                Assistant Moderator Chris O'Bryan
>                         Clarksville, TN
>__________________________________________________________
>
>           Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society
>               web site at http://www.tnbirds.org
>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
>
>                           ARCHIVES
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>_____________________________________________________________

=================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER=====================

The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with
first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation.
You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds
you report were seen.  The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should
appear in the first paragraph.
_____________________________________________________________
      To post to this mailing list, simply send email to:
                    tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
_____________________________________________________________ 
                To unsubscribe, send email to:
                 tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
            with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
______________________________________________________________
  TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society 
       Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s)
        endorse the views or opinions expressed
        by the members of this discussion group.
 
         Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
                 wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
                ------------------------------
                Assistant Moderator Andy Jones
                         Cleveland, OH
                -------------------------------
               Assistant Moderator Dave Worley
                          Rosedale, VA
               --------------------------------
               Assistant Moderator Chris O'Bryan
                        Clarksville, TN
__________________________________________________________
         
          Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society
              web site at http://www.tnbirds.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

                          ARCHIVES
 TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/

                       MAP RESOURCES
Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif
Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com

_____________________________________________________________


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