James Hamilton, M. D.
Mike, Kathy and other bird afficianados,
In yesterday's Gazette (Colorado Spring's newspaper) there was an article on the bird decline. From what they and you, Mike, have said this is definitely a multifactorial problem. According to the article some of the factors are quite interesting. A whopping 2.5 billion birds per year in Canada and the US are killed by cats (2015 survey but not otherwise identified) and another 840 million by collisions with cars and windows. (I once demolished a quail on my way to New Mexico several years ago; damaged my license plate considerably.)
About 300,000 (mainly large - eagles, hawks) birds are victims of wind turbines yearly and I suspect those deaths will continue to increase. Approximately 6.8 million a year die from collisions with cell and radio towers.
I suspect that climate change (from whatever anyone believes to be the cause) plays a role.
Insecticides - maybe. We have our many pine trees and bushes professionally sprayed several times yearly to protect against the Mountain Pine Beetle and other insects and have done this for the last 41 years. If anything, our yard has become more popular with birds. Each morning our trees are full of small (about 3" long) songbirds flitting around our Ponderosa Pines. I wish I knew what they were but I am no expert. Our yard is overpopulated with swarms of Magpies and occasional flocks of Ravens. We did notice a decrease in Robins this year but not an absence. Rare owls and hawks are are sometimes seen. This year we have had an exponential increase in butterflies.
Kathy, since birds are host vectors to mosquitios that carry West Nile Encephalitis and Eastern Equine Encephalitis viruses it is probably a good thing that the area near your home is sprayed. As more mosquito borne diseases migrate up and across America (Dengue, Zika, Chikungunya) spraying is going to become more necessary as a preventive measure.
So, birds are victims of many things, including modern life. What can we do? GET RID OF CATS or at least keep them inside! (I am not a cat person!)
Jim
|