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Songbirds: Numbers are dwindling for Mother Nature's little monitors
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I also have noticed a super rise in the bee population. What does it all mean?
First, starlings. Get rid of them, and things go better for a wide variety of other birds.
Second, preserve our wetlands. Much of the Jordan River has been sacrificed in the name of development, to the detriment of everyone but the developers. Other areas have suffered similar fates.
Native predators: stable or declining. Not the problem. They have always been around, some are even declining with the songbirds.(If you don't like hawks picking off your feeder birds, maybe you shouldn't bait them in for the hawk).
Imported predators: increasing. Cats, yes they are a significant problem, but probably not the only problem. Starlings: mostly affect birds that nest in cavities and competes with food for birds in urban areas. House Sparrows and Pigeons also compete but mostly in urban areas.
Diseases: increasing. Some diseases our birds haven't encountered before are taking a toll. Example- West Nile Virus: affecting ravens, hawks and magpies the hardest.
Migration hazards: increasing. Tall structures from skyscrapers to powerlines take a significant toll on migrating birds. Loss of habitat to feed in while migrating. Light pollution confuses migrating birds.
Riparian habitat for nesting and migration: decreasing. Dewatering and loss of riparian plants due to invasive plants, overgrazing, or fire all take a toll.
Pollution, pesticides, other environmental hazards: increasing. They likely all take their toll on their food sources and affect the health of birds.
What are your numbers? What were your numbers last year? What time of day were you counting? How many species did you see each time? How long did you look this year and other years? Where did you look this year and other years?
What kind of bees? Did you plant different flowers this year? How often do you look for bees? Are you looking just in your backyard?
If you are presenting evidence different than the combination of many different studies that have been going on for years, I'd be interested in seeing your data.
I think it is global cooling that preceeds the coming ice age.
There are too many starlings. We need some good recipies for starling. By the time Washington redistributes my income I may very well be pleased we have so many starlings as my usual forms of nutrition may be out of my reach.
What a crock.
We do take care of things. This is a knee jerk reaction - like global warming - to what is more than likely a natural cycle for songbirds.
But then, even natural cycles are evil when humans exist.
That said, it is true that humans have a responsibility for the beauties of the Earth. One idea: make your backyard and front yard gardens. They're more child-friendly that way anyway. And if you have flowers and trees, the bees and the birds will come. And it nice for human relaxation too, and for teaching your kids how to work.
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"Although there are approximately 200 million starlings in North America, they are all descendants of approximately 60 birds (or 100 [1]) released in 1890 in Central Park, New York, by Eugene Schieffelin, who was a member of the Acclimation Society of North America reputedly trying to introduce to North America every bird species mentioned in the works of William Shakespeare."
The Starling should be reduced or eliminated. They may very well be what is causing the problem. Robins, Meadow Larks and others have a great deal of problem with them. Why not the riparian song birds?