[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Suburban Barreds; Crane update?



Hi Carolinabirders,

I'm still suffering from cabin fever despite finding the COmmon Goldeneye
and black-backed gull on Sunday, and like I said, that 300th NC bird
beckons. Anyone looked for, with or without success, the Green-tailed
Towhee since Monday? How about the Sandhill Cranes from Pee Dee NWR a week
ago? Ginny, are your cranes still around? There's that Black-headed Gull
too... why can't these rarities cluster together more efficiently?

On Fri, 25 Jan 2002, Harrold, Eric S wrote:
>
> With respect
> to prey selection, suburban owls seem to be feeding on passerine birds in
> far greater proportion compared to their rural conspecifics.
[snip]
> The rural guys
> are primarily taking small rodents (voles, mice, chipmunks).

Hmmmmmm. THis makes me think more about the real impacts of feeding birds.
Could bird feeding be concentrating passerines in predictable locations,
to the point that hunting them becomes profitable for an owl in ways that
it isn't out in the countryside? Or is it that the suburbs have different
common passerine species, starlings and mockingbirds and sparrows and
such, as opposed to the more wary and less catchable chickadees,
woodpeckers, etc. in rural habitats? Guess we have to wait for more
research...

Good birding,

Josh


Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)

jsr6@duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/