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Question about pesticides and sparrows



This past Saturday I birded Cherokee Co. in S.C. with Ken Garett for the
NAMC. While a new area for me, Ken had birded the area the last few years
for various counts.  What struck both of us was the lack of sparrows.  The
count area was full of places where field, savannah, grasshopper or vesper
had been seen before. In all these fields I heard or saw no sparrows. Only
in two fields did we find any field sparrows. This also proved to be the
only fields where the county had not gone around and sprayed chemicals to
control growth of kudzu and other shurbury. Ken was not sure when the
spraying had occurred but guessed sometime earlier this year. I was
wondering if any other birders in the Carolinas notice a similar situation
in regards to roadside spraying and declines of sparrows. The silence in
these fields was quite scary. I've never heard or seen anything like it.
Dave Collopy