On Sat, 29 Jun 1996, Dennis Paulson wrote:
[...]
> At that point I really began to wonder what percentage of the small birds
> in our big cities are actually able to fledge young. It would be
> interesting to get a report from anyone who observed fledglings in their
> yard (and, of course, what species they were). So far this year, besides
> crows I've seen fledged band-tailed pigeons, starlings, house sparrows,
> house finches, b-c chickadees, r-b nuthatches, and one robin (last year
> there was a yardful of them).

In our yard (NE Seattle) this year we've seen fledgling Starlings,
House Sparrows, Steller's Jays, Crows, House Finches, Bewick's Wrens,
B-c & Chestnut-backed chickadees, R-b Nuthatches, Bushtits (presumed
juvs on basis of awkwardness), and Robins.

> Note 4 of the 7 are hole nesters, immune to
> both crow predation (well, mostly) and cowbird parasitism. There's no
> question that hole nesters have the advantage nowadays.

And the other 3 are tree-nesters, right? I wonder how many ground-
nesters fledge young in suburban Seattle. Not to revive the dreaded
"C" thread, but it sure would be nice to have Wilson's Warblers nest
in the backyard. The last two springs we've had a singing male Wilson's
linger for over two weeks in the backyard (but apparently female Wilson's
are too sensible to consider nesting here).

If Audubon is serious about campaigning to enhance suburban habitat
for birds (fide recent statements from NAS), it will be necessary to
risk unpopularity by educating people on this topic and advocating
enforced leash-laws for cats. Planting lots of natives in our yards
will make little difference for ground- and near-ground-nesting birds
(which seem especially vulnerable to cat predation) until we deal with
the C-problem.

David Wright
Seattle, WA
dwright at u.washington.edu