I think you're taking a bit of a logical leap here, Mark. There
are plenty of loud noises, both natural (thunderstorms, high winds)
and man-made (too numerous to mention) for birds to contend with,
and they presumably don't kick eggs out of their nests every time
they hear one. Predators will sometimes induce birds to flee the
nest, and the eggs usually stay intact, unless of course the predator
snacks on them instead.

There is also a high incidence of nest failures, nestling mortality,
and fledgling mortality this time of year, so it's entirely possible
that your two experiences of July 3rd-5th nest failures were simply
coincidence. But even if one or both of the incidents was fireworks-
induced, which you have no way of knowing, that would still leave you
a long way from proving that this is a major cause of bird mortality.

What *would* be interesting is a study involving nest checks for
a large number of nests over several days on either side of the 4th
over a few successive years. If the data shows that three times as
many nests have failed on July 5 as on the other days, then you'd have
something. What you could *do* with this knowledge is another subject
entirely...



Jim McCoy
jfmccoy at earthlink.net
Redmond, WA



-----Original Message-----
From: MarkJtn at aol.com [mailto:MarkJtn at aol.com]
Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2001 10:29 PM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: Bird mortality due to fireworks


Tweets,

I believe fireworks should be added as one more significant (though probably
not much recognized) cause of mortality to birds, at least in urban areas
where neighborhood fireworks are so common.

About 3 years ago, a Robin was on a clutch of 2 eggs on a support beam of my
deck. I checked the nest on July 4, before the onset of fireworks that
night, and all was well. Fireworks activity in my neighborhood is probably
like most - it basically sounds like an all out war is in progress. When I
checked the nest again the next morning, the parent had abandoned it, one
egg
was broken on the ground and I never found the other. I figured the parent
must have left the nest in panic, and knocked the egg out in the process.

Much the same happened again this year. A Robin's nest I have been watching
for the past 3 weeks or so had one young bird (probably about 7 days old) in
it. Again, all was fine when I checked it 7/3. However, when I checked
again tonight, I found the nest on the ground with the young bird laying
dead
nearby.

I feel certain that fireworks were responsible for both nest failures. What
a tragic and an absolutely senseless waste!

Mark Johnston
Kent, WA