Subject: The Starlings vs the Cowbirds (Re: cowbirds)
Date: Mar 2 19:45:34 2004
From: Ken Boettger - solowildlander at hotmail.com


Oh what sport.

In any event, I hope my original email spoken against the starlings did not
precipitate this. I did not intend to move into the cowbird arena.

Just for the record. As I now understand it, Starlings and house sparrows
(the two species I was originally concerned with) have been show to not
only kill the eggs, but the young and the adults. They do not just displace,
they kill the native birds. And there is some suggestion that the bluebird
declines in the east were responsible, at least in part, by these two
species.

Now, just to be sure I said this right, house sparrows not house finches...
oh gosh...

I did not intent to move into the cowbird controversy. That is a whole other
issue and I don't think they are as much of a problem with bluebirds. I
never intended to bring them up. In any event, I hope that clears things
up.(?)

I sincerely apologize for confusing the behavior of starlings with other
species... I knew better. Very big mistake.

Oh....gosh... just shoot me!

-Ken






>From: Mike Patterson <celata at pacifier.com>
>Reply-To: celata at pacifier.com
>To: Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
>Subject: Re: cowbirds
>Date: Tue, 02 Mar 2004 14:31:17 -0800
>
>Those interested in blaming the cowbird for all our woes regarding
>songbird decline may first want to actually do some research:
>
>BRITTINGHAM, M. C., and S. TEMPLE. 1983. Have cowbirds caused
>forest songbirds to decline? Bioscience 33:31-35.
>
>ROTHSTEIN, S.. 1993. Cowbird's invasion of the far west: history,
>causes and consequences experienced by host species. A Century of
>Avifaunal Change in North America. Studies in Avian Biology No.
>15:301-315.
>
>TERBORGH, J. 1989. Where Have All the Birds Gone? Princeton
>University Press, Princeton, NJ.
>
>While cowbirds can be directly implicated in the declines of
>Kirtland's Warbler and Black-tailed Gnatcatchers, it is not that
>easy to blame them for other declines, many of which are more
>appropriately blamed on habitat loss, forest fragmentation, and
>introduced "urban" predators (meow). And even Kirtland's Warbler
>the gnatcatchers were first victims of habitat loss with cowbirds
>merely an aggravating secondary factor.
>
>And it is appropriate to remind would be vigilantes that Brown-
>headed Cowbirds ARE native to North America and protected by the
>North American Migration Treaty. One needs a permit to "manage"
>them. Starlings and House Sparrows are not protected.
>
>--
>Mike Patterson
>Astoria, OR
>celata at pacifier.com
>
>Half-a-bee, philosophically must ipso-facto half not-be.
>But half the bee, has got to bee Vis-a-vis its entity...
> d'you see?
>But can a bee be said to be or not to be an entire bee
>When half the bee is not a bee due to some ancient injury?
> -Monty Python
>
>http://www.pacifier.com/~mpatters/bird/bird.html

_________________________________________________________________
Store more e-mails with MSN Hotmail Extra Storage 4 plans to choose from!
http://click.atdmt.com/AVE/go/onm00200362ave/direct/01/