Subject: [Tweeters] Doomed quail chicks
Date: Jun 24 14:06:49 2006
From: Kelly Cassidy - lostriver at completebbs.com



People unwittingly set deadly traps for animals all the time. The most
common ones, of course, are our windows, which kill millions of birds every
year.

A friend of mine has been planting her 20 acres with hundreds of native
trees and shrubs. She puts tree tubes around the baby trees. Turns out
that yellow jackets love to build nests in tree tubes. Magpies try to eat
the yellow jackets, but the tree tubes are too narrow for the magpies to
turn around in. Last year, my friend found 3 dead Magpies in tree tubes.
No doubt, there were more removed by prowling scavengers.

Kelly Cassidy

> -----Original Message-----
> From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
> [mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf
> Of Scott R a y
> Sent: Saturday, June 24, 2006 12:52 PM
> To: BirdYak at yahoogroups.com; Tweeters
> Subject: [Tweeters] Doomed quail chicks
>
> On Wednesday I watched a sad event unfold here in Yakima.
>
> As I pulled my car into a parking lot, I saw a pair of
> California Quail run across a storm drain followed two,
> day-old chicks. As the family crossed the drain, one of the
> chicks disappeared between the cracks and dropped into the
> drain. About 10 feet past the drain, hearing the cries of
> the lost chick, the mother turned around and ran back to
> investigate. Not knowing the chick was in the drain, the
> confused mother quickly crossed the grate again, followed by
> her last chick. This chick then disappeared through the drain
> grate too. She then crossed the drain again. Her little
> brain was not able to figure out what was happening as she
> led each one of your youngsters to their death, while at the
> same time she was trying to save them.
>
> I got out of my car and ran over to look down the drain, only
> to discover 6 dead chicks, plus the two newly doomed chicks
> in a shallow pool of water. This pathetic little disaster
> had apparently been unfolding for several minutes before I
> arrived. The grate was too heavy for me to move.
>
> I would guess that this scenario happens thousands of times
> each summer.
>
> When I came back later, the adults were gone.
>
> --
> Scott R a y
> AFLAC
> Moxee, WA
> 509.961.2625
> mryakima at gmail dot com
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