Dennis and Tweeters,



I am quite certain that there has not been a decrease in road-killed birds
(or mammals, or amphibians) in the last 20 or 30 years-- just the opposite.
With the increase in the number of high-speed roads (freeways), and the huge
increase in the volume of traffic, the problem of roadkills is far worse now
than it ever was.



It isn't just a problem affecting a few birds here and there-there are
numerous cases of mass kills of birds along highways, especially involving
finches such as Pine Siskins, Red Crossbills, and Evening Grosbeaks, which
gather along highway shoulders to obtain grit. Just last winter, there were
major kills of finches along BC Highway 3 in Manning Park and nearby areas,
and I believe around Stevens Pass as well.



However, you may be correct that bird carcasses are being snapped up faster
than ever before. At least in BC, in most forested areas, one can observe
Common Ravens cruising up and down the highways, looking for fresh roadkill.
This is a behaviour I first noticed 30 or 40 years ago, but it seems to be
more and more prevalent in recent years. I suspect that many Ravens are
surviving mainly by feeding on roadkills, at least during the winter. (I
also have evidence that, province-wide, the population of Ravens has more
than doubled in that time period.) At lower altitudes and in non-forested
areas, American and Northwestern Crows are undoubtedly doing the same thing,
although they don't seem quite as dependent on roadkill as Ravens.



Wayne C. Weber

Delta, BC

contopus at telus.net







From: tweeters-bounces at mailman2.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman2.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Dennis
Paulson
Sent: August-10-08 7:00 PM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: [Tweeters] Re: Tweeters Digest, Vol 48, Issue 8



Hi, Diann.



I hope this story doesn't bum anyone out, but it's fresh in my mind from
less than two hours ago. I was driving back from the North Cascades on
highway 20 and in Concrete saw a sparrow-sized passerine bird sitting on the
highway, perhaps a young bird. Sadly, it fluttered up just as a car passed
and was presumably killed instantly. Being a museum person and curious about
its identity, I pulled into a parking lot a few hundred yards up the road
and turned around to stop and pick it up. Just as I was approaching it, a
crow flew down, snatched it up and flew away with it. This was one observant
crow! I wondered if perhaps it was already watching the bird, looking for an
opportunity to capture it.



The occurrence was especially interesting to me because I had just been
telling a bunch of people (in a dragonfly class I was teaching for North
Cascades Institute) that I almost never find road-killed birds any more,
while 20 or 30 years ago I found a dead bird maybe every other all-day trip.
I always picked them up, as I was associated first with the Burke and then
with the Slater Museum. I've speculated that one or both of two things were
happening: (1) fewer birds along the roads, or (2) more scavengers picking
them up quickly when they were hit by cars. This observation seemed to
support the second hypothesis. I don't consider a third hypothesis, that
birds have learned to stay away from roads, as very likely.



Dennis





-----

Dennis Paulson

1724 NE 98 St.

Seattle, WA 98115

206-528-1382

dennispaulson at comcast.net