Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2003 22:03:35 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Lynn & Hal Subject: Weather and breeding MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Speaking about the unusual weather being difficult on breeding birds, not only is the extended rainy, cool, cloudy period likely to have a noticable impact on the breeding success of some species (especially the aerial insect specialists, such as Purple Martins), but the high winds that came through last Friday (the 13th!) killed some nestlings. Here's an example: My parents said the winds nearly bent some of the trees in their yard half way to the ground at one time. They watched a robin try in vain to fly against the wind to reach its nest. (My parents generally are aware of and keep an eye on all the birds nesting in their yard.) The next morning there were three robin nestlings in the grass near the nesting tree; one was dead, but the other two were still alive. Since the nest couldn't be found, a makeshift replacement "nest" was made out of a flowerpot with gravel in the bottom so it wouldn't tip over and a rag in the top. The chicks were placed in this, and the pot was placed on a lawnchair to get it off the ground. The adults found and fed the chicks in their new "nest" for several days. Unfortunately, they didn't seem to want to brood the chicks...perhaps the surroundings were too foreign or too open for them. The chicks were found dead on Tuesday morning, after an especially cool and rainy night. Sorry for the sad ending (nature can be cruel sometimes), but I thought the tale was worth telling. Lynn Davidson Arnold, MD ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================