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Article: THE WILD SIDE: The standard for a successful nest is fairly low
- Article from:
- Sunday Gazette-Mail
- Article date:
- May 8, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2005 Sunday Gazette-Mail. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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The first of what will surely become many pleas for help arrived
this week. A bluebird nest had been plundered - the eggs were gone,
and the nest itself torn apart. A raccoon was probably responsible.
It always seems cruel and unfair when helpless and fragile eggs
and chicks are eaten by predators that include snakes, squirrels,
chipmunks, weasels, cats and blue jays. But believe it or not, what
appears to be a staggering rate of loss rarely influences the overall
number of birds.
In nature, more often than not, life is brief and death comes
violently. Fewer than half of most bird nests actually produce any
chicks that leave the nest. Among open-nesting birds that build their
nests on the ...