Alarmed by a gradual disappearance of our grassland songbirds, scientists undertook an in-depth and all-encompassing study to determine the exact nature and mechanisms of the bird predation. Along the way, the discovered all the usual suspects at work, gobbling up eggs and hatchlings from the nests: coyotes, cats, snakes, and mice. Astoundingly, gophers account for something near forty percent of the hatchling predation in the study area. Perhaps more surprisingly, researchers discovered that whitetail deer, at every given opportunity, will sneak up and chomp down baby songbirds.
--Mitchell Hegman
No comments:
Post a Comment