Added options for "cause of death" field
Hello everyone. Thanks for continuing to add observations to this project. In recent months I've added "cat" and "poison" as possible causes of death, both at the suggestion of project contributors. Other causes might be added in the future. By far the current leader in cause of death is "vehicle," with over 5000 observations, followed by "window" with over 1000. Remember that the cause of death should only be specified if you know with a high level of confidence what led to the bird's death -- please don't guess.
Comments
Fishing gear, oil spills are frequent causes of death in our seabirds or shorebirds. I bet injestion of litter is too, but is not an obvious cause, or evacuation/starvation.
As well as window collision mortality, could note proximity to wifi equipment, some say this increases disorientation. Is this possible to differentiate & identify as a contribution to collisions?
Mist-nets appear to be prevalent too, at least in east Asia. And, in many cases, these nets are put up to "protect" crops (such as rice) and aquaculture ponds, not necessarily to do with hunting - dead birds are usually just removed and thrown away.
pile of small downy feathers by back porch. Urban location. No sign of struggle or flesh. Appears to be northern flicker. Over last two seasons have seen what appears to be a harrier or merlin in flight here. Saw it intercept a bird in flight once raining down feathers
What about collisions with power lines or guy wires? There is a high-voltage power lines running along the shoreline of Lake Ontario in Hamilton (Ontario Canada) and many waterfowl die following collision wit those power lines, I have witnessed them actually flying into the wires and then crashing to the ground. Example observation: https://inaturalist.ca/observations/151388980
Add a Comment