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Help with sparrows


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3 minutes ago, Liam said:

I wonder what the figures look like for Roseate Spoonbill, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Limpkin, etc. It's nice to see species expanding.

Unless they push out other native species. Like I wouldn't want to see House Sparrows expanding even more. But, I think there needs to be a balance to everything. I would love to see species that are not currently Least Concern recovering and expanding, especially Evening Grosbeak.

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1 hour ago, Quiscalus quiscula said:

Unless they push out other native species. Like I wouldn't want to see House Sparrows expanding even more. But, I think there needs to be a balance to everything. I would love to see species that are not currently Least Concern recovering and expanding, especially Evening Grosbeak.

Definitely, but fortunately the aforementioned species are largely exploiting novel niches that are the result from unfortunate human encroachment. For example, Limpkin have been spreading across the southeast and feeding on invasive apple snails. Spoonbills are just having crazy good breeding success lately so in post-breeding dispersal they just Yeet everywhere.

 

The unfortunate thing is the reason those new niches exist. Invasive apple snails, bridge culverts, etc. But at least something is benefiting from humanity's endless manifest destiny.

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18 hours ago, Liam said:

I've seen a nest being visited by both a Cliff and Cave swallow. Pretty sure those kiddos in the nest were hybrids. It was a vagrant Cave Swallow in Georgia that didn't have any other Caves to pair with.

 

On a related note, Cave Swallow populations in Texas increased 898% between 1957 and 1999, thanks to the advent of culverts and other DOT infrastructure. Who's to say how much that statistic has increased since 1999, but the population has been steadily increasing. If they maintain the same rate as was estimated in the original paper (Kosciuch et. al 2006) then the population should be at a 1,125% increase in Texas between 1957-2021.

Also note that that figure doesn't include Florida populations, which are also expanding.

 

I wonder what the figures look like for Roseate Spoonbill, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Limpkin, etc. It's nice to see species expanding.

 

17 hours ago, Liam said:

Definitely, but fortunately the aforementioned species are largely exploiting novel niches that are the result from unfortunate human encroachment. For example, Limpkin have been spreading across the southeast and feeding on invasive apple snails. Spoonbills are just having crazy good breeding success lately so in post-breeding dispersal they just Yeet everywhere.

 

The unfortunate thing is the reason those new niches exist. Invasive apple snails, bridge culverts, etc. But at least something is benefiting from humanity's endless manifest destiny.

I am really glad to see you starting to be a regular again! You are a new wealth of information. 

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