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<DIV style="font-color: black"><FONT face=Arial>Here in Shoreline, at my (now
reduced) feeders, with and active flowing water feature with multiple different
bathing and drinking sites, as well a large, lush landscape filled with
well-watered lawns and gardens with 1000+ species of plants, I have noticed no
disappearance of chickadees or any other breeding/seasonally or altitudinal
migratory passerines. I have so many small bugs (though notably less
larger insects), I have actually more breeding and regularly occurring year
round birds than ever before, even with a dramatic increase in smaller urban
raptors—marlins, Cooper’s,and sharp-shinned hawks.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="font-color: black"><FONT face=Arial>I have learned to move my
feeders and bird houses around to stir things up. All species have
memories and can learn quickly and transfer knowledge between generations, so
stir it up to keep it more like nature itself. Lots of berries, seed pods, dense
evergreens for roosting. </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="font-color: black"><FONT face=Arial>More nuthatches, chickadees,
robins, juncos,sparrows, wrens, towhees,kinglets, and brown creepers than ever
before.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="font-color: black"><FONT face=Arial>I guess it’s an oasis, next to
an actively maintained graveyard, and the more you stir things up , the more the
ecosystem responds.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="font-color: black"><FONT face=Arial>There has been a dramatic
decrease in migratory bird stops, but Shoreline is cutting down trees as fast as
it can for new dense pack development, with lots more lights and noise and high
rise buildings..</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="font-color: black"><FONT face=Arial>Ravens are now nesting two doors
up, so that is suppressing the crows which predate the smaller birds. Crows mess
with raptors but not with ravens. And I actively terminate/trap/discourage
all non-native mammals as well as those allowed as nuisance
species.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="font-color: black"><FONT face=Arial>Coyotes are now helping out with
the outdoors cats.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="font-color: black"><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="font-color: black"><FONT face=Arial>Also It has been an extremely
dry fall, so birds are moving around.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="font-color: black"><FONT face=Arial>My biggest landscape client, the
historic Boeing mansion, has also an overall increase in most year-round,
seasonal breeding, and winter birds (crossbills now). This
neighborhood is an obvious oasis. </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="font-color: black"><FONT face=Arial>If I were to name a decreasing
bird group for me this year in my patch, it would be the Piciformes, and I would
attribute that to raptors</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="font-color: black"> </DIV>
<DIV style="font-color: black"><FONT face=Arial>Mark Tomboulian</FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="font-color: black"> </DIV>
<DIV style="font-color: black"><FONT face=Arial>Shoreline, WA</FONT> </DIV>
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