[TN-Bird] Standifer Gap Marsh
- From: "David and Gloria Patterson" <dgpatterson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "tn-bird" <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "sefc" <SEFC-Birding@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2007 14:32:26 -0400
Standifer Gap Marsh, Chattanooga, Hamilton county, TN
July 3, 2007
Least Bittern: ZERO, waded 2 hours, all usual sites, no nests, no young, no
adults, no calls, nothing. On this date 2005 we had found 22 LB nests, with 10
still active; similar in 2006. This year we have found a total of 7, none of
which got as far as hatching,- in most cases appeared to have been taken by
climbing predators.
This may be an example of a predator-prey out-of-phase cycle, common with some
species of hawks or owls and their rodent prey. Abundant rodent populations
feed a growing predator population, predator population grows enough to
significantly reduce prey population, predator population decreases due to lack
of food, allowing the prey population to increase again.
In this case the LB population was never large enough to be a significant food
source for some predator population, but it may be the case that the predators
learned how to find LB nests and passed that knowledge on to their offspring.
Now with no LB's, perhaps the predator population will forget, and LB's will
have a chance to prosper again, for a few years.
How's that for a weird theory? Maybe it's just the late freeze. Or al-Qaeda.
David Patterson
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