Hi Marlene, I remember a discussion with Cornell Lab a few years ago in which
they mentioned a concern about Northern Flickers, namely that they seemed to be
diminishing, and that no one knew why although there were various hypotheses.
For any given species in any given area there may be population fluctuations
that are essentially a sort of random walk around some rough "normal"
population, even assuming no changes in habitat, no new disease issues, etc.
All that said, the best way to get a sense is to pose the question as you have
done and to analyze available data, as Dave Davis has suggested in terms of
exploiting what eBird can help tell us -- one of the great virtues of eBird as
more people contribute, hopefully.
Many of us also think all the more about these things in the wake of West Nile
Virus and our perception that it really whacked a lot of our birds.
Best and cheers,?? Steve
-----Original Message-----
From: MARLENECONDON@xxxxxxx
To: va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 1:59 pm
Subject: [Va-bird] clarification about Hairy Woodpecker question
?
Thanks so very much to everyone for the Hairy Woodpecker reports!
?
I'm not sure I made clear what my concern was.? For 22 years I
have?had a pair of these birds on my property, nesting and?coming to
my feeders.? I have also heard or seen ?them along a nearby road when
exercising.
?
Sometime last year they completely disappeared.? I have not heard nor
seen a Hairy Woodpecker in perhaps almost a year (I haven't yet checked
the?date of my last sighting).??The surrounding environment has
not?noticeably changed.
?
Thus I wondered if this was a local situation or whether these birds were
having problems elsewhere in the state.??
?
I appreciate the responses I've received.
?
Sincerely,
Marlene????
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