Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
remember that these birds are smart, and they will tap your windows, ring your
doorbell, and follow you hither and yon for food once they i gure out your
routine. They have been known to upset less-intrigued spouses and neigh-
bors with their persistence. But if you want to forge a unique association with
a wild bird, this is your chance. My colleague Professor Marc Miller, an an-
thropologist, helped me study this phenomenon in Seattle. We discovered
that crows and the people who feed them share a language of sorts, reading and
anticipating the actions of one another so that both parties can form strong,
mutually reinforcing bonds.
In urban settings, where dead trees are rare, birds also benei t from the
provision of nest boxes. Selecting a box of appropriate size for native, sec-
ondary cavity nesters, placing it in a suitable location, and maintaining it
can teach a lot about the unique requirements of swallows, chickadees,
bluebirds, wrens, and others. Doing these things provides nest and roost
sites for birds even in the most urban settings, such as on an apartment wall,
highway sign, or downtown high-rise. As with feeders, the safety of bird boxes
is improved by nearby cover. Birds that nest on ledges can also be enticed
to breed on small shelves or other l at surfaces that are best provided un-
der eaves. Barn swallows and thrushes, for example, readily take to such
structures.
Nest boxes are good, but nothing beats a real, honest snag when it comes
to keeping nest and roost sites in the urban environment. Preserving dead
trees, or even dead limbs on otherwise healthy trees, is the best way to ensure
a steady supply of cavities for the species that require them. You can help the
natural processes that create snags as well by killing trees where you have the
space to safely do so.
In my overstocked acre of forest, I've created twenty-i ve snags by topping
selected trees. Doing this provided sunlight to my forest l oor, i rewood to
help heat the house, and some great woodpecker trees. The snags I made
