Posted by: Sandy Steinman | May 26, 2012

How Deer Hurt Migratory Bird Populations

The New York Times reports in its article  Why Bambi Must Go – NYTimes.com how deer have had a destructive impact on some species of migrating warblers. Wildlife practices that have encouraged a growth of the deer population have resulted in a great decrease in habitat for warblers that forage near the ground. The growing deer population is eating much of the low growth of trees and shrubs. This  destroys habitat that would normally safe for low nesting warblers such as worm-eating, Kentucky and hooded species.

The growing deer population is also causing more auto-deer accidents and increasing the population of disease-bearing ticks.  Read more in the New York Times Why Bambi Must Go – NYTimes.com


Responses

  1. John W.'s avatar

    They just need to add a few wolf packs to the mix.

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    • Sandy Steinman's avatar

      John raises an important point. When a predator is removed from an area, the species that was a food source for predator experiences large population growth with consequences for other species. See earlier posting How The Wolves Have Changed Yellowstone One of main predators of deer (and control on deer population) had been the mountain lion, whose population has greatly declined due to human intervention.

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