Silent Spring Anyway

Silent Spring Anyway

Spring feels like a magical season, as the the green grass and bright flowers seem to jump right out of the ground.  Everywhere, birds are singing their spring symphony.  No, wait, there isn’t quite as much birdsong this year.  Yes, the birds are singing, but my memory tells me I’m not hearing as many birds as I used to.  

Way back in the 1960’s, Rachel Carson warned of a Silent Spring because the indiscriminate spraying of the insecticide DDT was threatening the survival of many bird species.  The DDT was causing their eggshells to thin and thus many baby birds died.  Thankfully, DDT was banned, and many of those threatened species, most notably the bald eagle, are making a comeback.  

But now, birds are in trouble again, and it’s not because of insecticides, but because of two other animal species.  Estimates vary, but a recent report in December 2013 in Nature Communications stated that the number of birds killed annually by free ranging domestic cats could be as high as four billion.   A single cat can significantly decrease the local bird population if it is allowed to hunt. Cats are cute and cuddly, but they are non-native species and they are harming the environment.

The other animal species that is threatening our bird populations is the deer.  Although deer are native to all areas of North America, their population densities are increasing at an alarming rate.  Here in Washington state, there is no significant predation of deer because of the lack of wolves and the small number of cougars.  Predation by humans is limited to hunting which is severely regulated by the Department of Fish and Wildlife.  The overabundance of deer in suburban areas is a nuisance to gardeners and landscapers, but the overabundance of deer in our forests is having an even greater impact, because the deer browse on new shoots and saplings in the forest understory, thus reducing or eliminating the nesting areas as well as the food supply for birds.  

Many studies in eastern deciduous forests have documented the huge decline in songbird populations due the damage done by deer.  There is no reason to believe that this isn’t happening here in Washington, as well.  

If you love the songbirds, and if you have pet cats, keep them indoors.  If you do let them out, don’t leave them out long enough to kill any birds.  

The deer problem is not so easy.  Don’t feed them, don’t invite them into your yard with its smorgasbord of delicious plants to eat.  Personally, I’d like to see wolves reintroduced, but I don’t see that on the horizon.  

I’m glad that we no longer have to worry about DDT, but I fear that in the long term, because people love their kitty cats and think all the deer are as cute as Bambi, we’re going to end up with a Silent Spring anyway.