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-------------------------------1174823751 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Just returned after some time in the sun. We spent about two months in Florida and one month in the Abaco Cays. Where we stay near the Indian River Lagoon there has been a noticeable decline in small birds over the last few years, probably because of the enormous increase in housing development, mosquito spraying and the like. St Lucie County is one of the fastest growing communities in the USA. Shore birds don't seem to have suffered so much and there seems to have been a significant increase in scavenger species, particularly Buzzards and Vultures. We did not notice any decline in Manatees and dolphins in the lagoon but I have to think that the huge developments and resulting runoffs will effect them sooner or later. Man O War Cay in the Abacos, only about 150 miles East of Florida, was a huge contrast. It is a small Cay with no natural predators other than the occasional hawk and a few domestic cats. We stay on a heavily wooded lot which is alive with birds, many of which are very tame. We had a tame Yellow Crowned Night Heron at the dock which came for scraps every time I cleaned a fish. Various warblers came to the door for scraps and there were Bananaquits and Cuban Emerald humming birds around constantly. A down side were the three species of doves which are abundant and which were breeding in February. Consequently it was impossible to sleep after sunrise because of the noise. Other species were Mocking Birds, Cuckoos, Anis, Frigate Birds for which the Cay is named, and of course the usual assortment of herons and other wading birds. The Islanders were still talking about a parrot invasion the previous fall. Apparently about a dozen parrots had been blown over from the parrot preserve on Great Abaco. They stayed for a few weeks until they had decimated all the fruit trees. Apparently they could strip a small citrus tree in a day. From the photographs they appeared to be Red Crowned. Peter Stow Hubbards -------------------------------1174823751 Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=3DContent-Type content=3D"text/html; charset=3DUS-ASCII"> <META content=3D"MSHTML 6.00.6000.16414" name=3DGENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY id=3Drole_body style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY:=20= Arial"=20 bottomMargin=3D7 leftMargin=3D7 topMargin=3D7 rightMargin=3D7><FONT id=3Drol= e_document=20 face=3DArial color=3D#000000 size=3D3> <DIV>Just returned after some time in the sun. We spent about two months in=20 Florida and one month in the Abaco Cays. Where we stay near the Indian River= =20 Lagoon there has been a noticeable decline in small birds over the last few=20 years, probably because of the enormous increase in housing developmen= t,=20 mosquito spraying and the like. St Lucie County is one of the fastest growin= g=20 communities in the USA. Shore birds don't seem to have suffered so much and=20 there seems to have been a significant increase in scavenger speci= es,=20 particularly Buzzards and Vultures. We did not notice any decline in Manatee= s=20 and dolphins in the lagoon but I have to think that the huge developments an= d=20 resulting runoffs will effect them sooner or later. </DIV> <DIV>Man O War Cay in the Abacos, only about 150 miles East of Florida, = ;was=20 a huge contrast. It is a small Cay with no natural predators other than the=20 occasional hawk and a few domestic cats. We stay on a heavily wooded lot whi= ch=20 is alive with birds, many of which are very tame. We had a tame Yellow Crown= ed=20 Night Heron at the dock which came for scraps every time I cleaned a fish.=20 Various warblers came to the door for scraps and there were Bananaquits and=20 Cuban Emerald humming birds around constantly. A down side were the three=20 species of doves which are abundant and which were breeding in Februar= y.=20 Consequently it was impossible to sleep after sunrise because of the noise.=20 Other species were Mocking Birds, Cuckoos, Anis, Frigate Birds for which the= Cay=20 is named, and of course the usual assortment of herons and other=20 wading birds. The Islanders were still talking about a parrot invasion=20= the=20 previous fall. Apparently about a dozen parrots had been blown over from the= =20 parrot preserve on Great Abaco. They stayed for a few weeks until they had=20 decimated all the fruit trees. Apparently they could strip a small citrus tr= ee=20 in a day. From the photographs they appeared to be Red Crowned. </DIV> <DIV>Peter Stow</DIV> <DIV>Hubbards</DIV></FONT> </BODY></HTML> -------------------------------1174823751--
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