Bird boxes

Even if there are already many suitable nest sites, a bird box may encourage a normally shy species of bird to stay in your yard. Bird boxes can be made of untreated wood or "woodcrete" (a concrete/sawdust composition). The latter version is useful if your garden has predatory squirrels or even woodpeckers with a taste for young birds. All bird boxes should be positioned so that you can access them easily to clean them out in fall, which is important. Put your bird box on a sheltered wall or tree trunk, well away from predators, rain, and direct sunlight. Cats can climb up and reach into boxes from all sorts of unlikely angles, as can gray squirrels, so position the box carefully. 

Another major incident concerning methyl mercury was the severe pollution of Minamata bay in Japan (see Box 8.1). Here fish, fish-eating and scavenging birds, and humans feeding upon fish all died from organomercury poisoning. There may have been localized declines of marine species in this area due to methyl mercury, but there is no clear evidence of this. 

Vespa crabro, the European hornet, and V. orientalis are the most important species of the genus Vespa in Europe, Asia and Africa, and V. crabro has also been imported in the USA. These species are much larger than other vespids (fig. 2e). They build their nest mostly above ground, in hollow tree trimks or in birds nest boxes. Stings occur almost exclusively near the nests. 

Kania, D.M. and T. Nash. 1986. Impact of Lead on Migratory Birds in Missouri. Unpubl. rep. 41 pp. Available from U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv., P.O. Box 1506, Columbia, MO 65205. 

Summing up the dynamical argument, telescopes reveal the architecture and motions of the cosmos on every scale. Planets, stars, galaxies, and clusters of galaxies are nested one within the other like Chinese boxes. But then the need for dark matter suddenly arises. Without it, stars at the edge of our Galaxy would fly off and the swarms of galaxies in clusters would scatter like birds. 

FIGURE 6.14 Input p -boxes for the example assessment of bird exposure to insecticide. 

Fate and transport modeling was nsed to estimate the concentration of the insecticide in insect tissne consnmed by birds. The details of this modeling effort, which we omit here, are rather complex and involve characteristics of the field application of the insecticide, local weather, mnltiple pathways of exposure to insects, sequestration of insecticide by mortality of insects, and integration over 0- to 20-g pools of insect tissne that wonld compose a bird s daily diet. The model of the pesticide s fate and transport made a prediction abont the concentration variable, which is characterized by the p-box shown in the lower left graph of Figure 6.14. This p-box synthesizes all of the knowledge and nncertainty captured in the modeling effort. The model predicts the distribntion fnnction for concentrations, whatever it is, snrely lies within the bonnds shown. 

FIGURE 6.15 Outputp -box for dose received by insectivorous birds. 

Each bag or container of raw materials should be identified with a unique code, lot, or receipt number. This code should be used in recording the disposition of each lot. Raw materials will be held under quarantine until they are sampled, tested, and released. Raw materials should be carefully handled and stored to avoid any contamination or cross contamination. When bagged and boxed raw materials need to be stored, it must be done so in adequately cleaned buildings that are free of infestation by rodents, birds, insects, and other vermin, and the building should be maintained. A controlled environment may be necessary to avoid microbial contamination or degradation caused due to exposure to heat, air, or light. When the raw materials are stored outdoors, the containers should be adequate for the outdoor storage. 

The example may be interesting, but it is hard to put your finger on an exact function in this example. Also, many of the component parts of the system (perhaps residing in the bird s brain) are unknown, and so it is a black box. 

Artificial refuges nesting boxes for birds piles of stones and branches as places for insects, arachnids, small mammals and reptiles to spend the winter perches for birds of prey. 

Mammals are often overlooked for their pest-control abilities. For example, in Canadian forests, shrews control larch sawflies and other pests. Lizards and toads are important natural enemies of pest insects, and snakes can help control problems with mice and voles. In many communities in Europe and North America, farmers encourage birds to control pests by placing nesting boxes around their fields. Even domesticated animals can assist in pest control. If you have a small orchard and keep chickens, let the chickens feed in the orchard. They will peck pests such as plum curculios out of dropped fruit and other ground litter. 

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