I read that the Audubon Society advises not to have perch posts on birdhouses because they encourage predators, and the birds don’t need them. Is that true, anyone?
The cell phone bit is urban legend, with a (weak) basis in one study showing (at a level of significance that’s not wildly convincing, given the existence of “publication bias,” the problem caused by positive unexpected results being considered far more publishable than failure to see an effect) that birds nesting on actual cell phone towers have somewhat smaller and fewer young. There’s also study showing robins lose their ability to orient in the presence of fields between 2 kilohertz and 5 megahertz; but that’s AM radio range (or some sorts of physics equipment), not cell phone signal range.
See (cached version for text only / full access): http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:8opzJo7qcC0J:https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/phenomena/2014/05/07/electromagnetic-noise-disrupts-bird-compass/&hl=en&gl=us&strip=1&vwsrc=0
Man-Made Electromagnetic Noise Disrupts a Bird’s Compass, national geographic
for fuller description of the electromagnetic issue, which also contains a link to debunking of other anecdotal sources by controlled experiments.
HappyDog/ᵀʳʸ ᴮᵒᶻᵒ ⁴ ᵗʰᵉ ᶠᵘⁿ ᵒᶠ ᶦᵗ Premium Member over 4 years ago
I read that the Audubon Society advises not to have perch posts on birdhouses because they encourage predators, and the birds don’t need them. Is that true, anyone?
Zebrastripes over 4 years ago
Awwww! This is so cute! I have many birds come daily and sparrows included!
Joy Sabl Premium Member over 4 years ago
The cell phone bit is urban legend, with a (weak) basis in one study showing (at a level of significance that’s not wildly convincing, given the existence of “publication bias,” the problem caused by positive unexpected results being considered far more publishable than failure to see an effect) that birds nesting on actual cell phone towers have somewhat smaller and fewer young. There’s also study showing robins lose their ability to orient in the presence of fields between 2 kilohertz and 5 megahertz; but that’s AM radio range (or some sorts of physics equipment), not cell phone signal range.
See (cached version for text only / full access): http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:8opzJo7qcC0J:https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/phenomena/2014/05/07/electromagnetic-noise-disrupts-bird-compass/&hl=en&gl=us&strip=1&vwsrc=0
Man-Made Electromagnetic Noise Disrupts a Bird’s Compass, national geographic
for fuller description of the electromagnetic issue, which also contains a link to debunking of other anecdotal sources by controlled experiments.