Posted on 08/09/2002 11:07:23 AM PDT by blam
Birds enjoy the high life
14:15 09 August 02
NewScientist.com news service
Birds flock to parks in up-market neighbourhoods, shunning those in the poorer parts of town, researchers have discovered.
Anne Kinzig and her colleagues at Arizona State University studied 15 parks in Phoenix and found the most diverse bird populations in the smartest parts of town.
To their surprise, the socio-economic factors explained bird diversity better than anything about park ecology - such as tree diversity and vegetation structure. In fact, parks in the poorest parts of town had the highest tree and shrub diversity, but the lowest bird diversity. "We wouldn't have guessed it," says Kinzig. "It's telling us we need to look further afield for the answer."
Her team is now trying to track down exactly what it is about posh neighbourhoods that the birds like. One possibility is that rich people have bigger gardens so there is more habitat surrounding the parks. Also, they may be more inclined to feed the birds or perhaps offer a better menu.
Mike Toms, of the British Trust for Ornithology is not surprised by the results. "The area around gardens and parks determines which birds visit," he says. He says that larger gardens tend to contain a greater variety of habitats and so can support different bird species.
A spokesperson for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds adds that two thirds of UK households put food out for their garden visitors: "It's arguably the nation's biggest past-time - certainly more popular than watching football."
James Randerson
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