Researchers have found that building housing along lakeshores affects the kinds of birds drawn to the area. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
Researchers have found that building housing along lakeshores affects the kinds
of birds drawn to the area. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
Researchers have been looking at the differences between populations of birds along a lakeshore where houses have been built and where they’ve not. Alec Lindsay is a University of Michigan doctoral student who’s been working with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, studying the birds…
“What we found is that the birds that feed on insects were found less frequently on lakes
that had significant shoreline development than lakes that were undeveloped. And on the other hand, birds that feed on seeds which are not normally associated with these sorts of habitats were found more frequently on developed lakes than undeveloped lakes.”
So, lakeshore housing developments might be discouraging the kinds of birds that eat mosquitoes and keep down other insect pests. Conservation officials suggest homeowners should plant more native shrubs and grasses to encourage the bug-eating birds to stay.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.