This Red-tailed hawk, which kindly allowed me to photograph it on December 27, 2016, has nothing to do with this post.  The photograph is merely to get your attention for what I’m about to say.

The Seattle Times, on December 29, 2016, published on the front page of the paper an article titled, “Birds in the burbs”, written by Lynda V. Mapes.  The article outlines research performed by Dr. John Marzluff who is well-known among birders for his research on crows.  As is the case of print media, that edition of the paper is gone.  However I suspect that the article can be accessed online through The Seattle Times website.

I’m not going to try to summarize the findings of his research, but the article makes good reading for the effect urbanization has on various bird populations and how homeowners can make their yards more bird-friendly.  It’s an excellent article and generally advances the principles that my wife and I use to guide our landscaping.  And as those of you know who regularly visit my blog, many of the photos that are taken for the blog were obtained in our “yard”.