Predator vs Disease

[Harvey11]

A silly question but what would be the biggest killer of wild and caged birds in Australia.?????

Considering that wild birds could die from the elements(dry,cold,hot)ect.
And birds could just die from age.

Hope this question makes sense.

Harv

[Buzzard-1]

People

[jusdeb]

Captive birds ...bad husbandry skills , neglect and inexperience humans.
Wild birds ... dunno really , guess only the strong survive as per mother natures rules so a combo of weather , predators and the biggie land clearance / habitat loss so again humans .

[BluJay]

Good question, Harvey11, in all my years in animal health care, I would say the number one killer of all animals, is the humanizing of them. People base their pets comfort, on their own comfort, and it is a real bad situation.
Just recently, on the phone, with my sis, a visitor, the kind that will always one up you on everything, gave my canaries oreo cookies, and the dogs ice cream with potatoe chips! I ripped my sister, having her put the person on the phone, and advised them to get their belongings gathered and get off the farm! Or I would be on the next plane, to see to it and send them the vet bills. On top of this, I would say unintentional neglect would be the next runner up. As well as, everything Jusdeb says!
What I have always tried to redirect people from thinking is, birds are nasty, that is the number one complaint, they not only poop, but poop on everything, the seeds all over the floor and lets not forget the moult. I always tried to gear them towards things that would minimize these issues. Frustrations, neglect, death, no reset button.

[matcho]

Harvey,

I'm not sure how to answer this.....but.. this is my take on things. Predators or disease? Good question. The main point is that in the wild the weakest do not survive. They are predated or not raised by their parents because of a myriad of things.....read loss of partners, loss of food source, inclement weather etc etc. They can't and will not expend their energy to raise a weaker chick in preference to a stronger chick. It happens in the aviary bred birds, have had it happen to me in the last two weeks, harsh, but in all reality it was for the best. Disease I don't think KILLS but makes them weaker so to become a food source for predators. Loss of habitat and food source are the main reasons for the loss of many of our birds, they survived for tens of thousands of years through flood, drought and fire, but we (civilisation) turned up 200 years ago and look what we have. Don't think about predation or disease. WE are the main reason for the demise of the birds.

[GregH]

This is a an interesting topic Harv. Certainly the carrying capacity of finch habitats have been significantly altered since humans turned up but that's not what you're after. It's difficult to know what is THE biggest killer in natural systems as this varies over time. If you look at zebra finches in the wild they can have explosive episodes of breeding and then a few hot days can kill tens of thousands (have a look at the Overlander Roadhouse back in 2009. In an article by Sarah Pryke & Simon Griffiths (Use of nest-boxes by the Zebra Finch (Taeniopygia guttata): implications for reproductive success and research. Emu, 2008, 108, 311–319) they note the loss of free standing nests due to predation was around 60% (they give breakdowns through the incubation to fledging stages). When artificial nest boxes were provided 58% of nests fledged at least one chick so clearly predation is very significant during this period of life. There may be other studies that shed light on other phases of the lifecycle but I'm not aware of them. I don't believe that metabolic and pathogenic diseases are normally big killers in natural populations unlike aviaries where the birds are captive to the conditions within and these actually favour inoculum amplification and often we weaken birds with inadequate/inappropriate diets. Truely virulent pathogens are so successful that they actively select for less pathogenic types since the host dies before the disease can be passed on and so it too fails.

[matcho]

This is a an interesting topic Harv. Certainly the carrying capacity of finch habitats have been significantly altered since humans turned up but that's not what you're after. It's difficult to know what is THE biggest killer in natural systems as this varies over time. If you look at zebra finches in the wild they can have explosive episodes of breeding and then a few hot days can kill tens of thousands (have a look at the Overlander Roadhouse back in 2009. In an article by Sarah Pryke & Simon Griffiths (Use of nest-boxes by the Zebra Finch (Taeniopygia guttata): implications for reproductive success and research. Emu, 2008, 108, 311–319) they note the loss of free standing nests due to predation was around 60% (they give breakdowns through the incubation to fledging stages). When artificial nest boxes were provided 58% of nests fledged at least one chick so clearly predation is very significant during this period of life. There may be other studies that shed light on other phases of the lifecycle but I'm not aware of them. I don't believe that metabolic and pathogenic diseases are normally big killers in natural populations unlike aviaries where the birds are captive to the conditions within and these actually favour inoculum amplification and often we weaken birds with inadequate/inappropriate diets. Truely virulent pathogens are so successful that they actively select for less pathogenic types since the host dies before the disease can be passed on and so it too fails.

Too many big words for me and I dare say Harvey11

[Brett]

Don't know how Harv comes up with these questions.
Put here is my uneducated view.

We are the Predators
Human......... as we are taking habitats away from wild birds.
Human..........as we are polluting the air they and we live in.

I know that pollution has reduced Fish Stocks in Australia
Just my 50 cents worth

Bretto

[Mortisha]

Harv you will find that most animals (including humans) have the same needs to have good healthy lives:

Fresh water
A proper diet with lots of variety
Somewhere suitable to live that is safe, and has places to get relief from hot, cold or wet weather.
Enough space to express normal behaviour for physical development and to develop their natural personalities.
Low environmental stress- avoiding things like lots of loud noise, pollution, being chased or harassed, feeling threatened, etc.
Protection from predators and parasites
Protection from and quick treatment of any illness or injury.

When one of the needs above has not been met; animals become stressed, then more vulnerable to disease, predators and death.

s.