While on my sabbatical I read several articles about birds whose populations are getting out of control and/or thriving in places where they never could before.

One article talked about Ravens now living in the Nevada desert because they can nest on the cross-country electrical lines, telephone poles and other man-made structures. This morning, I read about excessive Gulls and Ravens in landfills and an interesting strategy for controlling them.

I do not know if my observations are related; however, while traveling,I visited some highly acclaimed birding spots. I know it was mid-late summer and I rarely got up early, but I saw few birds. And, in forested campgrounds I saw few birds, except Ravens and Sea Gulls.  Up in the Bighorns, one especially gigantic Raven squawked at us all day, as if we were invading his territory. And again, other birds were scarce.

Today’s observation is: yes there are lots of Ravens and Gulls out there, which leads to  a series of questions:

1. Wouldn’t Mother Nature settle the overpopulation problem with Ravens and Gulls given some time? I know that in Wyoming, one year conditions are excellent for a mouse population explosion. The next year we have a snake population explosion, then a raptor increase. In time, things balance out, then a new cycle begins.

2. Are population increases caused by human development outside of Mother Nature’s ability to control them?

3. Considering the “survival of the fittest” theory, is it better in the long run to let certain species thrive in our human-altered landscape?

The loud Raven who screamed at us in the Big Horns