Birds+come+-+WHY?

//Dear all, this is just some background information on why the birds come, so that you guys would understand why the birds come and disturb us.

Regards, Bird Busters//


 * FACTORS AFFECTING THE BIRDS' PRESENCE **

After doing some research, we found out that most birds have a poor sense of smell, including sparrows and mynahs. Therefore, the smell of the food must not have contributed very much to the birds coming.
 * Smell**

**Time ** When we observed, we found that the birds come when the students have their lunch (1.30 to 2pm) and during the afternoon session's recesses (around 3 to 3.45pm). During the afternoon session recesses, there are more birds. This is probably because the afternoon session pupils, being younger, drop more food. The birds will stay for about five minutes after the recesses/lunches, as that is the time span where the food that has been dropped has not been cleared by the cleaners or/and stall vendors.  **Weather ** Looking at the observations that were made, apart from the break times, the birds also come more often when it is cloudy.  **Amount of People ** Looking at the observations made, the birds come more often when there are more people in the canteen, probably because more food is being dropped.  **Size of People **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; COLOR: #b62ca6; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Looking at the observations made, nothing can be said as there is no distinct pattern between the size range of the people and the number of birds. Therefore, this is not a factor affecting the presence of the birds. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> Therefore, the factors affecting the birds are the time, weather, and the amount of people. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">HABITS AND HABITAT OF THE BIRDS **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; COLOR: #c00000; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Crows get along in extremely varied habitat. They probably prefer farmland, but are also found in parks, on wooded islands, in wooded areas on the fringes of towns and, increasingly, even in our largest cities. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> Generally, crows are most numerous in agricultural districts with a great variety and plentiful supply of food. One habitat necessity is an adequate number of trees for cover and nesting sites. Farm woodlots are ideal for this. Nests built and abandoned by crows sometimes provide habitat for birds that, ironically, are one of the crow’s age-old enemies: the great horned owl.
 * __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; COLOR: #231f20; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt">CROWS __**<span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">
 * <span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Habitat

<span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; COLOR: #7030a0; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-SG">Flocks of crows range widely for food, up to 30 miles a day in winter. Foods include grasshoppers, caterpillars, grubs, worms, most insects, grain, fruit, the eggs and young of other birds, organic garbage — just about anything that they can find or overpower. Crows also feed on the carcasses of winter- and road-killed animals. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">
 * Behavior – in unatural habitat** <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">

**<span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt">Behavior – in natural habitat **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; COLOR: #4f81bd; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-themecolor: accent1">Crows not only live alongside man, they’ve survived in spite of him. Because of their habits of pulling up corn shoots and occasionally robbing game bird nests, crows have been persecuted. Today, however, humans also recognize the crow’s beneficial side — in helping control harmful insects such as tent caterpillars, locusts and white grubs, in cleaning up dead road-killed birds and animals, and even our improperly disposed garbage <span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">.

**__<span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt">SPARROWS __**<span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt">Habitat **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; COLOR: #00b050; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Sparrows prefer to nest in protected man- made or natural areas. Building ledges, openings in structures, gutters, signs, light fixtures, birdhouses, under the eaves of a house, bridges, electrical power lines and transformers are areas which are often used to construct nests. Sparrows also displace other birds from their nest; destroy their eggs and use their nests for their own brood. Both sexes construct a rather large and flimsy nest from straw, grass, feathers, strips of paper, string and other debris. House sparrows frequently nest in kitchen, bathroom, oven and dryer vents. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt">Behavior – In unatural habitat **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; COLOR: #ff33cc; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Sparrows tend to be very territorial, as individuals and as flocks and restrict their nesting and feeding to specific locations. They foul structures with their droppings, particularly those areas used for roosting and loafing sites. Sparrows also enter food plants, warehouses, department stores and malls where they often contaminate food products or other merchandise. Their droppings can contain a variety of disease causing bacteria, fungi, nematodes, etc. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; COLOR: #002060; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> People have been constantly destroying the birds’ habitat as Singapore has limited land space, and the government needs to build more houses for our growing population, which leaves no space for the birds. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; COLOR: #002060; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">