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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 4, 1963)
MEDFORD MAIL. TMBUNE, MEDFORD. OREGON Small Worlds Around Us Lynn W. Watkint ReiUUr ii Tfltmi lyadictu mi Birds May Eat 20,000 Bushels of Bugs A Day How many bugs to a bushel? Or, how many birds in a coun ty? Two very important ques tions that should be answered if scientists and fruit and veg etable growers want to know what they are up against in man's constant battle against the insects. So, someone took the time, overcame his natural revulsion and counted the number of average sized bugs necessary to fill a bushel basket. One hundred and twenty thousand, give or take a few dozen, aver age sized bugs did the trick. Somebody else peered cal lously into the crops and stomachs of birds to find out what kind of bugs, and how many, were there. Finding out how many a bird ate in a sin gle day was the next and rela tively easy step; average size bird, about 100 bugs a day. To count the birds, of a cer tain species, in a county seemed like a hopeless task. It appear ed even more complicated than the system the man used that counted the number of legs in a herd of cattle and then simply divided by four. Birds Per Acre . The bird count proved even easier. It was only necessary to count the birds normally found on one acre of ground. Know the number of acres in the county and take a minute with a pencil and paper and there you are. By means of this "yard stick", we can pretty accurately place tour insect eating birds of one species to an acre. The bright, red cardinal, an insect eater, was a typical example. By this formula, an average sized county would have about 30,000 birds. Should the insects increase in numbers, which does happen each year, birds from neighbor ing regions would hear about it and move in for the duration of the bug-harvest. These mi grant "bug - pickers" would naturally "go home" as soon as food scarcity began to be evident and the bird population would regain its normal level. Cuts Insect Count Now, taking the cardinals again as an example, which we estimated would average four birds to the acre, each eat 100 bugs a day together with thousands of insect eggs and probably a few stray insects that they run across in a day's time. This makes a deep dent in the insect population. During the nesting season, when feeding young, the bug intake is stepped up to about 150 bugs per day. It is pretty conservatively estimated that the birds in a stale of average size will eat about 20,000 bushels of bugs a day for at least five months of the year. During the remain der of the year, that is the colder months in the northern states, the overall volume will be about half the summer in take. In states of the deep south, where insect life is extended, the amount eaten by birds, al most the vear around, must be fantastically large; better measured by tons rather than bushels. AnDlving the . "bugs and birds" formula, it would be safe to say that the cardinals alone, in a medium sized state, would require 52,000,000 bugs a day to keep their metabolism up to noraml standards; and this in addition to countless in sect eggs. Besides the cardinals, there are other insectivorous birds scurrying around after "the crawling multitude." And the birds do all this pest control "for free." MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 19M Nuclear-Powered Sub Launched at Groton GROTON, Conn. tUPI) - The nuclear - powered Polaris mis sile submarine Ulysses S. Grant, described as the nation's "most significant weapon," was launched Saturday at ceremon ies at Electric Boat shipyards. The sub, capable of firing the 2,500 mile missiles, was chris tened by Mrs. David W. Grif fith, of Arlington, Va., great granddaughter of the former President for which the craft was named. Mississippi Files Suit Against Post BIRMINGHAM, Ala (UPI) -Mississippi's public safety com missioner has filed a $1 million libel suit against the Saturday Evening Post, claiming the Post defamed the Mississippi High way Patrol. Col. T. B. Birdsong, head of the patrol, based the suit on a story, "What Next in Mississip pi?". He said it was published "with intent to detame me pa trolmen's action in the Univer sity of Mississippi Integration crisis. II 1 Whole Kernel or Cream STARK'S INSTANT ERED MILK AUCE LOAF . . FIBST--OF-THE-WEE I fresh crisp I iviHRyilliSI'JE I CELERY I QftSUP H n m PAYETTE mm r w . wm mm a am m B TANGERINES 1 FOWO Mr . . I STATE FAIR Now ( rnn AUtmrnm. aV. HI J Lunch Box ' i 1 'TfftlDflATA H Favorite tOdS? Lb. I! Jjs ijf ftl ' H CHEPS delght VADflfi in 3 CHEESE TOMATOES H mmmmmmmss HALEY'S i I nmm 10-oz. Pkg. (Sweetened) H jf i Tl r 4&3!fck - 1 OHIO T S L E T I ' MEAD0WBR00K 1 I 1 ' IfF CDFAM 1 1 ij mm ;anii a IS I . 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