[Western Phil]

It's an interesting world. There seems to be a resurgence of the dickcissel population. This is a sparrow sized bird, looks sort of like a meadowlark. It sits on rural power lines or fence posts and sings a song which to some people sounds like its name. It seems to nest in grassy areas along roadsides or in meadows. It also seems to be quite spread out, not living near neighbors.

Wintering, however, is different. They gather in large flocks in Venezuela. Sometime in the late 20th century large agriculture projects plowed up much of wintering territory of this bird. The flocks of millions ate the crops. The farmers sprayed the crops & a good percentage of the dickcissels died. I think there were some efforts by bird preservation people to compensate the farmers for their losses, but I do not know how successful they were. Maybe the Zimbabweization of Venezuela has been favorable for the survivability of these birds.

[cbkaty]

Zimbabweization of Venezuela

You may have coined a phrase......that becomes lasting...a fill in the blank phrase....The Zimbabweization of ______________?