Certainly West Nile killed off a lot of crows and some other birds, but I don't know that it's the biggest factor.
People effect the balance of non-domestic predators too. In my mother's neighborhood people have been feeding the chipmunks for the past few years, and they've multiplied to the point where this year they're a major pest instead of a minor one. Not only are they undermining patios, digging up bulbs and plants faster than they can be planted and throwing dirt everywhere, they've stolen all the eggs from the nearby nests of at least 3 different pairs of robins and left them half eaten on mom's porch. She's watched the poor robins trying to chase them out of the trees for a while, but now they've abandoned the nests.
(Despite the fact that she thinks they're adorable, after nearly breaking her ankle several times on patio stones that collapsed under her, she recently resorted to live trapping and taking them to a large nearby park with both meadows and woods. In about a week she's relocated 21 chipmunks (at last count), all caught in the tiny yard of her townhouse, and she's still catching 1-4 per day. She's ordered some dried fox urine which is supposed to be the most effective repellent, and is going to try that now to hopefully keep those left out of her yard, now that the most established ones have been relocated.)
She was kind -- my father discovered that as long as the "nest" of ground squirrels existed, they knew the way into his attic. He finally had to drown 29 of them in one memorable night of setting the trap in the attic, going downstairs to bed, hearing the trap click, going back upstairs, taking the trap to the first story, etc. etc..
And some birds are unfortunately doing better -- like grackles.
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People effect the balance of non-domestic predators too. In my mother's neighborhood people have been feeding the chipmunks for the past few years, and they've multiplied to the point where this year they're a major pest instead of a minor one. Not only are they undermining patios, digging up bulbs and plants faster than they can be planted and throwing dirt everywhere, they've stolen all the eggs from the nearby nests of at least 3 different pairs of robins and left them half eaten on mom's porch. She's watched the poor robins trying to chase them out of the trees for a while, but now they've abandoned the nests.
(Despite the fact that she thinks they're adorable, after nearly breaking her ankle several times on patio stones that collapsed under her, she recently resorted to live trapping and taking them to a large nearby park with both meadows and woods. In about a week she's relocated 21 chipmunks (at last count), all caught in the tiny yard of her townhouse, and she's still catching 1-4 per day. She's ordered some dried fox urine which is supposed to be the most effective repellent, and is going to try that now to hopefully keep those left out of her yard, now that the most established ones have been relocated.)
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And some birds are unfortunately doing better -- like grackles.