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THE WILSON JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY • Vo/. 124. No. 2. June 2012 
bird entanglement in plants, which was reviewed 
by Hager et al. (2009). They similarly reviewed 
the anecdotal literature and found 32 cases of 
plant entanglements affecting 25 species of birds, 
compared to a much higher 69 cases of spider web 
entanglement of 54 species in my study. The 
overall size of birds trapped in plants was much 
greater with seabirds (e.g.. pelicans, gulls, and 
murrelets) and hawks representing one-third of 
the cases. Moreover, all but one of those cases 
involving larger species resulted in mortality. The 
overall mortality rate between the two studies was 
similar with 78% (/? = 25) of avian mortalities 
due to plant entanglement versus 73% (// = 22) of 
30 cases of birds trapped in spider webs that were 
not assisted by human observers. More than one- 
hall of the cases involved the plant burdock 
{Arctium minus ), whereas all birds but one case in 
my study were trapped in orb weaver webs. 
The number of orb weaver webs increases with 
environmental disturbances, such as following a 
hurricane (Brooks et al. 2008) or local extinction 
of predators which consume spiders (e.g.. Guam; 
Haldre Rogers, pers. comm.). The number of webs 
could ostensibly increase following environmental 
disturbance with environmental instability. This 
may increase the number of birds trapped in webs 
(Brooks et al. 2008) as spider webs become 
concentrated at higher densities. 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
This research provides an example of the importance c 
reporting interesting natural history notes and keeping got: 
field records. The data synthesized to examine the reiwrtc 
patterns would not have been possible without the caret! 
records ot others, including amateur naturalists wh 
pubhshed their field notes. | kindly thank the man 
^ Wh ° rCplietJ to series on NEQORN-l 
OKN1TH-L. AfncanBirdtng-L. and BirdingAus-L I ar 
grateful to the following individuals for providing unpul 
hshed accounts: Fred Beaudry. Gustavo Caban'ne. Pep 
Clavajo. Andres Cuervo. Jodie Finley. Dick Foreman. Kcvi 
Fraser. Brush Freeman. Kimball Garrett. Don Hadden R„ 
Hargreaves. Bill Howe, Nicole Michel. Jenny Normar 
SiT " S'™ de D Md ° Thomi,sR,ecke - Rojas. Bori 
r,T J r;? mart - PaU ‘ Srni,h ' Peo Us hcr. Philip Vecrmar 
Usher. Dirk Van Tucr-ih ^ ^* Ul1 Smi11 ’' J ° hn ,Uck cr. Pc, 
gratitude it tended mm ’ ^"cr. M> 
permitting access to collections " ldiVidl ' a,S fo1 
etions or assisting with data 
collection: Mary Hart and Christina Riehl (AMNH). Peter 
Lowther (FMNH), and Donna Meadows and Marth.. My- 
(HMNS). Dave Willard kindly commented on taxonomy 
and helpful edits and comments were provided by (Tail 
Braun, Monica Brooks. Boh and Maggie Honig P;:;. 
Lowther. Christina Riehl. Junclle Mikulas. and Erin Mills 
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