My birds are gone

[Joel Merrill]

I have a bird feeder just outside the kitchen window. I keep it full most of the year except for in the summer when I can't fill it fast enough. I always have lots of birds. Living in town I don't have a wide variety of kinds of birds but I have lots of them. I have mostly sparrows and sometimes lots of house finches. I've had a couple of mourning doves around for years and a few cardinals and blue jays. Sometimes I get a few gold finches or other birds that are passing through. I have snow birds that feed on the ground under the feeder.

This year they all seem to have flown south. It's been that way all fall and winter. I don't even see any birds around the neighborhood. We have a few cats around the neighborhood but we always have had. I still have 2 snow birds and once or twice I have seem a sparrow but that's it. I thought it was my seeds but I bought a small bag from another store as a test. It didn't help. They've been in there for 2 months. Now I am just setting a pan of them on the ground and the squirrels and 2 snow birds are eating them.

Anyone have any ideas what is going on?

Joel :basic04

[Cecil Wallace]

Joel, that's interesting because here in Northeast Texas, we have had a similar problem over the past couple months.
Normally we have Northern Cardinals year round, with 15 or 20 coming to the feeders in the Winter time. We also have Blue Jays, Tufted Titmice, Carolina Wrens, White Breasted Nuthatches, and Carolina Chicadees. American Goldfinches and several varieties of woodpeckers come to the feeders during the winter.
About October, 2006, we had only a few chicadees and titmice at the feeders, with an occasional cardinal.
In January, the American Goldfinches did arrive, but not the usual 3 or 4 dozen, just 15 or 20 of them.
We have a few more cardinals, but not anywhere near the 15 or 20 we usually see.
In the wintertime, I have often in the past put out up to 2 gallons of black oil sunflower seeds per day, in 9 feeders as well as maintaining 2 thistle feeders. Now, I am only putting out about 1 gallon of sunflower seeds per day.
And the story is much the same with other folks in our area. It is somewhat of a mystery this year.

[Dennis M. Scott]

Similar experience here. Strange.

[Joanne Vergin]

Sorry to hear that Joel. THey are all at my house for some reason. i had dozens despite the feirce wind and temperature yesterday.

But seriously it could just be the result of normal ebb and flow. It seems some one asked this in Birds and Bloom mag recently.
I use only lack oil sunflower right now. Do you have a mixed bag? If your feeder is old it might need a good cleaning. I let my thistle feeder get moldy and that was BAD. Now I need a new one.

www.birdsandblooms.com

[Jim Franklin]

When are the birds going to become politically correct and stay North with all of this global warming going on. Perhaps there should be somewhere that these birds could be taught political correctness.

[Regena Torres]

Here also. We normally have a lot of sparrows but this year we only have a few. I have seen one male cardinal eating red berries off the tree in front but I have not seen his mate. We bought 10 lbs of bird feed in November and still have lots left.

[Marg Webb]

We finally have birds here at our feeders in central Ohio. Maybe I prayed the Hawks to your areas. Hope not.. Because this is the first we have had our feeders empty before night and we have not seen a Hawk for several days. We finally have a few Squirrels.
Recall the photo Dave sent, with the Hawk having a lunch on a very fat Squirrel
I put out dog food also for the Blue Jays, they have a hard time taking off but seem to like the food.
We have a small table right up to one window, this is really quite informative. We can see right into their mouths.
Mrs. Cardinal sits and waits for Mr. Cardinal to feed her.
The Junco's are feeding from the table also. They really are ground feeders, I understand?
They did not arrive until a week ago.
Could it possible be global warming?

[Joel Merrill]

Sorry to hear that Joel. THey are all at my house for some reason. i had dozens despite the feirce wind and temperature yesterday.

But seriously it could just be the result of normal ebb and flow. It seems some one asked this in Birds and Bloom mag recently.
I use only lack oil sunflower right now. Do you have a mixed bag? If your feeder is old it might need a good cleaning. I let my thistle feeder get moldy and that was BAD. Now I need a new one.

www.birdsandblooms.com (http://www.birdsandblooms.com)

I only use black oil sunflower seeds. I have tried mixed seeds and I used to put out a thistle seed feeder but the birds definitely prefer the black oil sunflower seeds. Sometimes I put out suet blocks but I haven't this year.

I have one of those expensive feeders that claims to be squirrel proof. It took my squirrels about 2 minutes to figure out how to eat from it so I had to modify it. It works really well now. I clean it out at least a couple times a year and I clean the seed troth about once a week.

I don't want my seeds to get old so I am feeding the squirrels on the ground on purpose now. I may regret that later.

Joel

P.S. We subscribe to Birds and Blooms magazine but I haven't had much time to read them lately. I always give the magazines to my mom when I'm done. She cuts the pictures out of them and makes scrap books.

[Joanne Vergin]

Well joel I hope it is the ebb and flow thing then. My ideas are exhausted. THe only other thing is maybe a predator moved in as someone mentioned or maybe there are more people in the neighborhood feeding birds this year? :rolleyes: That would be a plus. Anyone more local you can ask? I would certainly be interested. Did anyone cut down some trees in the neighborhood? If they dont have a place to roost that could be it. Gee, I have more ideas than I thought! :eek:

[Cecil Wallace]

Just recently we were complaining about not seeing many birds at the feeders. I suppose that all the cold weather farther north has driven the goldfinches south because I must have had close to 100 at my feeders yesterday (02/09/07).

I had to go out and buy 15 more pounds of thistle seed.
With 2 thistle seed feeders and 10 other feeders in my yard, I have to put out close to 2 gallons of black oil sunflower seeds per day, plus about 5 pounds of mixed seeds every week. 5 pounds of thistle seed will only last a few days.

In addition, I keep 3 containers of homemade suet at the feeding stations.

It is quite a sight to see all those goldfinches trying to get to the feeding stations. They knock each other off the stations.

[Joel Merrill]

The Gold Finch is the Iowa state bird. With the cold weather, the birds that are here have to eat more to maintain their energy and body temperature. Birds have a high body temperature. I have noticed a few more sparrows and I counted half a dozen snow birds the other day. I haven't put out any suet this year. It seems to attract mainly squirrels and rough birds like starlings and grackles. We have a few downy woodpeckers in the neighborhood but the larger birds chase them away. Often wildlife know bad weather is coming before weathermen do. I'm hoping that is the case here and more of them flew south.

One thing we do have a lot of is rabbits. I've never seen so many as we have this year. I have a box trap and I used to trap them and take them out in the country and let them go. Then I stated catching only smelly possums. It must be once they get their smell on the cage it attracts other possums. It isn't unheard of to have skunks in town. So I quit trapping rabbits and now I have a bunch of them.

Joel

[Joel Merrill]

I saw my first robin today. That is about a week earlier than they usually come. I have two ornamental crab apple trees and the robins eat those little apples until it warms up. I also saw a large flock of birds in the top of a neighborhood elm tree. I think they were just sparrows but it was good to see them. It just started snowing here about an hour ago and the wind is picking up. We are supposed to get several inches. The wind will be the biggest problem.

Joel

[Dennis M. Scott]

See, it's that global warming thing again. If you would stop driving those fossil fuel vehicles, you would be blessed with double the number of birds. And to make sure it happens you must forward this email to eight of your closest friends.

[Cecil Wallace]

See, it's that global warming thing again. If you would stop driving those fossil fuel vehicles, you would be blessed with double the number of birds. And to make sure it happens you must forward this email to eight of your closest friends.
:basic05
I imagine that many of the folks in the northern USA would not agree with this "global warming" thing right now. Sounds like it is mighty cold.

As a result of that cold weather up north, I have more American Goldfinches at my feeders than ever before here in northeast Texas.

I don't think that I shall pass this e-mail to anyone. Thanks anyway for the observation. :basic03

[Joel Merrill]

See, it's that global warming thing again. If you would stop driving those fossil fuel vehicles, you would be blessed with double the number of birds. And to make sure it happens you must forward this email to eight of your closest friends.
Since I don't believe in global warming, I don't have 8 friends :basic04 I wonder if Al Gore is going to start selling plans to build archs? :eek:

jOeL :fav01

[Dave McClung]

I have a bird feeder just outside the kitchen window. I keep it full most of the year except for in the summer when I can't fill it fast enough. I always have lots of birds. Living in town I don't have a wide variety of kinds of birds but I have lots of them. I have mostly sparrows and sometimes lots of house finches. I've had a couple of mourning doves around for years and a few cardinals and blue jays. Sometimes I get a few gold finches or other birds that are passing through. I have snow birds that feed on the ground under the feeder.

This year they all seem to have flown south. It's been that way all fall and winter. I don't even see any birds around the neighborhood. We have a few cats around the neighborhood but we always have had. I still have 2 snow birds and once or twice I have seem a sparrow but that's it. I thought it was my seeds but I bought a small bag from another store as a test. It didn't help. They've been in there for 2 months. Now I am just setting a pan of them on the ground and the squirrels and 2 snow birds are eating them.

Anyone have any ideas what is going on?

Joel :basic04

Last week while we were driving across country we saw a lot of flocks of geese and ducks. They were much farther north than I would have expected for this time of year and most were flying from east to west rather than north to south. I am not sure what any of that means.

This morning when Linda and I went for our morning walk I noticed that the robins have returned to Washington. I usually see them about this time of year.

Dave

[Joel Merrill]

I just counted 44 robins in my yard and I'm sure I missed a few. I also heard a cardinal. I still don't understand why the birds don't like my feeder but I'm not so worried about them.

Joel :basic01

[Cecil Wallace]

I just counted 44 robins in my yard and I'm sure I missed a few. I also heard a cardinal. I still don't understand why the birds don't like my feeder but I'm not so worried about them.
I saw a few robins here in northeast Texas today.
However, the approximately 100 American Goldfinches are devouring black oil sunflower seeds, thistle seeds, mixed feed, and homemade suet like it was going out of style.
I bought 15 pounds of thistle seed last Friday, then another 10 pounds yesterday. This is on top of the 10 pounds that I had bought a few weeks ago.
I keep my sunflower seeds in gallon milk containers, and I am putting out about 2 gallons per day.
Normally, I don't feed the mix because most of the birds don't like it. However, the goldfinches are going through about a pound per day.
I have to put out close to 2 homemade suet cakes per week.

I guess that all that bad and cold weather north of here has finally driven the birds south. Our 19 F degrees predicted for tonight may drive them even farther south. Who knows.
At any rate, it is pretty neat watching the goldfinches knock each other off the feeders at times.