On the flip side of yesterday's post about too many aphids, today I'm asking why there seem to be so few birds at the feeders this winter. The question was raised in the forum by Carol, from Oh What a Beautiful Garden - Chicagoland. Carol later noticed a cooper hawk on her property, which could easily be the reason smaller birds were avoiding her feeders. But several other folks had also noticed a lack of feathered feasters from Canada down to Florida. And the reports of mass bird deaths isn't making us feel more comfortable.
I've often heard that even more than food, birds need non-frozen water in winter and a heated bird bath is mighty attractive to many wild birds. An interesting article from the New Hampshire Audubon gives several reasons the bird population may appear sparse. And some birds we take for granted as year long residents actually migrate accationally "...in response to food supplies or weather cues we can't detect. The birds you see in summer may not be the same individuals you see in winter. " I guess that means I should stop giving them names.
Have you noticed a lack of birds at your feeders or maybe you've seen the crew that used to congregate at mine? I'd love to hear what's going on in other gardens.
- What Others are Noticing
- Atracting Birds in Winter
- Best Winter Bird Foods
- Plants that Feed the Birds
- Join Project Feeder Watch
Touch base with me on Twitter and Facebook, too.
Photo: © Marie Iannotti.
Comments
I think they must have showed up here in Lexington, SC. We have had a very large number of birds at our feeders this winter…I refill my feeders every week instead of every 2-3 weeks as in the past. Thanks for sharing!
We still have plenty of birds–cardinals, chickadees, mourning doves, blue jays, white crowned and white throated sparrows, goldfinches, nuthatches, downy woodpeckers, house finches, titmice, song sparrows, tree sparrows, fox sparrows, house sparrows, starlings, etc.
Here in southern WI, we have oodles of birds: cardinals, blue jays, juncos, morning doves, goldfinches, chickadees, and….
Your point about water is well taken – we have 2 heated bird baths cleaned every day and 13 feeders – mostly stocked with black oil sunflowers but one is mixed seed and several are for thistle food. My neighbor also reports an abundance of birds and she added water this year too.
Good to hear the birds are still accounted for. I’ve had quite a few around my feeders since the snow and ice came. I wonder if more people are putting out food, so they have a bigger smorgasbord to flit through? That would be a win for everyone.
I’m also glad that many still have their birds but here in SW Ontario,I still have none.
I thought it was a higher than normal winter kill(a certain percentage of birds die in the winter depending on the severity of the weather)but after reading the Audubon article that Marie linked us to,I think that explains it.Not enough food and so birds that normally stay for the winter have headed further south.I knew that about robins and jays.They migrate but have no particular destination.They just head south until they find food and there they stay.Once and awhile,I will have a very mild winter and they will stay.
Well,I read that chickadees will sometimes migrate if they can’t find enough food.I didn’t know that.
So,if that’s my problem,why isn’t there enough food?Well,earlier on,we did get a ton of snow and I mean a ton.Almost a new record.Now it has melted and I’m seeing berries still clinging to many shrubs like privet but for a long time they were buried and the birds couldn’t get to them.That might explain it.Some birds also eat hibernating insects they find in crevices in tree trunks and what not.
We had a poster from Florida who is not seeing as many birds as well.What accounts for that I have no idea.
Well,I don’t know but I miss the birds:(
All of my winter birds have returned this year. We have more goldfinches than anything else along with White breasted nuthatch, Chick a dees, Tufted titmice, Red-bellied woodpeckers, Downy woodpeckers,Purple finch, House finch, Black phoebes and others here in Muldrow, Oklahoma.
Here in north-central New Jersey my neighbor and I have been starting to freak out a bit over the lack of winter birds (actually any birds at all). We’ve had lots of snow storms and have refilled our feeders with fresh seed but, except for a few crows and sparrows, it’s very quiet outside. Last year we had four cardinal families and a large variety of winter cuties. We miss them.
At My Home;))) We have hundreds of hungey visitors daily. I keep 11 feeders filled to capcaity. We have oodles of Titmice, a variety of Sparrows, Downey Woodpeckers, Red-bellied Sapsuckers, Yellow Shafted Flickers, Cardinals, Eastern Towhees, a few American Golfinches, Blue Jays, Mourning Doves, Dark-eyed Juncos and sometimes European Starlings too, just to name the ones that come daily…
What do you all think about the US government using chemicals to KILL our birds?????? & other wildlife!!!!
Phyl, could you be more specific? I haven’t heard about any government effort to kill wildlife.
My bird feeders haven’t been touched this winter….. I live in norhtwestern Wisconsin. In the summer there are quite a few and winters in the past there were birds but not this year. I haven’t seen one. What is going on.
What I’ve noticed this year, unlike previous years, is the lack of huge flocks of migrating birds from “up north.”
I’ve also noticed that I have a large group of mourning doves and the tiny little birds (chickadees?) that are loving my many areas of seed in my yard. Rather than many feeders, I have just put out lots of black oil sunflower seeds and wild bird seed on the ledges of my front porch and all over my sidewalks.
In the back yard, I have kept the seed spread in two specific areas that are favorites of the same birds. The cardinals love everything also.
If you haven’t done it already, have your yard certified as a certified Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. It costs a bit, but the sign explains to your neighbors that you are helping wildlife, not just throwing seed all over the place, ha-ha!!
I have also not seen flocks of birds flying overhead during migration. Here in central california, san joaquin valley, we usually see many. We have sparrows but not many. A few blue jays but not like usual.
I worry about the grain with roundup integrated in it via genetic engineering, among other things.
The last year it has been notable to me and I googled “where are the birds” to see if others noted this.
I think it will be years before we really know the affects of pesticides, herbicides and everything else that’s out there. I wouldn’t be surprised if they make a link to cell phone or wifi usage.
Although I read somewhere that perhaps one of the reasons there seems to be less migration is fluctuating temperatures. When it stays warm and there’s food available, they don’t feel the need to migrate. Lazy birds, don’t they know we miss them.
For the past two years I’ve been living in LA and haven’t seen many birds. This is all year round. Sometimes, I see a total of two birds flying together. Never more than that. Then again… the air in Los Angeles is so bad, they probably went South to Mexico for the year round.
Lauren, I don’t know what’s normal for LA, but here in NY we’ve had a lot of birds sticking around for this winter, so maybe it is the warmer temperatures across most of the country. I’ve even heard geese who seem to be flying back up north. I’m hoping they know something we don’t.
I live in the country, near Ottawa Canada. We usually have lots of winter birds especially blue jays. We have put food in the same feeders as last year and we have had very few visitors. We have tried many things to attract them – fresh bread crumbs, pomegranate and of course seeds. No such luck.
That’s interesting, Julie. The original questions was from 2 years ago, but people are still reporting the same lack of birds. I wonder if it’s because of the wacky weather. maybe they’ve changed their habits?Or maybe so many of us are feeding them, they’re full. lol
I actually have quite a few congregating around my feeders, but I’ve never counted them before, so I can’t really compare.