MISSING BIRDS

I don't know what's going on either but I've noticed the same here in southern MA.

I'm in Exeter RI and they are gone from here too. I haven't even seen squirrels. I think I've seen 2 goldfinches in the past week and my yard is usually filled with birds.

Has anyone checked with their wildlife bureau? This is not good news.

I took down my birdfeeder as the starlings wipe it out in half an hour, I did hear chickadees, and I usually see/hear cardinals and jays ... but not in the last month or longer! (I'm in NW NJ).

What is up?

Apparently this has been going on for some time. The 1st article has a way for us to help:

AUDUBON: Common Birds In Decline -- What's happening to birds we know and love?
The one distinction these common species share is the potential to become uncommon unless we all take action to protect them and their habitat.

Go to the website below and browse the species list and learn what you can do to help.

* See Full Article:
http://stateofthebirds.audubon.org/CBID/

Audubon: Common backyard birds becoming less common
POSTED: June 14, 2007

• 20 common birds have lost more than half their populations in the past 40 years
• Birds in decline: Northern bobwhite, field sparrow and boreal chickadee
• Factors: Agriculture, habitat loss, pesticides, invasive species, global warming
• Health of a bird population often a harbinger of health of other wildlife, humans

* See Full Article: http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/06/14/bird.decline/

U.S. BIRD POPULATIONS IN DECLINE, REPORT SAYS
Secretary of the Interior calls government agencies and the public to action By Solmaz Barazesh Web edition : Thursday, March 19th, 2009
A review of bird populations in the United States was released March 19 by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. Nearly a third of the United States’ 800 bird species are endangered, threatened or in significant decline, the new report shows.

* See Full Article: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/41937/title/U.S._bird_populations_in_decline,_report_says

Personally, I'd rather see that the news contain this kind of topic rather than the latest twitter from celebs.

We in England also have our fair share of declining bird populations. But do not despair too much as at this time of year there is a lot of natural food for the birds so they do not need your feeders. An example here are the woodpeckers and jays. The jays are buzy storing acorns for the winter. And the woodpeckers have all the food in the woods. But come November they will all be back, as I am sure yours will.
I have just put out my fat dish for the 1st time. This is an old fruing pan(about 12 diam and 3 ins deep) We save all the fat from cooking in the freezer all summer and in winter melt it down an mix with seed suet etc and put it in the pan an the birdtable. It only lasts a few days but is worth the trouble.
Colin(Sussexman)

I don't know what it is about my cherry tree but the birds love it. Today I had three pairs of young cardinals. You could tell they were young because they were still loosing their baby feathers and changing to their permanent color. I get lots of house sparrows. We usually get a few chickadees but for some reason we had three pairs from the evergreen in the neighbors tree visit our feeders for a solid hour back and fourth. The mourning doves were here too. I had three fat squirrels in the yard and a little fat chipmunk foraging today. We have a squirrel house up in the cherry tree and we do know it is occupied. We do have a large number of trees in our community. We live in southwestern Ohio. Last year when the wind came through here from one of the hurricanes, I can't remember it's name, Our neighborhood was devastated. It took us 9 days to get the power back. Every street here had trees down. Some squirrels lost homes, but there was no lack for new homes due to the abundance of remaining trees. Last spring our community was happy to be privy to a family of screech owls a few streets over from mine. I was lucky enough to have juveniles visit my cherry tree for 2 months time between May and July. I believe they belonged to the pair that nested in our community last year. The little guys roosted day and night. I need to post some of my pics on here. I got some wonderful pics of them and they were beautiful.The juncos will come back with the colder weather. They always leave here when the spring comes but they return with winter. I have had gold finches at my niger feeder some but the sparrows are so greedy the gold finches have to fight them off. Besides my cherry tree I have been cultivating my yard to invite the birds. I have planted a few bushes in the last year as well as an ever green. I have also let a few bushy trees spring up from nothing. They have berries on them and the birds seem to flock to those too. The other thing that has been interesting is that we have a brush pile in the back that we just let grow over. The birds had dropped so many sunflower seeds this year that we had a whole corner of sunflowers spring up. Sometimes I don't even fill my feeders and just through a cup of feed scattering it in the grass. All the birds feed from the ground including the cardinals, except the chickadees, nuthatches and finches. They always feed at the feeders.The lack of birds in other areas could just be the different weather patterns we have had this year.The person who took your feeders down you could try some ground feeding. You can put some feed in an old cookie tray of some kind if you have one that you are not using. prop it on some bricks put it out for the birds and they will come. Once the birds know there is seed in your grass you won't need to put the tray out. I ground feed mostly in the summer because the sparrows like the starlings are little pigs. In the winter I fill my feeders more. Good luck everyone.

Well folks have your birds come back yet. I have had my first greater spotted woodpecker on my peanuts for about 6 weeks. So I would think yours will be returning soon for a free lunch.
Sussexman