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Re: Where are the Birds?

From:

"George M. Jett"

Reply-To:

George M. Jett

Date:

Fri, 2 Dec 2011 10:54:14 -0500

Folks

It was a warm November.  December should change much of the scenery for yard 
birds and waterfowl.

I recently wrote this for Lee Duer the co-owner of the bird feed store in 
Waldorf.  It may shed some light on the missing finches.

Lee

I am finding the same situation in my backyard.  There are a number of 
possible reasons for the low numbers of birds visiting our backyards so far 
this season.  With wildlife, you have normal swings in populations for a 
number of reasons.  Weather, food availability, and more recently (past 100 
years) human intervention like deforestation are three major reasons. 
Disease can also severely affect bird populations, but I have heard little 
about a major outbreak of bird diseases like avian flu.  Acid rain also 
affects the success of breeding birds where it is prevalent, but this is 
harder see without detailed studies, and should not affect our local 
breeders like Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, etc. because effects 
are concentrated further to our north.

If you have a nasty weather event like tropical storm Lee (was this storm 
named after you?) where a 10-inch rainfall event occurred during a key 
breeding period, lots of birds, particularly young ones will die.  Not only 
do young birds die, but insects are killed.  Insects are the major food 
source for many of our songbirds including neotropical migrants. Neotropical 
migrants are birds that leave North America to overwinter in Central and 
South America where they can continue to feed on insects.  Most of our 
breeding neotropical migrants have left or passed through the region. This 
affects the numbers of birds we normally see in our backyards, but this 
happens every year.

Native food sources also are affected by the weather and normal cycles.  For 
example, the acorn crop this year is poor compared to recent years.  Maybe 
the other native food (seeds and berries) sources the birds eat may be down 
as well.  I have done no detailed surveys this season, but the nutrients 
needed for a good food crop change from year to year for plants as nutrients 
build and are depleted in the ground around the plant.  My Black Gum had 
less berries this year than the past few years, so the Pileated Woodpeckers 
and Cedar Waxwings picked it clean sooner, and moved on.

The resident (nonmigratory) and wintering birds are the ones that seem to be 
missing this year.  We have had a milder than normal fall season, and the 
need to seek additional food like at your feeder station is reduced.  It is 
still important to keep your feeders out, at least half full, and also to 
keep them clean so that when they arrive there is plenty of food to help 
support them.

Human intervention may be starting to show some real impact on breeding 
birds in our area.  With less and less habitat, the bird populations 
continue to decline and novice birders may begin to notice this impact in 
their backyards.  Scientists have been documenting this decline for many 
years, warning the listening community, but the impacts may be significant 
enough now that everyone is noticing.  Time will tell.

These are just a few reasons why our backyard populations may be down. There 
are others that could be discussed, but I need to get to my comments on 
keeping cats indoors to support the Charles County regulation 2011-07. By 
allowing cats outdoors, we lose millions of our native birds every year 
across the U.S.  The county wants to license cats as well as dogs, and I 
support this effort, and want to commissioners to be aware of the harm that 
cats do outdoors to all small wildlife species, not just birds.

The up side of fewer birds feeding in our backyards is that we have more 
money to spend on whiskey to help us get through this depressing time.

Cheers and good bird feeding.  I hope this helps.

George

www.georgejett.net

-----Original Message----- 
From: harry lotis
Sent: Friday, December 02, 2011 10:21 AM
To: 
Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Where are the Birds?

I live in Calvert County near the Bay. I also noticed that as of Nov , most
of the summer birds finally left, but no winter ducks  yet. The 30 tundra
swans have arrived though. My feeder also seems deserted most of the time.
I have seen no recent hawk activity at my feeders. I clean them after every
rain.
No sea ducks either. In the last year or two there was heavy hunting on the
Bay at North Beach, so maybe they are taking a different path.

Harry Lotis
Owings, Md

On Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 10:27 AM, Steve Long <>wrote:

> There seems to be a substantial reduction in birds in my usual haunts.
>
> About 2 weeks ago, I noticed that the feeders in my yard and  my mother's
> yard seemed to have little traffic and were not decreasing in level
> anywhere close to the usual rate.  About that time, others began posting 
> to
> MDOsprey that they were also seeing fewer birds, especially finches.
>
> Then, my family did our traditional Black Friday birding swing through
> Blackwater WR and Hoopers Islands, and noticed that many of the usual
> larger species were not there, either.  We usually see plenty of diving
> ducks and loons, but only found one small group of Buffleheads and one
> Common Loon.  I guess the ducks are just getting here later each year,
> probably a global warming thing.  But, we also saw a lot fewer hawks.  We
> saw NO Harriers this trip, although we have always seen many in the past.
>  There were plenty of Bald Eagles, as usual.
>
> The highlight of our swing was one juvenile Greater White-fronted Goose
> with some Canadas in a small piece of open water east of Maple Dam Road a
> little north of the bridge.  Missed the lone White Pelican reported at
> Blackwater Refuge wildlife drive, although we had found the group of them
> that was there last year.
>
> Our "best" birds of the Thanksgiving holiday were the Hooded Mergansers
> that dropped into the cove at my mother's house on Saturday and Sunday.
>  There appeared to be 3 groups:  one with 3 males and 4 females on 
> Saturday
> morning, then another with 2 males and 6 females on Sunday morning and
> finally one with one male and 4 females on Sunday night (possibly the same
> group as on Sunday Morning, but maybe not).  I looked but found no
> Mergansers in the cove by the time I left on Monday.  I am guessing that
> the Hooded Mergansers are now moving through?
>
> As for Buffleheads, there were maybe 50 in the Bay off the mouth of the
> Magothy before I left for Thanksgiving, but none when I returned, so they
> don't seem to be here in the numbers that I am used to from previous 
> years.
>  Hopefully there are more to come?
>
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-- 
*Harry Lotis*
*Owings, Md*

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