Where are all my birds?

[Larry Caldwell]

The birds I am concerned about are the owls and other raptors. The drought last summer was really hard on the rodent population. They survive by licking dew during periods of no rain, and there were weeks that were so dry there was no dew. They died of thirst. There are hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of acres with no field mice, voles, or other small animals. I think it will be a hard winter for owls. Even now, of the three owl territories on my property, apparently only one is occupied now.

 

[ruffdog]

When the cicadas were finished and dropping to the ground, our Great Horned owl would hop around on the ground and eat dozens ..every night.

 

[Alien]

This fellow (scrub turkey) has claimed our property as his territory. He is pretty quiet and has always come to see us over the past years. He has built his mound in the bush to attract females. It is huge. About 10 ft across and 3 1/2 feet high. He came for a feed yesterday. It was a bit late for video so his colours don't show as much as in the sunlight.

 

[Diggin It]

Getting a few more, but still not the numbers or variety of before. One, maybe two pairs of cardinals instead of eight or ten pairs for example.

Birdseed has changed though. The stuff I used to buy seems to have more corn now.

 

[RalphVa]

We're killing off the birds' food: insects.

 

[Oaktree]

I definitely had a banner year for predator birds that have scared all my favorite birds off. Mostly one of the true hawks, a sharp shinned hawk perhaps, and a "sparrow hawk" (really I kestrel I think).

The result is I haven't seen any of my favorite birds most of the second half of the season. I only hope they found a place safely away. Bluebirds, indigo buntings, robins, all missing early in the season. I also think a couple died hitting my windows while being chased (flickers in particular).

We had several hawks around here this year too.
Usually we have the feeders up by now, but it's been such a mild fall that the bears haven't yet gone into hibernation so I'm holding off putting them up. That may explain the lack of noticeable birds, did see a bunch of chickadees on the sunflowers a few weeks ago. Seen a few bluejays, and have heard (but not seen) crows. There are several large flocks of turkeys too.

 

[rademamj1]

Well the birds migration back to texas is only now starting. I estimate they are 3 weeks late this year. I just saw four cardinals, couple blue Jay's, lots of finches and chickadees and one lone Robin around my feeders. I just put the bird food in my feeders this week, a nice blend of small seeds, raisins, cracked corn and sunflower seeds. Heard many birds back in the trees.

This year has been a dry fall for Central Texas. Lack of water may stress the birds. Thousands of small ponds stock ponds are dry, but many larger ponds managed by Texas Department of Conservation are still at 90% capacity, despite the limited rainfall.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

The birds I am concerned about are the owls and other raptors. The drought last summer was really hard on the rodent population. They survive by licking dew during periods of no rain, and there were weeks that were so dry there was no dew. They died of thirst. There are hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of acres with no field mice, voles, or other small animals. I think it will be a hard winter for owls. Even now, of the three owl territories on my property, apparently only one is occupied now.

I have exactly the opposite problem, vole-wise. We've had above average rain the whole second half of the year. Voles have been out in huge numbers the last two years. After I did my annual field cut recently, barn cats, owls, and hawks were all hunting the voles, and I'm cheering them on. As I drove the tractor through the field, I could see 4-5 voles at a time fleeing the tractor in places. I only wish they could eat more voles.

 

[kenmbz]

We had probably 10% of the birds we normally get through the summer.
Usually a massive amount of robins, this year very few around except during migrations.
We have migrations coming through, and even these seem less than normal.
We had tons of bugs, lots of turkeys and raptors. Just not many song birds.

Lots of rain and little creatures here.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

I saw 6+ turkeys yesterday in the vole filled field. I wonder if Vermont turkeys eat voles. Here's hoping.