WrightwoodCalif.com Forum
Public Forums => San Gabriel Mtns Flora - Fauna => Topic started by: Tall Trees on Dec 15, 10, 12:54:31 PM
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Over the last several month's I have noticed a severe decline of all bird species that frequent my bird feeders in the yard. This includes the year round birds as well as the migratory and winter over birds. I provide three feeders for the birds, one has black oil sunflower seeds another has regular wild bird seed and I also have suit feeders. The feeders remain full for weeks on end when normally I would have to refill them every day or two this time of year. I thought there was something wrong with the bird feed so I bought new feed and changed it out will no improvement. I spoke with the Volunteer's at Grassy Hollow Visitor Center and they confirmed that the same thing is occuring at their bird viewing station. I used to see woodpeckers, blue jays, scrub jays, quail, chickadees, nuthatches, finches, sparrows, juncho's etc. every day now I rarely see any birds at all. It will be interesting to see the results of this years Audubon Christmas Bird Count and compare to previous years for our area. I worry that some kind of disease or virus is affecting the bird population here and was wondering if anyone else has noticed a decline in bird species.
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I thought it was just me. I have a suet feeder that hasn't needed to be refilled for a couple of months which is very unusual.
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We noticed it too. My husband and I were having this same conversation yesterday.
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I wonder if it has to do with the warmth? There are insects out there to be eaten that wouldn't normally be there. I've got bulbs coming up. . .
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We haven't seen any birds either come to think of it. Usually we have quail and always the jays, juncos should be here by now.... and then the black birds and woodpeckers.. What is going on? We are in the East Cyn.
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I saw an Oregon Junco just before Thanksgiving . . . but I don't remember seeing any other birds then.
I think it was last week when we saw one of our regulars sitting on the feeder (a House Finch) but he was just sitting there - did not seem to be interested in eating (?) And we haven't seen any birds since.
I wonder what is happening?
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I still have birds coming, but mostly Finches and some Juncos, but I'm not getting near as much variety of birds as usual. What we've really noticed a difference in is the gray squirrels. We've only seen one or two at the most and we usually have thirty or more at this time! Has anyone else noticed less squirrels?
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I have also noticed a decline in grey and ground squirrels around the bird feeders. I always spread bird seed onto the ground for the sparrows and junco's and then the squirrels are very quick to come eat it and compete with the birds. Usually by the next morning all the seed is gone being consumed by squirrels and other rodents. The last seeds that I spread out for the ground dwelers are still there and have not been consumed for several days. No birds, No rodents as usuall, it makes me wonder what is going on?
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about 3 weeks ago I mentionedf to my husband that I hardley ever see Quail anymore (Phelan)...
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I haven't seen many birds either in my yard, but I admit I've been remiss in keeping my feeders filled. I need to fill them, and see what happens.
On the other hand, the gray squirrels are very abundant, and so fun to watch. I need to get more peanuts (the raw ones from Jensen's) for them. No ground squirrel activity for now, but I wish they would all move to Jupiter anyway, for all the damage they do during the summer, when I am trying to grow things. >:( ;D
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On the other hand, the gray squirrels are very abundant, and so fun to watch.
Agreed.. I've got plenty of squirrels on this end of town too (thanks to my wife, who feeds them peanuts every day). As you can see, they enjoy tormenting the cats (or maybe its the other way around).
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5248/5265604868_6ae7362d82_z.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobcwrightwood/5265604868/)
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I'm only getting White Breasted Nuthatches and House Finches now. The Steller's Jay pair come around when I put out peanuts. I've never had much activity with suet.
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Scientist have been predicting this....
U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar joined scientists and conservation organizers at an Austin news conference to release the study, "The State of the Birds: 2010 Report on Climate Change."
"Birds are messengers that tell us what is going on in our environment," Salazar said. "For too long, in my view, we have stood idle as the climate changes and as the crisis has grown."
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...or, it could be that they have a natural smorgasbord nearby. Perhaps the plants that follow the fires tend to seed more, giving them what they need without having to resort to visiting feeders in residential areas. Though, that wouldn't explain squirrel activity. One off year does not a trend make.
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I still have my few chickadees, nuthatches, mourning doves, juncos and a couple of robins still hanging around my feeders. Not quite as many as I used to get but they still are emptying my feeders.
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We noticed a lot of Woodpeckers- all different kinds- this past summer. They emptied our suet feeders 2x a week. So of course in the fall when Mt. Hardware had the 10 pack boxes of suet on sale and I bought 2 cases, they stopped coming! Even the Jays have been absent! I wondered about this too.
p.s. We also had mt. chickadees drinking from our humminbird feeders this past summer on a regular basis! We had to take a couple of those yellow "bee" repeller things off of them so they could get a good drink. Anyone else have that happen?
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The one thing different this year for us is our hummingbirds have stuck around. When we had some cold nights I had to bring the feeder in at night, and get up extra early to put it back out for them (I started doing this after it froze somewhat one night). We have at least 2, maybe 3 hummingbirds that come and feed throughout the day.
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This warm weather has brought a lot of humminbirds and every morning the blue jays squak for their peanuts. Over-all, I am seeing lots of finches and other birds in the yard. So fun and pretty..a real enjoyable treat for me to feed and watch them each day.