Where have all the birds gone?

[Randy Castello]

[Wrightwood]

The number of loose cats in our neighborhood always makes a big difference. It's so disappointing that people don't understand the havoc that outdoor cats cause to the wildlife population in Wrightwood. The complete food chain is disrupted ...mice, lizards, snakes, birds and squirrels.

[Randy Castello]

Update: The owl has paid another visit; on closer examination it appears to be a Great Horned Owl.  I caught it watching my bird feeders this morning. I am still without a camera so no picture. It looks like it will be March before I am able to replace my lost camera.

[angiepoo]

I am disapointed with the lack of birds too.  I mounted a bird feeder hanger on our newly finished deck which two stories high above ground.  The feeder has been hangin there for 2 weeks now and no birds yet.  I bought seed for the flickers and other birds for our area too.  I thought maybe they won't come to it because of our dogs.  But the dogs aren't allowed on the deck.  So what am I doing wrong?

[Wildman]

[goatgirl]

What about those of us who have tried all these wonderful things.  I used to have birds.  Now no birds come except the dove i've mentioned before. 

[Wrightwood]

Over the weekend a neighbor, who is an avid bird & squirrel feeder, asked about the recent disappearance of her feathered friends. Anyone else notice the recent trend?

I just noticed this posting is made on Feb 6 and the last time this issue came up was on a Feb 7 

[Joe Schmoe]

An abnormally mild winter plus your proximity to recently burned areas would probably the cause of different bird feeding patterns.  Anything similar happen (recent fires/mild winters) in '06?

[TimG]

How recently does she mean?  On Friday our backyard (which I overlook all day) was fully of woodpeckers and Stellar's jays.  We were gone over the weekend, and I already noticed this morning that the birds seem to be gone too.  Didn't think of it until I saw your post, but there's nothing out there, which is kind of odd.

[Wrightwood]

She's a weekender and noticed it on Saturday and Sunday.

[TimG]

Well there's nothing outside right now, and I can't think of another day that I didn't see birds.  Even when it snows I see them fluttering around in the bushes.  Did anything happen in 2006 that might be parallel?

[RobertW]

We've definately noticed the disappearance of birds.  Even this time of year we'll have a lot of Woodpeckers, Stellar Jays and the smaller Juncos and finches after we fill the feader.  That hasn't been the case for the last two times we've been up.  This past weekend I don't believe I saw one bird, which seemed very strange.  Being weekenders we just figured they found somewhere else to feed in the area.

[Wrightwood]

Let's just hope they aren't sensing the big one 

[dlux]

I heard a woodpecker in the trees here on Saturday.  It's been a while.

[Tomas]

I've seen a lot of Band Tailed Pigeons by Jackson Lake lately. I saw one Gilded Flicker, several ducks and a Great Blue Heron on my run around the lake this morning.

[ForestGal]

I've been getting lots of juncos in my yard, on a regular basis.  Also some chickadees, several Steller's jays (especially when I throw out raw peanuts), and a few woodpeckers.  Also some birds that are a little larger than juncos, with reddish heads.  I have a suet feeder and seed feeders in the back yard, and seed feeders out front.  I've also been putting out stale bread (torn into pieces) and old walnuts that I found in the freezer.  I also get a lot of chipmunks and squirrels, and the food always disappears.

Tomas, I didn't know we had the Blue Herons up here.  I used to see those in Portland, where my mom and dad lived, overlooking the Willamette River.  They are beautiful creatures!

[spyderwoman]

noticed less birds lately, but then my BF noticed two hawks have moved into the tree across the street. Figured the jays etc that had been visiting, decided to go somewhere else instead.

[in my dreams]

Birds all over the place here--a dozen+ regular "tribe" of quail, sparrows, something with a red breast and black and white wings (but shaped much different than any woodpecker I've ever seen), crows. . .

[Elk]

I've seen a lot of Band Tailed Pigeons by Jackson Lake lately. I saw one Gilded Flicker, several ducks and a Great Blue Heron on my run around the lake this morning.

I have taken a couple pictures of the Blue Heron. These are taken from my truck. It was walking on the ice looking for the gold fish swimming underneath. The other picture was during a storm and I thought the thing looked pitiful.

[Tomas]

A couple of years ago we had two of them. Believe it or not, they actually used to perch in the pine trees. One startled the heck out of me when it flew out of a pine tree beside me as I ran along the highway. I was amazed the first time I saw one on the ice. I always associated them with warmer climates.

I think this one is the offspring of the other two. I wouldn't be surprised if it was born here.

Great Blue Herons are my favorite birds. They really are beautiful. (but, as ELK pointed out, this one looks pretty miserable on the really cold stormy days.)