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My back yard feathers (1 Viewer)

G

Gaye Horn

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We have noticed a serious change in what we have in our back yard this year.
Normally at this time we would be feeding about 300 birds daily and they would include a Orphaned Black Bill Magpie and several Steller's Jays.. along withabout 60 American Goldfinch, similar numbers of House finch and Juncos. We also have wintering Song Sparrows and Black capped Chickadees.. Pine Siskins, Downey woodpeckers, Nothern Flickers, robins and waxwings going through along with redpolls both hoary and common arriving now... we also have a couple of American kestrels and a sharp shin hawk and a coopers.. a few redtails fly by and we have a grouping of mountain ravens in this vicinity..
This year our numbers are drastically reduced with no waxwings showing up at all... maybe 12 -20 amgf and same with the house finch .. fewer then 10 pine siskins and the jays are no shows for days on end.. I have not seen a woody in along time and no ravens either..a few robins on the yew berries and absolutely no flickers anywhere!
Now we are ten degrees warmer then normal this year due to a El Nino but the Christmas Bird count for the areas around my end of the Okanogan Valley are down seriously low. In fact lower then ever in the last ten years.
Anyone else noticing a big change in their areas?
 
Well we do not usually get winters like the rest of Canada.. we are the HOT spot in this country but I hear you on the warmer northern climes issue... there is little snow up north and that seems to be the reason most bird counts are way down...the ski hills are thrilled as it has been snowing up there for almost four straight days now; so that will definitely put a run on the feeeders in the south relatively soon.
 
Bird decline.

I live in Connecticut (New England). I have noticed a huge decline in Purple Finches, American Goldfinches, Red-breasted Nuthatches. Our normal winter visitors from Canada and north haven't even arrived, yet. We usually have Pine Siskins, Common Redpolls, Evening Grosbeaks, and some years we get Snowy Owls.
 
Hello Dave.. I have been hearing the same sort of reports with every count tally that is published..Once the cold happens north.. things will change over night.
You know though we have robins here all year usually .. and we have not got one... and the Redwing Blackbirds are our first spring birds back in early March... they are here now!!!

PS I have a friend that lives in Staffor Springs CT... beautiful state...:t:
 
Hi JuncoJo .. I do hope that the reason for the decline in number and species at the feeders is due to an abundance of natural food... there is a big discussion amonst the biologists here as to why and they all have their own theories and I think that there is merit in most of what they are saying...
 
Hi All :t:

Over here several friends have mentioned the lower than normal numbers of birds in the garden. I agree that I think it's due to the abundant natural food in the countryside this year. We've had a very mild Winter so far too, with hardly any frosts of any note and now it's the end of December. I think there is time yet though as I think it may just be a late one with severe cold Fan-March, so there is time yet.

We have large numbers of birds in our garden all year round, it's just fewer migrant species have been seen so far this year.
 
Good Morning to you(it is morning here) and to reply to this thread of thought.
We do not have mosquitos here as a rule.. Yes we are lucky in that respect but we do have our elements to contend with just the same.West Nile Virus has actually not made it's appearance here in my valley and frankly that is alright with me...
We are a desert environment and rather open to things that slither and burrow as opposed to sting and draw blood!
We went without rain for a long time and this December has been a bonus with rain... almost every day thus far! We love it and I am a huge fan of desert awakenings.. right now the moss is quite spectacular on the boulders that make up part of our upper slopes(back yard)
We are located about 368 km from the Pacific Ocean -inland and we are right on the border with the state of Washinton. We are also surrounded by mountain ranges to each direction...Just a wee note about where I live(for those who do not know)
We are the largest wine producing area in Canada and the best possibly in North America..
We grow soft and hard fruits, produce and it is a tourist destination. Hey you cannot have everything!
We also cater to Birders as we are home to over 300 species normally!Outdoors is a huge way of life here and we are also home to many of the endangered species and plant life of the desert clime. We are also the only true desert in Canada being the northern most tip of the great Sonaran Desert that goes from Mexico to my door!
But I digress... sorry.
Migrating species are down in numbers but so are resident species.. they have gone and no one seems to know where!!!
 
Mild winters

Just to pick up on this thread, from a British point of view. I have noticed that our blue, coal and great tits are still feeding off the trees and not so often at the feeders. Presumably there enough insects still about although we've had a bit of a cold snap lately. I've also noticed that, on our trips to Chasewater (a large reservoir (UK scale) a couple of miles to the north of us) there haven't been any Lesser Redpoll this year where there were large flocks two years ago. I haven't heard of any reports of Waxwing in the area, either. Usually a fair sign that winter is really on it's way, here in the Midlands. However, there are plenty of berries on the Hawthorn, and other fruit-bearing bushes, so I will sit and wait . . .

B :)

Al
 
Hello Al... I was just reading an e-mail from the local birders group here and they were lamenting the fact that no Bohemian waxwings have been sighted here! I am guessing that is all about to change now.. those darn moms and kids that wished for snow for Christmas seem to have a connection to a weather God or something... it is presently as I write SNOWING big fat fluffy damn flakes!!!!I detest the stuff and it will melt soon enough but until then I am going to keep a very close watch on all our feeders today we are sure to have huge numbers with weather like this...I shall keep you posted on what new feathers might have shown up.
By the way I have seen Andy's photographs of the English birds and they are so different but really beautiful.I also have some rare and very old Englishhardcovers of birds and the illustrations are magnificent...
 
Don't ya love those old books?! It never ceases to amaze me how "knowledge" changes over the years!

And the way they are illustrated!

Al
 
A follow up to the OLD book thing.. "Game Birds' Test by Charles Coles Illustrated by Maurice Piedger
"Birds of Town & Village" Illustrated by Basil Ede, written by WD Campbell
and my personal favourite "Birds of the Eastern Forest" Illustrated by Landsdown and written by Livingston with a forward written by HRH Duke Of Edinburg ough...

These are just a few... wonderful thing I tell you.
 
Have you seen any of the books published by the 'founding fathers' of bird photography, Richard and Cherry Kearton ? They used hides made from dead cows (among other things !) in order to get close to the birds without spooking them. Photos taken around 1890 - 1910 look (to me) as good as, if not better than, photos taken today.

Tony
 
Tony I have only seen this type of thing in Photo museums and they are quite frankly so worthy it makes me blush when I look at what I have taken... but having said that I am totally digital and loving it.. maybe and I do mean maybe; one day someone will look back at THESE olden days and say you should see the quality of these of photos. They are every bit as good as todays!! One can only hope...
I do know that this chap named Lansdowne was a fabulous illustrator..:t:
 
Gaye,

Here in Utah the number of birds are not down, but the warmer weather has definitely affected the migration. We still have some Western and Clark's Grebes, and other birds which definitely do not winter here. We can get very cold here, but have not yet. The one thing we have noticed (me and fellow birders) is that there have been far fewer owl sightings. There is suppose to be a big storm coming for Christmas day, so will see what that brings. I will go on a Christmas bird count tomorrow, so will see what that also brings. The odd thing is some of our Winter species have arrived, just not in full force yet. Last week was the first time this season that I had seen the American Goldfinches at my feeders.
 
Gosh and we are just now seeing the eagles return.. we also have alot of hawks in the area as per always.. We sighted a Northern Harrier, a Goshawk(not normal ), Redtails(they are here all the time..)Osprey, Bald Eagles, Northern Shrikes, Peregrin falcon, Cooper's, Sharp Shin, Kestrels, a Gryfalcon, Merlin& Rough leg Hawk.... these have all been reported in the area and most seen by us as well.

Our area Bird Count is Christmas day.. Looking forward to it.

We had hundreds of tundra and trumpetter swans too and still have many about forty minutes north of us...

Am. Goldfinch live and die in my yard.. the pretty beggars never ever leave... I quite like them and have some nice shots of them and certainly will post in time..:eat:B :)
 
We certainly know about global warming and the effects from a personal point of view.. we live in an area that is affected by it.. we also see the evidence in our ice fields and the snowpacks.. the water levels .
Point: we see that in our province we have more SUV;s on the road then in any other place... and mostly in the larger urban centers.. these vehicles rarely ever leave the pavement!They also have huge gas tanks... and when you get in RUSH hour where traffic is at a halt; it is amazing the effects that can grind an human to their knees.
We have a big Toyota SUV and believe me, she is not just a pretty face.. she goes where many a person would not dream of going and she carries alot of equipment...but we are adding to it.. like everyone else. The difference is we do our part and that is what counts.. my home province did not want to sign the Kyota agreement... yet our PM did..
The decline is based on many factors, not the least of which is global warming.. that could be a huge political type conversation and when that enters into things people get twitter faced.. so thank you for the article.. we actually subscribe to that online..
Hey if we all do even a little bit in our own way we will be at the very least not just a bystander with an opinion.
 
Hi All

A facinating read.

Here in Norfolk UK I have far fewer birds than usual in my back yard. Many local farmers are doing their bit for conservation and are creating conservation headlands or game strips. I am sure this is keeping the birds in the fields (where they belong).

I went for a cycle ride around the village today and saw good flocks of Greenfinch, Yellowhammer, Chaffinch, with some Bullfinch and Brambling mixed in for good measure. They were all feeding on field edges and hedgerows.

I have not had a Greenfinch in my garden for months.

It is incredibly mild though for the time of year. You guys have been mentioning the snow. Had to look the word up in a dictionary. Havent seen any for such a long time I have forgotten what it was.

burhinus
 
Now don't be a wise acre! you had to look up snow!!!! I laughed when I read that cause it is usually my way of rubbing the noses of other Canucks.. as they get snow and normally we do not...Snow here means ski hills and I would not go near one with a gold pole!
Glad to hear that you are able to cycle about ,I know that means you were on your bicycle.. we use mountain bikes here.. same deal though people powered.. and cheap on fuel.. (well not necessarily).
 
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