Where have my birds gone? (1 Viewer)

[CanineHugs]

I fed around 50 birds a day all winter. Finches, chicadees, bush tits, doves, juncos, towhees, jays. Nested house wrens last spring.
I baked them corn bread, made special suet, and hand carried water to them all winter. My feeders and clean and my seed is dry. If it ever warms up they will have a drip.
I live alone and they meant a lot to me.
But within the last 2 weeks they have all dissapeared. ALL OF THEM.
What could have caused this and do you think they will come home again?

 

[KC Foggin]

Possibly they are in nesting mode so you won’t see a large influx until the eggs hatch. Just a thought.


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[CanineHugs]

Possibly they are in nesting mode so you won’t see a large influx until the eggs hatch. Just a thought.


Hi there and a warm welcome to you from those of us on staff here at BirdForum!

We are glad that you found us and thanks for taking a moment to say hello. Please join in wherever you like.

It is very cold here and snowing for one more week. I hope they are not nesting yet. And I normally have nests on my porch and all the boxes are empty. And would they all have nested at the same time during winter weather? My first nests were in May last year.

 

[KC Foggin]

Okay, my only other thought is that you have some birds of prey hanging around and are scaring the small bids into hiding. Are your feeders out in the open and easily seen by the BOPs.

 

[ignicapilla]

I'm sorry to hear about that. Keep leaving food for them and they should eventually come back.

 

[Kits]

Welcome to Birdforum! I am sure that you will find lots to interest you here and I hope that you enjoy your visits.

Is it possible that a neighbour has put food out and they have gone there?

 

[CanineHugs]

Okay, my only other thought is that you have some birds of prey hanging around and are scaring the small bids into hiding. Are your feeders out in the open and easily seen by the BOPs.

I was waiting to see if anyone would say this. It has been my thought but I'm only a 1-year birder and I didn't want to sound dumb.
I have a hawk about a block away with 2 fledglings. I haven't seen them around but that doesn't mean they haven't been. Yard is treed but visible from the sky and the mama hawk killed a rabbit in my yard about a month ago.
Is there anything I can do?

 

[KC Foggin]

Yeah, birds of prey nest earlier than song birds so they are on the lookout for food for their young ones.

 

[KC Foggin]

All my bird feeders are hung from bottom branches of trees. I’ve got a lot of trees so in the event that a BOP is around they’ve got a place to hide.

 

[delia todd]

Hi CanineHugs and a warm welcome from me too.

Yes, as KC said, birds feel more comfortable if they know there's somewhere they can quickly fly to safety when the alarm goes up.

I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I hope to hear about all the birds you see when out and about.