Posted on 12/16/2014 2:52:17 PM PST by saminfl
I live in the Florida panhandle. I have a couple of bird feeders in my yard and I keep them filled. For the last few weeks, I haven't had to add any food. It dawned on me that there are no birds in my yard anymore. I used to have many cardinals along with jays, doves, woodpeckers and all the little ones I am not smart enough to identify.
I thought it was just me, but I had dinner with two of my neighbors the other night and they brought up the subject asking where the birds have gone.
Have any Freepers noticed their birds are missing?
When I attended a hunter safety instructors academy in the late 80s, we had a wildlife biologist speak to us.
Afterwards, I was talking to him and the subject of feral cats came up. He said they were extremely destructive and he kills every one he sees in the woods.
In Southern California, a different sort of phenomenon is occurring. Flocks of green parrots from the tropics are increasingly being seen.
Butterflies are missing too. Only saw a half dozen good ones in Ohio this Summer. Lawn chemicals I think.
Transferred a little over a dozen felines to rural areas before the birds began to show up again.
Got to meet a few irate cat owners...their cats had been on my property and nobody forced them into the trap.
Where I used to live in Gilbert Iowa, cats had the same rule as dogs and they were very strict about both. Seems like cats don't like leashes one bit.
They’re all in our yard, and we no longer feed them, except for the hummingbirds.
We had to stop putting out bird seed because of the bears.
Your bird feeder might be attracting more than just birds.
Bewick's wren
2 cactus wrens
Say's phoebe
black-tailed gnatcatcher
common raven
Slim pickings, but it's winter, so, yeah...
I have no documentation to back this up, but I have heard that the flocks of parrots in Southern California are the result of pet parrots escaping, hooking up with other escaped parrots, and more escapes, and more hook-ups, etc.
As Jeff Goldblum said in one of the Jurrasic Park movies: “Life finds a way.”
I ask ‘where are the birds?’ every time I go to Myrtle Beach, SC....most are at the landfill, since food they can eat is less and less in the ocean.
We’ve had a Carolina wren in our yard during the last few years. Recently it flew into our house a couple of times, and the last time, it may have been injured. We are very concerned.
It ain't the cats........most likely temperature and weather extremes throughout the country that are affecting the migratory patterns of birds normally seen in your area.......
We also check out sewage plants too. They're a magnet for migrating shorebirds in spring and fall.
Tantalizing, eh?
We had a problem with raccoons and other small mammals raiding our feeder. We talked with the lady at the bird seed store, and she recommended safflower seeds. The mammals think it’s bitter. It took a couple of weeks before the birds discovered the feeder, but once they did, we’ve not had any problem. I also put a zip tie on the feeder to attach it. So far so good, going on 5 months.
We hired a pest control company that came out and found all the small places they were coming in and they patched them. At them same time they were setting traps inside and out. After about a year they stopped catching any thing in their traps. We didn’t, have mice we had rats
Cats do not go after birds enough to be responsible for a lack of birds.
I live in Indiana and I have noticed fewer birds. I also notice fewer bunnies and feral cats!
Maybe all the illegals are killing them for food until their food stamps kick in!
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