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Besides their beauty & companionship - birds eat a lot of insects.
No problem with mockingbirds around here. They’re squawking all the time.
grackles and blue jays aint songbirds.
The species listed are probably the some of the most common birds in North America. We love our backyard birds.
Same warning in Indiana. We were asked to remove all backyard feeders.
We have some mocking birds at our house. There is one in particular that follows me around when I mow the lawn. It almost lands in my from time to time. I think it’s actually after the bugs that get kicked up from mowing.
Dr. Fauci said it was definitely Covid. They refused to get vaccinated and this is what happens.
Insect numbers are down where I live especially butterflies.
Cicadas abundant after 17 years in bunker, fireflies pretty good. Dragonflies fewer. Carpenter bees insanely present.
Tree frogs up.
They are thinking it is from cicadas.
Just an F.Y.I...there is a disease that you can get called histoplasmosis from birds and bats droppings in the soil.
I had never heard of it. I suspect many Doctors are clueless as well and dont think of it when seeing the symptoms.
Back in the winter, I observed a house finch perched on the outside windowsill and just not moving much.
I was literally within inches of the bird. I observed it carefully and noted a small spherical blob at the corner of the bird’s eye. I can say with a degree of certainty the bird had the malady
Our mockingbirds are in control of their territories and carrying on melodiously as usual.
A blue jay ate the baby wrens
The bees are killing them.
Pennsylvania Ping!
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Can’t figure out why they are having such difficulty identifying the cause of deaths. I’d bet a lot it is avian flu.
I began keeping a list of irregularities in the natural world during the 2020 lockdown. After 30 years in the same wooded area I have a pretty good idea of what is normal and what is abnormal.
1. The overabundance of cloudless, crystal clear (and contrailess) days.
2. Fewer than normal fireflies.
3. Almost no blue-stemmed wild raspberries.
4. Katydids began to holler July 25—a week ahead of normal
5. Fall webworms exploded around July 27—ahead of normal.
6. Webworms attacking mulberry and hickory (normally only black walnut)
7. Black walnuts appear much lighter than normal.
8. Warmest July/warmest month EVER in 25 years.
9. Very few Deer Flies (not a bad thing)...appeared in August not June.
10. Very few yellow jackets (not as bad thing)
Notice that many of the items pertain to insects. Again this year, almost no deer flies (which I do not miss); but unlike last year the fireflies have made a strong showing.
I’m beginning to think that the alleged “COVID 19” was a bioweapon deployed along the I 95 corridor.
I almost thought this was a thread about Trecherous John McCain. BTW, is his funeral over?
When it was cooler and I had my windows open there was mockingbird that would imitate my alarm clock. No need to hit snooze.
So they took the VAX.....
Are cicadas toxic to birds? Just askin.
My family of House Finches are AWOL
I do ornithology research and intensively monitor about 100 nestboxes. Focal species are Eastern Bluebirds, Tree Swallows, House Wrens, American Kestrels.
Sometimes I’ll find all nestlings dead in a nestbox. That can be the result of an adult caregiver dying due to predation, car strike, etc. It unfortunately just happens.
This year, three boxes of Tree Swallows have been found with mortalities. In one box, all nestlings were found dead and they were checked and were fine about 24 hours earlier. In another box (for American Kestrel), three of five in the clutch were found dead. One of the surviving nestlings in this box had a slight watery discharge of the left eye, but it was minor. The surviving nestlings successfully fledged.
There were no wounds found on any dead nestlings. House Sparrows will sometimes attack and kill birds in boxes, but we aggressively trap and humanely destroy if caught. The number of House Sparrows trapped this year is down about 40% from last year.
In the case of the entire clutch being lost, both male and female Tree Swallows were perched in the nestbox, entered the nestbox, etc. The same for the partial clutch being lost in the American Kestrel nestbox - all adult caregivers (sometimes a second female will assist in removing fecal sacs, etc) were exhibiting a strong challenge response when I approached the nestbox. Adult caregivers will not remain in the area if the nestlings have been predated, etc.
Given that the nestlings had not yet fledged and no nests of stinging or biting insects were found in the nestboxes, nor did any of the nestling mortalities exhibit signs of stinging or biting, I think it’s logical to look at food as a potential vector for the mortalities. Could be something abnormal about the insects, could be there had been recent spraying and affected insects were gathered by the adults as part of their food bolus and fed to nestlings. The mortalities happened in close time proximity to each other.
I noticed here in South Florida...
Dead bees. In my back yard are MANY varieties of flowers. I’ve never seen what I see lately. Dead bees. I don’t use preside either.
I have three large Jasmine trees which are about 20’ tall. Each month when they bloom you can smell them 5 houses away. When in bloom the sheer volume of bees flying through those trees makes a buzzing and humming sound that is heard throughout the yard. In only one bloom outbreak have the bees been swarming.
Too often I sit out with my coffee and have a bee fly nearby, land in some clumsy fashion, walk oddly for a foot, curl up and die. I’ve never seen this before.
I will say that 5g is being installed by AT&T in this area. Not sure if it is related, but worth mentioning