WHERE ARE THE BIRDS?

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Our home has a huge backyard that is surrounded by high leafy bushes with a small forest at the rear of our property. There is also a very large oak tree next to our raised wooden deck. For years, many song birds would be perched on the many branches of that tree.  Nowadays, not one bird can be seen anywhere near that tree. I haven’t even seen these song birds flying in the sky. What has happened to them? I really miss the chirping of those birds.

My bed sits next to a large window that has a couple of huge leafy bushes next to it and the large ok tree close by. Usually in the mornings I can lie on my bed and enjoy cardinals, chickadees, wrens and robins chirping away.

North American skies have grown quieter over the last decades by the absent songs of 1.5 billion birds, according to the latest summary of bird populations. The survey by dozens of government, university and environmental agencies across North America has also listed 86 species of birds — including once-common and much-loved songbirds such as the evening grosbeak and Canada warbler  that are threatened by plummeting bird populations, habitat destruction and climate change.

Judith Kennedy of Environment Canada says “We’re really getting down to the dregs of some of these populations.” The report is the most complete survey of land bird numbers to date and attempts to assess the health of populations on a continental basis. It concludes that, while there are still a lot of birds in the sky, there aren’t anywhere near as many as there used to be. Evening grosbeaks are down 92 per cent since 1970. Snowy owls have lost 64 per cent of their numbers. The Canada warbler has lost 63 per cent of its population.

Tally it all up and there should be another 1.5 billion birds perching in backyards and flying around in forests than there are, says the report. Nor are the declines stopping. Among those 86 species studied. As many as 22 species of birds have already lost at least half of their population since 1970 and are projected to lose another 50 per cent of their numbers within the next 40 years. For at least six species, this “half-life” window is fewer than 20 years.

Agriculture disturbs habitat of grassland birds and introduces pesticides into the landscape. Domestic cats that are let outside by their owners are thought to kill more than two billion birds a year.

Birds are crucial indicators of our overall ecosystem health. Healthy forests and prairies need healthy bird populations.

Birds — like bees pollinate plants and birds eat millions of bugs and mosquitos. We will l be bitten by more mosquitoes if all the birds disappear. Insects seem more than happy with this warm weather we have been experiencing. At least mosquitos are still plentiful. Plus we’ve seen a bunch of insects on the move as they prep for winter.  Why aren’t the birds hanging about gobbling up these morsels? There are still up to five billion birds that leave Canada every winter. How manny of them are returning to Canada each year?

Earlier this year, the North American Bird Conservation Initiative found one-third of all North American bird species need quick help to stop them from disappearing, with more than half of all seabird species on the road to extinction without their conservation action.

A 2014 study by the Audubon Society found climate change could cost 126 bird species more than half their current range by 2050. A McGill University study in 2015 concluded more than 70 per cent of global forests are within a kilometre of a road, field, town or other human disturbance which is very close enough to degrade the forest habitat.

Winter arrives with a vengeance in our area of Canada. Suddenly we had lots of snow on the ground and temperatures that stayed below freezing during the day and hovered around zero at night. The bird feeders were full of mixed seed, thistle seed, black oil sunflower seeds and big chunks of beautiful white suet. We had the snow, the cold temperatures and the feeders all ready for the birds that chose to remain in our area.   What we didn’t have were the birds. They either died, were killed or headed south to warmer environs.

The Audubon Society and several other local bird information sources insist that nothing is wrong t because of the warmer than usual fall weather and the unusually abundant sources of natural food resulting in the birds still finding plenty to eat in the wild. Another explanation they gave was that bird populations naturally fluctuate from year to year and that a feeder that is really “busy” one year may have few birds the next. That is possible but one would think that some birds wouldn’t ignore a buffet of seeds just waiting to be gobbled up by hungry birds.

Was it just too cold and wet for the summer’s baby birds to survive? Did the organized spraying campaigns kill the birds as well as the massive caterpillar population? Or did the birds just go somewhere else looking for warmer weather?

The question of the missing bird’s whereabouts is perplexing to wildlife officials, who report that thousands of nesting birds on Seahorse Key, off Florida’s Gulf Coast and  that have abandoned their nests. Most of them have simply vanished, seemingly into thin air.

The 150-acre crescent-shaped key, one of the few uninhabited islands in Florida and part of the Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge, is normally the largest bird colony on Florida’s Gulf Coast that is home to thousands of great egrets, double-crested cormorants, brown pelicans, white ibises, and little blue herons.

However, in May, 2015 nearly all the birds disappeared, practically overnight, leaving empty nests in trees and shrubs and broken eggs on the ground. “I’ve never seen an abandonment of birds quite like it,” said Peter Frederick, a wildlife biologist at the University of Florida who has studied the state’s birds for nearly three decades.

Some of the birds have been accounted for. A fraction of the colony relocated to Snake Key, a few miles away, and some ospreys remain on nesting poles put up by federal wildlife officials on Seahorse Key. “But all birds in the trees and shrubs is gone,” Frederick said. “There are zero left.”

The sudden abandonment of an entire colony of birds this large is cause for concern. Recent nesting populations have ranged from 2,000 to 15,000 birds each year which is alarming, biologists say, because many birds return each year to the same nesting sites. If the birds do not return next year, it could affect their numbers—and mean the loss of a critical island refuge.

Sometimes abandonment results from the arrival of a predator.  A single raccoon on an island can cause nesting to fail, though it’s somewhat unusual for all the birds to leave at once in the presence of a predator. Generally, the birds will return when the predator is gone.

I remember years ago walking on a small wharf in which at least a hundred seagulls were perched. As soon as I approached them, they all flew away. When I left the wharf, the seagulls returned to the wharf and sat down where they did before I arrived. 

 Other possible explanations with respect to the birds that disappeared on the Florida Key could include parasitic infestation of nests, boaters coming too close to shore, or people hunting or camping on the island during nesting season, when unauthorized access is prohibited. But if the threat was gone, why didn’t the birds return to the key?

A helicopter hovering over the island with searchlights at night would flip them out, but there’s no evidence that happened,” Frederick said. He noted that residents of Cedar Key, about five miles away, “are reporting a lot more low-altitude military flights, including jets and helicopters. But there id still lots of places where birds can  rest t successfully near military flights.”

The UK has lost more than 44 million breeding birds in less than half a century, including an average of 50 house sparrows every hour, according to a report published in 2o12.

Scientists estimate the number of nesting birds has plummeted from 210 million in 1966 to 166 million currently. The shocking statistics are contained in the State of the UK’s Birds 2012 report, published and charting the ups and downs of the nation’s bird populations.

One of the biggest losers is the house sparrow, with a population of around 10 million — 20 million fewer than in 1966, when the first reliable all-species bird monitoring scheme was conducted — despite numbers starting to increase in the last 10 years.

There has been a steep decline in willow tits, especially since the 1990s, with the species all but disappearing from most of the UK, and only the Midlands and Yorkshire boasting sizeable populations. Lesser spotted woodpeckers are now too few to monitor properly, as are arctic birds. The report estimates there could be as few as 1,500 pairs each of the three species left in the UK.

The populations of farmland bird species is now less than half what it was in 1970, according to the report, which draws on data from leading organisations including the British Trust for Ornithology the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and Birdlife International, as well as government agencies. Experts say breeding birds have vanished from the British countryside at an average rate of one pair of birds every minute.

Changes in land use and management of the coastal waters are believed to have contributed to the losses. In some cases, birds have found it difficult to locate suitable places to nest, or to forage for food in the summer or winter’s cold weather has impacted the birds too, and is believed to have had a startling effect on the wren. Still the UK’s most numerous bird, an average of 835 wrens have been lost each day since 2000. The reasons behind the house sparrow decline are still not fully understood. 

Two of the UK’s sea ducks, the velvet scoter and the long-tailed duck are now considered threatened with extinction globally. Bitterns, corncrakes and nightjars have shown steady recovery in numbers, thought to be due to conservation measures to protect them. There have been winners as well as losers. The chaffinch has increased at a rate of 150 individual birds a day over that period of time.

The collared dove, whose numbers were very low as the species only started nesting in the UK in 1955, has seen its numbers explode to around 1 million pairs. The closely related turtle dove, which in 1966 was widespread with around 140,000 breeding pairs, however, has been decimated. Today there are thought to be just 14,000 nesting pairs of birds left.

The closely related turtle dove, which in 1966 was widespread with around 140,000 breeding pairs, however, they have been decimated. Today there are thought to be just 14,000 nesting pairs of these birds left.

The report, which also examined bird populations of the UK’s overseas territories, highlighted concern over the northern rockhopper penguin, found on the remote south Atlantic volcanic islands of Tristan da Cunha and Gough Island. Once to be found in their millions, the numbers of the distinctive penguins have been reduced with food resources, disease and predation all being the causes of their disappearances.

Mark Eaton, an RSPB scientist, said of the report: “It is shocking to think we’ve lost one in five of the individual birds that we had in the 1960s, especially when you think that the 44 million birds we have lost since 1966 because of possible causes.”

Birds have many predators and are extremely vulnerable while feeding. Cats roaming near feeders will cause birds to stop showing up as well. Coopers and Sharp-shinned Hawks are common in neighborhoods. Just because you haven't seen one doesn't mean they are not around.

The types of food available can influence why birds may not be showing up at your feeders. Inexpensive seed varieties contain seed such as white millet which doesn't attract many songbirds.  These types of bird seed originated with the poultry industry  House Sparrows, however, will eat these cheaper seed types and will aggressively keep other species away from feeders. House Sparrows are an introduced species and considered a pest that is harmful to native species. 

As you would expect, birds are attracted to natural food sources. This behavior is ingrained in their DNA. Their survival is dependent on their ability to know and find natural food sources. Weather can be a factor when it comes to natural food. When winters are mild or during summer, birds will have more natural food sources available. When this happens, bird feeders are going to be used less.

Birds travel great distances during the day getting to all their food sources. So don't assume because none of your close neighbors are birdwatchers that you're the only source of food. That perfect site may be a mile away.

When young birds (fledglings) leave the nest, the adults continue feeding their young. As one would suspect, the adults teach their young where to find food and what to eat. Sometimes the young may be brought to your feeder but more times than not, they'll go somewhere else. Once territories expand, new birds will find your feeders and your regulars will move on.

Orioles can begin migrating as soon as the month of July. By September, most migrating species will begin to head south for winter. This can also be a great time to see new types of birds at your feeders as migrating birds pass through and winter residents move in. 

Many people forget that birds need water to survive and in winter, water can be hard to come by. That isn’t a problem for us because there is a running creek behind our property.

Many bird watchers have a special love for hummingbirds.  There’s just so much power and personality packed in that tiny bundle of feathers.  As spring arrives, hummingbirds return to North America (in the Southwest or West Coast such as species like the San Anna’s Hummingbirds. However, adult male hummingbirds are fiercely territorial and may drive all other male hummingbirds away during the spring nesting season. Alas, we haven’t seen any humming birds in our backyard for several years.

 A global review of insect research has found another casualty: 40% of insect species are declining and a third are endangered. It confirms what many have been suspecting is happening. In Australia and around the world, arthropods which include insects, spiders, centipedes and the like appear to be dying off. These insects are food for birds.  Once a while I see larger birds flying over our property heading  south.

Is it conceivable that our grandchildren’s own children will never see any birds in their lifetimes?