Birds? Where have all the songbirds gone?
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OP
The Cardinals and Finches hang around. This is strange...
Good but there should be more.
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Lafayette Gregory
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Cats kill nearly 50% of suburban songbird fledglings. Pet cats average one wildlife kill per fifty-six hours outdoors. They eat or abandon most of their kills at the kill site, not on the owner’s doorstep – belying many owners’ hopes that their pet is too domesticated to follow its instincts.
www.wintuaudubon.org
Feral Cats Drive Songbird Decline - Wintu Audubon Society
Cats can be great pets, low maintenance purring machines. Unfortunately, they are also active and effective predators. There are many ways for birds to die. Among the human causes in the US, window collisions may kill a billion birds a year. Cars kill a fraction as many, some 200 million...
www.wintuaudubon.org
There was some concern earlier about a spreading disease, but an update sounded more positive for this area: https://www.ncwildlife.org/News/wildlife-commission-gives-update-on-mysterious-songbird-disease
I've noted a bit less activity as well this spring through fall. Maybe there is just enough food elsewhere that the birds don't need to utilize feeders so much?
One side note: I've been using safflower in my otherwise sort of "supreme" mix (maybe like 1:4). Whether because of this or other reasons, I seem to have had fewer problems with the "bully birds," bluejays and grackles and starlings for example. Of course, having just said that ... ::knock, knock::
I've noted a bit less activity as well this spring through fall. Maybe there is just enough food elsewhere that the birds don't need to utilize feeders so much?
One side note: I've been using safflower in my otherwise sort of "supreme" mix (maybe like 1:4). Whether because of this or other reasons, I seem to have had fewer problems with the "bully birds," bluejays and grackles and starlings for example. Of course, having just said that ... ::knock, knock::
OP
This may be the culprit. We have Coopers Hawks and an owl (not exactly sure what kind) in the area. Just after posting this thread I was putting sheets out on the Myers Lemon tree (frost tonight) and when I turned I saw a hawk blast through the feeders and over the house.
Our pair, we have a pair we believe have been residents and breeding for a couple years, has all but scattered the sparrow, chickadee and such to the four winds. We’d find a puff of feathers where a hawk would nail one so we kinda figured they’d find safer spaces. We don’t even fill the feeders any more and have turn the bird bath over. I have seen twice one nail a squirrel and fly off so they still have plenty of food. We hear owls calling back and forth at or after dusk but I haven’t laid eyes on them in 2 summers but I’m guessing they’ve been ”helping” with them also plus the field mice and other nocturnal vermin.
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Oneofsix
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Last evening, I heard our chickens singing what I thought was the egg song. It was already dark, about 650pm. Going out to check out the ruckus, I heard something big move in the large oak by the back door and saw the large shadow flying away.
Now I know...
Lafayette Gregory
Les-ter not Ly-Chester
As mentioned, the Coopers hawk is a songbird predictor. In Leicester I had one move into the area and it effected the song bird population. I left my back yard for the song birds with planting several types of wild bird food. When the hawk moved in he would perch on a 4x4 next to the steps to the lower area. The birds would disappear for a few days until he moved on.
BUT hawks do not devastate the song birds population like domestic cats. The hawk has a much larger range and will move around frequently. They stop killing when they are full. hawks catching birds is a natural thing and nature balances this.
Domestic cats are the ones that are the real problem. If ya gonna have a cat as a pet it should be an inside always animal! Some folks let out their cats out at night and this is a time birds start to settle down. They still make noise and cats can also smell them. A cat will catch a bird play with it like a kick ball until it dies and then move on to another conquest. Multiple kills each time the cat is outside. Cats that are outside most of the time will spend their waking ours doing the same thing. Cats live longer and happier lives inside rather than roaming the neighborhood. And the song bird population survives.
BUT hawks do not devastate the song birds population like domestic cats. The hawk has a much larger range and will move around frequently. They stop killing when they are full. hawks catching birds is a natural thing and nature balances this.
Domestic cats are the ones that are the real problem. If ya gonna have a cat as a pet it should be an inside always animal! Some folks let out their cats out at night and this is a time birds start to settle down. They still make noise and cats can also smell them. A cat will catch a bird play with it like a kick ball until it dies and then move on to another conquest. Multiple kills each time the cat is outside. Cats that are outside most of the time will spend their waking ours doing the same thing. Cats live longer and happier lives inside rather than roaming the neighborhood. And the song bird population survives.
SlowShooter88
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Our bird feeder is still visited all day. We also have 3 dogs to keep the cats at bay
NCLivingBrit
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They returned to the Amazon warehouse to get their 5g battery packs and Covid sprayers replaced.
Here is the culprit.
711b
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After having not seen a cardinal for some time around here, my wife started her winter feeding program yesterday (seeds on top of squirrel-inaccessible platforms). Yesterday it was only small birds (wrens, titmouses/titmice, sparrows, etc.), two doves, and one bluejay. Today the cardinals showed up. 
Also this morning when she went out to put the grain on the feeders, two big red-shouldered hawks launched from trees near the corner of the house (about 30 yds from the feeders) and flew off. Opportunists. They like to sit there in the sun and eyeball the feeders. That cast a pall on the feeding process for a few minutes. 😂
Also this morning when she went out to put the grain on the feeders, two big red-shouldered hawks launched from trees near the corner of the house (about 30 yds from the feeders) and flew off. Opportunists. They like to sit there in the sun and eyeball the feeders. That cast a pall on the feeding process for a few minutes. 😂
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We have gotten out of the habit of feeding them. I need to get back in that habit. Julian Milling Co down the road makes a nice blend themselves
Can’t agree more with this. I despise outside cats for this reason.
In the last few years there have been articles about 100's of birds falling out of the sky dead at once. Some people believe it is due to 4G or 5G or similar transmissions.
Today's cast of characters: chickadees; tufted titmice; nuthatch (white breasted, but we've seen brown headed and red-breasted); carolina wren; juncos; Mr. and Mrs. cardinal; blue jays; red-breasted woodpecker.
711b
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Absolutely not. It's climate change and the space aliens jerking us around -- by causing the climate change. Also, they're responsible for the bird flu epidemic. They're sitting up there in their invisible space ships laughing themselves silly.
711b
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Yeah, we're seeing those plus some doves. Not all the species of woodpeckers around here have put in an appearance yet -- only the red-headed ones, and only a couple of those. But they're all hanging out in the trees, as usual, and talking up a storm. The Piliators (as we call them as an homage to the Terminator), NEVER come to the feeders (since they prefer insects and such), but one did visit our back deck about a year ago and (in about 5 minutes) create an impressive deep 2"x3" hole in a treated 4x4 in order to get some carpenter bee larvae. Those guys are wood wreckers, and we think that one of them may have taken out one of the big red shouldered hawks here last year. They apparently do that on occasion. We found the carcass just inside the tree line around the yard. Nature red in tooth and claw.
I discovered a neighbor lady has been feeding feral cats, about 5 of them now. Our back yard bird population has dropped precipitously. It may not be that the feral cats are killing them in greater numbers but they may be scaring them out of the area. I told her to stop feeding and attracting the cats but she told me to buzz off. On top of that, new folks have moved in with cats and are letting them roam. We need more coyotes, at least temporarily.
You need a suppressed 22.
NCLivingBrit
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Set baited humane traps and drop them off at the humane society?
Not sure about song birds, but the little birds like wrens (I’m no bird person) are here in droves. So bad in fact you have to be careful when you open the door to keep them from flying into the house.
OP
Feed them and they will come.
We get about this same mix, plus downy woodpeckers and house finches. I frequently see hawks (one once flew into my garage and landed practically at my feet) and barred owls in the area. But my main concern is the neighbor who lets her cats roam free, in spite of the local leash law. I chase them out of the yard when I see them, but they prey on chipmunks and baby rabbits.
711b
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So do you report these infractions? What's the result of reporting them? I know that local leash laws are very scattered/sporadic and contain an amazing variety of wordings. For example, the Chatham Co. animal control ordinances (Ch. 22 of County ordinances) say
[I think that should probably be "deemed a nuisance by adjacent property owners or Animal Services," or the grammar doesn't make any sense. But hey, my kids went through Chatham Co. schools until high school. So I know what to expect.]
So in Chatham Co., control of feral/wandering cats is approached on a DIY basis, though sanctioned by the County. 😂 Other NC locales have much stricter prohibitions on pets "wandering". I can imagine (in part based on experience) that there is a certain lack of enthusiasm for enforcing whatever ordinances may exist, but it's always good to give that a try.
I think that a lot of us have a "cat lady" in our vicinity -- at least from time to time. For us, there's been one directly across the road from us for decades, and her cat herd waxes and wanes over time. Some years ago she had over a dozen "in residence," but I think that animal control finally paid her a visit and suggested that she back off a little. So more recently she's been supporting only three or four -- at a time. Periodically one gets splatted on the road and needs to be replaced. Some of them come over here on a semi-regular basis and try to get a bird or two, and there are also a couple more from other neighbors who visit on a regular basis. They do get a few birds now and then, and we chase them away from the feeders when we see them. But otherwise we have a quid pro quo arrangement with them because they also really like to go in the barn and clear out rodents and play with snakes. And our second-floor heat pump probably eats more songbirds (and some lizards) than the cats do. The first-floor one seems to be vegan, although it will get a lizard or tree frog on occasion.
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I should have added house finches to my list earlier. This morning, had a thrasher come by; that, and a blue jay being a bully.
We've been seeing a hawk for the last few weeks almost daily. Does anyone know whether they will dig for a mole? This one is frequently on the ground and might be after mice or such, but I've not seen what they're pecking at -- I think I'd be able to see a squirrel. But we do have some mole burrows, so ...
We've been seeing a hawk for the last few weeks almost daily. Does anyone know whether they will dig for a mole? This one is frequently on the ground and might be after mice or such, but I've not seen what they're pecking at -- I think I'd be able to see a squirrel. But we do have some mole burrows, so ...
Birds will be back in spring.
We have the hawks and owls around here. You will suddenly notice no squirrels or birds. Means a raptor is hanging around. They'll massacre the rabbit population. The squirrels seems smarter than rabbits, but they get caught, too. The occasional murder of crows seem to respect but also give the middle finger to the raptors for the most part. But everything else disappears for a while.
We have the hawks and owls around here. You will suddenly notice no squirrels or birds. Means a raptor is hanging around. They'll massacre the rabbit population. The squirrels seems smarter than rabbits, but they get caught, too. The occasional murder of crows seem to respect but also give the middle finger to the raptors for the most part. But everything else disappears for a while.
711b
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I've never seen one do any excavating. But one of their most common hunting practices (aside from flying around and screeching) is to sit on a lower branch or fence post and then drop quickly onto the prey that's on the ground. I've seen this a lot in terms of them taking small rodents, snakes, and even birds.
No, the owners are very good neighbors otherwise so I'm content to very visibly and loudly chase the cats out of my yard when I see them, even if the neighbors are out in their own yard. If the cats sit on top of the fence, which they occasionally do, I leave them alone because it's my neighbor's fence. But if they climb down on my side I'll run them off until they get into their own yard. The cats seem to be slowly realizing that I am an unpleasant person to be around so they don't come over here as often as they used to.
711b
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Or just not when you can see them. 😂 The cat is a nocturnal (and early morning) hunter, often seen shortly after dawn stalking our feathered friends. I most often see them shortly after I get up, as I'm sipping my coffee, watching the morning news and seeing them stroll casually by our large rec room windows on the way to the feeders. But if you don't see them, it's like they're not there -- except for the occasional bunches of feathers.
In the end, there's not too much to do about protecting birds from cats (and other things). I marvel at the number of times the wrens build nests in the low flower pots my wife has around the front yard. It's like putting up a sign that says "Free eggs!" for the black snakes; and it's fascinating to watch the snakes go through their pot survey routines. Last summer I was shooting off the portable bench I set up on the edge of one of my wife's gardens, finished a magazine, and looked down to see a 3' black snake about that far away from me at the edge of the garden. As I continued to shoot, he/she carefully stalked around the pots -- looking for birds and eggs in the pots, and frogs in the fountains -- and in about 20 minutes had moved on. They even come up on the deck to check out the pots there as well. Darwin corrects for this by endowing the wrens with the frantic cyclic nesting and breeding activity that's their hallmark -- including the neo-Darwinian need to attempt to build nests in my truck grill or in the gas grill on the deck. In full disclosure, I must say that I tend to have more empathy for the snakes than for the wrens.