Has anyone been noticing a decrease in bird sounds lately?

[FedUpWithIt All]

Where are the birds?

About a week ago i mentioned to my husband that i haven't been hearing as many birds lately. He listened and confirmed that it was very odd. We figured it must be an early migration and chalked it up to the cooler than usual weather for this time of year. Even the trees have already begun to change over. So today, again nearly silent, i looked it up online and saw talk of it at a conspiracy site.

So has anyone here been noticing a near silence where the birds sounds used to be.

[FSogol]

1. Not at my house (in Northern VA). The birds at my 3 feeders are noisy.

Huge variety too. Had 3 different types of woodpeckers eating suet yesterday.

[Blue_In_AK]

2. Lots of birds here.

Maybe they've all moved up north where it's cool.

[left coaster]

3. What part of the country are you in?

Perhaps the weather, or drought, or (?) has effected your local bird population? Just a thought.

Here in So Cal, the local birds have been as noisy as I expect, for this time of year. :)

[FedUpWithIt All]

5. I am in WV and we have 50 acres of trees and brush and are at least 1/3 mile from any other houses.

We heard one hawk today. Seriously, there is not a single bird sound aside from my chickens and geese. It is eerie.

Edited to add..the point in mentioning the property we live on is to point out that this place is usually chock full of birds.

[Rhythm]

59. Morgantown WV is chock full of birds...

More kinds than i can adequately keep track of, including an abundance of waterfowl.

{i](note to self: check the feeders out the living-room window... the cats want to watch "The Bird Show" this afternoon)

[MineralMan]

4. Not around my house in Saint Paul, MN.

Of course, I have bird feeders and the like in my yard, but there are plenty of bird sounds, including a rather raucous dawn chorus. You may have different conditions where you are, though.

One thing, though: bird sounds are always less as Fall approaches. A lot of bird song has to do with mating activity and territorial marking. By the end of summer, nesting is mostly done and the birds are preparing for migration, which involves less bird songs.

[LeftyMom]

6. If by lately you mean summer, then yes.

The little peeping bastards are noisier in the spring.

[FedUpWithIt All]

10. Noisier i realize but there is not a single bird sound aside from a hawk earlier.

And it has been this way, at least when i pay attention, for several days.

[LeftyMom]

18. That's probably your answer.

If there's a hawk hanging around, the smaller, tastier birds are probably laying low or hanging out someplace safer.

[FedUpWithIt All]

20. We hear a hawk once or twice a month

but we also live of 50 acres of forest and brush and have never even lost a free ranged chicken to a hawk. I'd bet the reason isn't the hawk. It is just too silent.

[eleny]

7. Lots around here until the hawks made a nest nearby

But they'll be migrating soon and I'll be seeing the little ones back at our feeders. Maybe you've got some raptors near your place, too.

[meegbear]

8. Geese have already started flying south, honking away ...

and I just heard a bird tweeting as I am typing this.

[texastoast]

11. They will probably come back

It's too effing hot here for anything (107 in the shade Saturday and Sunday). And most of the Katy Prairie is taken over by concrete and subdivisions now. It used to be such a marvel when thousands of them were out feeding. Haven't seen that in years.

[chillspike]

9. You're right

Just checked outside. Not a chirp to be heard. Dead quiet except for a cricket. Of course, I'm in NJ and maybe the storm spooked them. Idk. Very unusual though.

[frazzled]

12. Not here smack in the middle of Chicago

Birds come to roost on my balcony every day: we watched a mother feeding her baby on the balcony ledge from mere feet away just the other day. The cat is always looking out the window and making sounds back at the birds. Amazing for a very urban environment, six stories up.

[Kennah]

13. The number of hummingbirds is noticeably down this year in WA. Also bees. Very scary.

[Prism]

14. They're all on my coffee table at the moment

I really must stop leaving the front door open.

Or leaving birdseed on the floor.

I'm not allowed pets in the building. This is how I've circumvented that. I'm sure this isn't healthy, but they're cute, tweety lil buggers and they hop around the hardwood floor and occasionally slip onto their butts. It's hilarious . . .

(But seriously, I've been hearing geese migrating at night across the Bay Area lately, and my boyfriend tells me this is unusual. At one point, we woke up at 3AM and he said "What the hell was that?!" I'm from the Midwest, so geese aren't unusual to me).

[FedUpWithIt All]

15. Could you nicely ask some of them to come visit us here?

:hi:

Seriously, it is kind of creepy without them making noise in the background of life. "/

[Prism]

22. Birdseed.

Seriously. You will have more than you know what to do with.

But I think we're seeing an early migration this year. I've noticed it, too.

Maybe related, maybe not, but I visited my parents in Illinois a few weeks ago, and I noticed there are a lot of new kinds of birds out in the woods there. I've spent most of my life in the Midwest, so it was really strange after being gone for a few years to see all these different colored birds scampering about.

[Mojorabbit]

16. Idon't see as many as I used to

We used to have a gazillion grackles and blue jays in our yard(for at least 2 decades) and now we have one family of jays only and a few grackles. We have no where near the amt of birds we used to living here. No ducks live on the lake anymore either and it is a clean lake so that is not the problem.

[mike_c]

17. we've got plenty of birds in our (rural) back yard....

For which my cats are eternally grateful, LOL. In truth, they rarely catch one, but their boundless hope and enthusiasm for the possibility makes me happy.

Seriously though, no indication of fewer birds than normal on California's north coast as far as I'm aware. A quick check of the local Audubon Soc data for last December's annual survey shows no apparent decline in most species that overwinter here and no mention of any declines in their news letter. You might try that for your location.

[Liberal_in_LA]

19. Maybe you can identify this sound for me. I hear it at night in So. Calif. A clicking

not the cricking sound. A clicking - sometimes slow, sometimes fast.

[FedUpWithIt All]

21. Nope. No idea. Sorry.

:)

[Xithras]

67. There are a few things that could be doing it.

Some frogs make clicking noises, as do cicadas and some bats. Male opossums can also make loud clicking noises with their mouths as they're looking for mates. All of these are active at night.

Without an actual recording of the sound, it's impossible to know for sure.

[MadHound]

23. If you live in an urban or suburban area, you could very well be right

One thing I noticed when I moved out to the country was just how many more birds there were. When I lived in an urban area during my youth, there were still tons of birds, great flocks of chimney swallows and lots of other birds. Those went away as time passed, to the point that it was pleasantly startling to see great flocks on the wing when I moved out to the country. And now I notice that it seems that birds are disappearing at a greater rate in a nearby city.

But currently, out here in the country, I haven't noticed a decrease in birds. The crows still hold their conferences, my birdfeeders are still as busy as ever, I see hawks daily, hear owls nightly, so this may be a localized or urban thing. But I don't doubt that the overall population of birds is shrinking. Mankind has invaded more and more of their living space.

[FedUpWithIt All]

26. No, we're actually in a very rural area.

I'm really kind of speaking of a trend over the last week or so and not the entire summer. We've had tons of birds here. Just the past week or so...nothing and i've been making a point of paying attention. Lots of frogs, lots of crickets...no birds. I'm going to just chalk it up to freaky.

I have noticed as a long term trend, a distinct decrease in squirrels and honey bees over the past couple of years though. :shrug:

[MadHound]

35. Oh, well, we're getting your squirrels here in Mid Mo,

Seriously, we've got tons of squirrels, both red and grey, scampering around our land. Tons of nests in the forest, heck, I've even got the little guys starting to stash acorns in my barbecue grill.

But we are seriously overrun with bunnies, far more than usual. Luckily the hawks are making themselves a feast, but still they're tearing up my garden.

I have noticed a decrease in honeybees though, to the point where I think that when I have the money I will set up my own colonies so they can live and thrive in my orchard.

[FedUpWithIt All]

37. We'd like to start some colonies too but found out in the spring

that my husband is dangerously allergic to one of the stinging creatures. We're bad and still need to get him in and checked to narrow down that category so we can see if honeybees are in our future.

[MadHound]

39. One thing that you need to look into, since you live in the country,

And that is purple martins. Bats are dying quickly due to White Nose Syndrome, a fungus that is causing a mass die off of bats. With bats gone, we're going to be seeing lots more bugs. Purple martins, once you get a colony established, are great bug eaters. I'm going to start a colony next spring(putting up the box this fall), and you might want to consider doing the same. The boxes are expensive I grant you, but the payback in less bugs is priceless.

[FedUpWithIt All]

40. That's good advice. We wanted to put up some bird houses and nest boxes

but are moving slowly because we have to build a people house yet :)

We do have two bat houses up though and just recently started seeing more bats so we're hoping they finally found and like the accommodations. We put them up right away because the situation with the WNS is scary and tragic.

[pipi_k]

42. Someone absconded with my squirrels too....

We used to be crawling with them here. It was a constant battle to keep them away from the bird feeders.

Now we don't see any at the feeders, and only rarely is one visible running across the yard out back by the pond.

There used to be a guy down the hill who trapped/shot and ate them, but I think he's since moved or passed away so I don't know what the deal is.

The bird population seems to be unaffected, though.

And the frogs...we have tons of frogs.

[Broderick]

24. I think they are conspiring with the Locusts for an assault

to have their planet back.

[Greybnk48]

25. Mine disappeared for a while, very quiet & feeders full.

This was late May early June. Then we discovered a Cooper's Hawk nest in our neighbors yard. We actually couldn't miss it they were so loud and brazen. The Hawks would swoop right into our yard and nab the birds, I think they got a couple of Chipmunks too. We, in the neighborhood, were kind of peeved that they weren't snagging enough rabbits!!

We didn't have birds all summer until this past two weeks, or at least not like usual. The Hawks and their babies have moved on and my yard is once again full of birds. Lots of Sparrows, Chickadees, tons of Finches, Cardinals and the occasional Blue Jay if I put out his favorite food. We have lots of water out for them too. They are really going after that.

Maybe you just have hawks??

[FedUpWithIt All]

32. That's been mentioned a few times so maybe it is a factor.

We do hear a hawk on occasion but we live in 50 acres of this...



And we are not hearing a SINGLE bird, aside from a single hawk cry over the past few weeks (We pay a lot of attention when we hear a hawk because we free range 34 chickens and we hear them rarely). It is just bizarre but I'm not overly worried about it now that so many here are confirming this is not a broader issue. :)

[Greybnk48]

48. Awesome property!

We keep parrots, and a few years ago when there was the avian flu scare we were told to listen for crows. If we stopped hearing the crows we should start to worry because the crows are the first to go. I sure hope it's nothing serious like this.

[Bluenorthwest]

27. Nope, but this is a birdy rapinghood

We got the feathers.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

28. when I started having 100+ degree days back in July (14 in a row, I think)

I noticed all my woodland creatures vanished. I am hoping they went deeper into the woods and higher up the mountain. I have noticed that since the temps have gone down back to the 90's that they are slowly returning. I hope they all made it. I especially miss my piliated woodpecker couple that had set up home in the old tree in my front yard.

[nc4bo]

29. For a few days before, during and immediately after the 'cane hit - creepy quiet except for crows...

now they're all back to their regularly scheduled programming.

[nadinbrzezinski]

30. Nope not really

(What I have noticed though is that my conures are far more vocal, to the risk of my hearing)

[kurtzapril4]

31. Birds probably headed out

ahead of the weather this weekend.

[Vinca]

33. It's been very strange at our house in southern NH with far fewer birds than usual.

Last year I was all excited over pileated woodpeckers in the neighborhood, but this year I haven't seen 1 woodpecker of any kind. Even the owl population is diminished. I can usually identify a half dozen varieties by their calls at night, but this year I can only recognize 2.

[kestrel91316]

34. I only heard one mockingbird this spring/summer, quite a while ago.

Normally they are just thick, and keep me up nights with their singing.

[jberryhill]

38. Depends on how long they take to pair up

We had a bachelor mockingbird this spring that nearly led the neighbors to pitch in for a BB gun. (Interfering with a mockingbird, incidentally, is a federal crime)

When he finally hooked up, we about had a wedding reception on our block.

All night, every night, and an extensive repertoire of calls. I spent some time trying to teach him the sound of my car remote lock, but he wasn't having it.

[kestrel91316]

51. I ADORE mockingbirds, even if they do keep me up nights.

[jberryhill]

52. Have you ever trained one on a song?

[kestrel91316]

64. Nope. But I love listening to them.

[theophilus]

36. It is very quiet here in central Arkansas. It has been quite hot and dry. The

birds may be around the lakes and permanent streams. Bird numbers, especially songbird numbers, have been dropping for years. I remember big clouds of birds in my youth but haven't seen much to compare in years. Truly tragic. Our descendants will have no idea what it was like, I'm afraid.
''

[watrwefitinfor]

41. When I was a child growing up on this same

50 acre South Carolina farm I live on now, the number of birds that inhabited our yard amazed me. Even more amazing to me was that my grandfather could whistle and sing like every single one of them, cupping his hands some strange way and whistling through his fingers. The birds would answer him.

When I moved back here in the 1980s the first thing I noticed was that the blue jays, the blue birds, and many of the others were gone (a few of the blue birds did come back when I added some houses and got the row crops off the place). The birds that were still around were much fewer in numbers.

In the 2-1/2 decades since then I've noticed every year the decrease in number of all of the little darlings. Last year was a sea change, though. In mid summer the yard went quiet. Took me a little while to remember that the week before they quit singing, the neighbors had a crop duster over their adjoining soybean field (and parts of my farm and yard).

This spring birds were back, but again seem to be in diminished numbers. Besides the poison sprayed on the food supply, I suspect long term effects of GMO soybeans, corn, and wheat; effects of all the soil drenching chemicals they use to try to control the weeds, and in the process doing god only knows what to the weed seeds many birds eat.

Local farm practices are bound to be affecting all the wild life (ground and water dwelling creatures like worms, frogs) but especially the birds and their food supply.

Can't say about West VA, but it's really bad around here - nothing but poisoned GMO fields everywhere, all year long. Even the hay fields are drenched in pre-emergents and there are no controls over how much they pour over it. I can't find organic hay for mulching the garden. The cows are grazing all summer in the green fields that were drenched with those chemicals every year, eating this hay every winter.

Beyond that, there is the climate itself. As someone noted, it is changing. How are the birds adjusting to that? How about their worm and bug supply? Is their wormy food dying off or migragating?

And the gulf. How has that BP mess affected migrating birds?

And the drought? Are they having trouble finding water? What about all the streams affected by mountaintop removal up your way?

Around here all the water sources (little streams and ponds) have become stagnant stinking pits of hell. Trees are left where they fall when clear cut and are stopping up the streams, and the nitrogen run off from the oil based chemical fertilizers and sewage piped from the local chicken factory into the spray fields along many little streams - all that has created choking acres and acres of algae where there used to be free flowing streams and swamps full of life and good water for birds and all other little critters to drink. Large ponds are ruined and useless from the algae. I don't know why any bird at all would bother to come to such a place.

I often think of Rachel Carson, and how much good she did, waking up the world - only to have it all worse than ever a few decades later.

I tell my little great grandchildren how the birds were all over the yard and filled the trees when I was their age. I wish I could whistle bird songs for them like my grandfather did.

What have we left our children? How do we tell them that we are sorry, but we couldn't save the earth for them? Hell, we couldn't even save the worms and birds and trees and the food.

:cry: :cry: :cry:

Wat

Edit to spell grandfather properly.

[REP]

43. Hell no. The feathery fuckers wake me up.

There's a gaggle of purple finches squawking at me now, and at least five Anna's hummingbirds singing and chirping, plus lesser goldfinches, mourning doves, robins, juncos, ravens and purple finches ... all on or near my balcony, all loud as hell.

[Ohio Joe]

44. Come to my house, you will be wishing them all gone in an hour

I hate the little fuckers.

[Papagoose]

45. My hummingbird feeders sat nearly untouched all summer

I live in NW Georgia, my yard usually is buzzing with hummingbirds in August and September, but not so much this year. Plenty of big, aggressive Crows and nasty vultures though.

[pipi_k]

63. I have hummingbird feeders too, and noticed

they're not getting as much use as they normally have in the past, but then I've also noticed that the hummingbirds are going after the flowers a bit more...

[Wait Wut]

46. Um.

I'll be happy to send you the scrub jays that demand to be fed twice a day. They scare off the bushtits and house finches (that the food is really for) and irritate the dog.

Do you like to wake up at the crack of dawn?


Seriously, though...no shortage of birds here. I was worried about the pair of golden eagles we get every year, but the husband said he's seen them several times the past couple of weeks.

Let me know if you want the scrub jays. :-)

[Aunt Anti-bush]

47. Strange you would mention this...

I literally today was thinking about just that. We haven't been hearing birds in the mornings like we usually do for at least a couple of weeks now and our leaves started falling about that same time ago. Plus, it's unseasonably "cool" right now here in Pennsylvania. :(

[FedUpWithIt All]

49. Are you eastern or western PA, if you don't mind me asking?

I am really wondering if it is a regional thing,

[Curmudgeoness]

50. I am in W PA and still have plenty of birds here.

I feed and have a birdbath that always has fresh water, and they are always sitting all over waiting for me in the morning. I am grateful.

[MilesColtrane]

53. With the drought my state is currently undergoing I imagine...

many birds have died or have simply gone elsewhere.

Not only is there no water, it is so dry, there are very few bugs for the birds to eat.
Mid-Summer here you usually have to fight your way into your house at night from the bugs swarming around the light near your door.

Not this year.

[amborin]

54. there is scary & precipitous decline in almost all bird populations in the US and elsewhere

song birds, wood warblers, farm birds, etc................


habitat destruction main cause....too many malls and subdivisions

[Manifestor_of_Light]

55. Lots of blue jays and mockingbirds.

In east TX.
The wildlife thing I noticed is that I don't see the bats come out at dusk any more. Don't know why.

[Scuba]

56. Yes. The deafer I get, the fewer I hear. Bird populations seem good here...

...lots of hummers and orioles at the feeders.

[humankarenball]

57. Upstate SC here

Only birds that seem to be diminished for me this spring/summer are the hummingbirds. It's been rare to see one at our feeder.

We've had plenty of usual guests at our other feeders, though. Lots of finches (mainly House & Gold), northern cardinals, Carolina wrens & chickadees, tufted titmice, juncos, nuthatches, downy woodpeckers, & mourning doves.

It's usually pretty noisy around dusk & dawn, especially when our parakeet starts chirping really loudly trying to talk to the outside birdies.

[LWolf]

58. Still crowds of the usual suspects here:

dove, quail, robin, magpie, flicker, jays, ravens, hawks, falcons, owls, various sparrows, finches & other songbirds.

[dipsydoodle]

60. I generally only see them when I go out dancing

and don't really miss their yap, yap, yap.

[Shagbark Hickory]

61. Well it's not like it's spring. But there's definitely still plenty of birds for me.

Still shitting all over the patio furniture.

[WilliamPitt]

62. Can't say I have

It's quite the bird riot in the trees around my neighborhood. We have a red-tailed hawk up the street, too. Pretty cool.

[GreenStormCloud]

65. Much of the country in in an extreme drought. Lots of wildlife is dying. N/T

[eShirl]

66. hell no, it's like a freaking jungle up here

what I'm really noticing is a lot more crows than there used to be, and they're everywhere