Where Have All the Birds Gone?

I know some have migrated, but where are all my local year round residents? A few weeks ago they were everywhere, now suddenly in the past couple of weeks, nothing. Feeders are full and waiting.

I know Rachael Carson predicted Silent Springs but I got Dead Fall around my place this year!

Know there is a birdwatching forum, I'd rather talk to you guys. I been away for a while.

gessieviolet, it might be that they are finding a favorite food source in the wild right now. This is a good time of year for lots of yummy food 'right off the vine' so to speak. I'm positive they will be back!

P.S. I watch the birdwatching forum but saw your post in the "The latest posts at DG:" section and couldn't help myself, I just had to answer, lol ^_^

Gessie, our feeders have been quiet the past few weeks, but it has been such a mild autumn, compared with recent years,I think Angele's right - they're still finding plenty of food elsewhere. Having said that, I put out suet this morning and it was VERY popular - lots of the usual suspects. :)

Angele and Deb, I thank you for your observation. I just get impatient sometimes.

Angele, I got nothing against birdwatching forum. My buddies are just all here. Thanks for responding.

This message was edited Nov 26, 2009 10:17 PM

That is just what I thought you meant. If I see a question about birds, especially from someone who obviously cares about them, sometimes I can't help but post - even if I am a bit of an interloper!!!
P.S.S. I have very fond memories of vacationing in South Carolina when I was a kid (almost 50 years ago!)

Then it's time you came back, Angele! :>
Feel free to "interlope" any old time!

Deb, I would love too. I love the Carolinas. When my father was stationed in Georgia during the mid to late '60s we would vacation on an island near Beaufort, SC. Every year we went back there was less and less of the island because of hurricanes/storms.

Gessie, I am so used to seeing birds in my yard that if I look out the window and don't see any I wonder why & sometimes worry about them. This is hour to hour, nevermind day to day!!!

We seem to have a lot of large birds showing up. A pair of Blue herons have returned from I don't know where to reclaim the lagoon. Had a big flock of egrets doing something, looked like a few fights were breaking out. Birds of prey have been more noticeable lately, not sure if they were somewhere else or just out of sight. I swear I saw a falcon. Do falcons live in SC??

This message was edited Nov 27, 2009 10:27 PM

Peregrine Falcons winter in your area. How cool!

???? our feeders havebeen busy [my spacebar sticky]

but we are seeing larger birdsof late. pigeons are going after our feeders more. we have a yankee feeder that rotates them off. whenever DH sees a pigeon, he knows to recharge it.

he only uses sunflower seeds.

We use to get pigeons but they don't show up at my house any more. Very well may have to do with birds of prey hanging around. Not sure. I have seen a red hawk pick off a small bird from right under my bird feeder. Think it was a dove, the bird world is fairly violent where I am. LOL. Those blue herons will eat a large snake if they get a hold of it and we have bald eagles dive bombing the water snagging fish. I need to get up on my bird IDing, at least the ones that I see fairly often. I'll see if I can get a picture of the ???falcon???, he likes my neighbors garage roof peak to perch on.

oddly enough, we have some, I think it is, turkey vultures, that hang around here, but we have tons of small bird of prey, and owls. Last year we chased one vultureoff the roof, where he'd carried adead critter, probably squirrel. I hear allofthem, see them up high, sometimes see them lower enoughto say "hawk" or "owl." but otherwise? don't ID them.

bonjon, I had to smile at your "turkey vultures". We backwoods folk call them "buzzards". The roost by the hundreds on the phone towers here in our little town.

A couple of months ago, I heard what sounded like a shotgun battle going on a few blocks from us. Called the police and got them all excited! The police came by to tell me the "authorities" were trying to "scare the buzzards out of town", but had forgotten to inform the other "authorities". Ah, life in small town USA!

Buzzards are carrion feeders and most of the time will feed in a group on the ground around them dead animal. Makes it dangerous sometime when they are feeding on roadkill. Graceful in flight (especially when soaring), slow, clumsy and BIG when on the ground. Cars can hit them easily.

I learned after I posted this that the term "buzzard" can apply to a large number of carrion eaters found all over the world. Never knew that. Seems the "turkey vulture" is one of the north american buzzards. Learn something new everyday.

This message was edited Nov 29, 2009 5:35 AM

I have noticed a significant decline in feeder usage over the past 3-4 weeks, but no decline in birdsong/population/activity around the property. Leads me to believe there's an abundance of "Natural Food" available (which may be preferable). So I agree with angele and Deb. Nothing to worry about. Come January, we'll be kept busy filling the feeders/suet dispensers again. Just another natural cycle---no need to call Al Grobe.

Hey Angele, Hunting Island is probably where you vacationed and it is still here although, as you mentioned, it does get smaller each year. It is still a beautiful place however with an outstanding beach.

Same here with the feeders; there are few birds feeding at them but there are plenty of birds around.

That may be it, sounds familiar. At the time there were 2 islands, one was rather exclusive and then there was the one we camped at. It was stunningly beautiful. I need to look through the old photo albums.

Fripp Island is just beyond Hunting Island and Fripp would be your gated resort community. The chain goes from Beaufort (which is really Port Royal Island) to Lady's Island, Saint Helena Island, Harbor Island and then Hunting and Fripp. There are actually a few more smaller and privately held islands (Ted Turner owns one of them) beyond Fripp but they are pretty inaccessible.

I live on a still smaller island off Saint Helena. I guess we really do have moats around here but they are all salt water. LOL

They must be at my house! LOL I have tons of birds right now.

interesting info, Gessie. I knewthe proper name because DD is an avid animal person and knows more about animals than most folks I know. She knew the name immediately when we were looking at the roadkill being flown up to our roof.

See I was right about the moat.

LOL, it is a deep one too! But, those are shrimpers not Marines.

I love Hunting Island and all the sea islands around Beaufort. My cousin & his wife live near Bluffton in a community called "Oldfield" and it is absolutely beautiful!

Haven't seen many birds at my feeders also. I thought maybe it was because they are out in the open. I don't have many trees. I really miss them because I use to have tons of them in my backyard in VA before we moved down here. Did see our "state bird" yesterday...there were 6 turkey buzzards in the pine tree across the road...just kidding. We do have a lot of buzzards! Actually, our state bird must be mosquitoes LOL