Why have the birds disappeared?

I have 8 feeding stations and three heated bird baths. The feeding stations provide shelled p-nuts, sunflower hearts and chips, dark oiler sunflower seed, thistle and suet. I've been feeding the birds in this location the same way for 30 years. There is plenty of cover - large mature hemlocks and huge old oak trees. About 5 weeks ago the birds just stopped coming. We used to get downy and hairy woodpeckers, yellow bellied woodpeckers, blue jays, house and purple finches, American Goldfinches, wrens, nuthatches, black capped chickadees, tufted titmouses, juncos, cardinals and of course hoardes of sparrows, doves and starlings. Then, suddenly nothing. At dawn and dusk I'll see an occaisional hairy or downy, maybe a cardinal and lately some juncos and goldfinches. That's all. Not a single common house sparrow in weeks. We do have a growing stray cat problem and I did see an enornous hawk back at the koi pond about the time the birds did their vanishing act. The hawk remains unidentified. When I say enormous I mean enormous. The wingspan was about 4'. We've had both Coopers and Sharp Shinned hawks (and even an owl one morning perched on the fence) but neither my DH nor myself have seen a hawk this large before. I've scanned the trees all round to see if its become resident here and I cant find it.

So, can anyone tell me what the problem might be. Hawk? Cat? It's driving us nuts.

Your hawk could be a Red-tailed Hawk, which may be on the look-out for squirrels, but I doubt he would waste his time trying to catch little bird's. Your bird's may be eating wild food if its plentiful. The longer we go into winter your bird's should start showing up.

Patience is required sometimes. I went through a bird drought a little while ago, I too, wondered where are my birds. I have had a hawk visit now and then, and I've seen a couple of cats meander through my yard. BUT, now the birds are back.

In the last two days I snapped photos of Ruby-crowned Kinglets, House Sparrows, House Finches. Downies, House Sparrows, White-throated Nuthatches, Tufted Titmice, Carolina Chickadees, Northern Cardinals, Carolina Wrens and Chipping Sparrows. I've been posting them on the Daily Photos Thread.

Just be patient, they soon come back as long as there's food available in your feeders.

Hack

We do have plenty of squirrels. I counted 8 nests in the oaks. The hawk wasn't a Red Tail. When it flew off the tail was very dark. Overall the impression was that of a very dark bird. It was big certainly big enough to take a squirrel. I've no choice I guess but to develope some patience and wait this out. The feeders are clean and full. The water is clean and available 24-7. It never freezes. I miss the birds lined up to splash and dip. We have about 2" of snow on the ground as of today. We've been putting out some corn in the tray feeders. The Blue Jays have taken some of that. Thanks all for your encouragement. Watching the birds drive up my seed bill is my favorite wintertime activity. So far I have'nt spent much!

Snapple, Keep us posted! :)

Things are picking up a bit. I'm getting Blue Jays, Juncos, Tufted Titmouse, Black Capped Chicadees, Nuthatches, House Finches, American Goldfinches ( a good number of those) Doves, Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers and Yellow Bellied Woodpeckers. There is however a mystifying complete absence of House Sparrows. I have got a neighbor's outdoor cat that is becoming a big problem. He hunts the feeders daily by lying in wait under a low shrub. We're thinking of trapping it and paying to have it spayed/neutered and placed in a no kill shelter. Only problem is that this neighbor feeds several outdoor cats and the population is doing what cats do. Exploding. I can't afford to "relocate" them all. The no kill shelters here are full and it takes a hefty donation to squeeze one in.

Snapple45,

You are not alone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here's a post I made in a thread last year. I had to do a lot of searching for it in my archives, but I found the thread. My post is 1/2 way down the page/thread...
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/937629/

Thirteen! Yikes!!!! Sadly, I suppose I'll get there soon myself. Probably by July if they all reproduce. Locally we just don't have the animal control services available to deal with cats. The individual home owner is the party stuck. One of the cats used my begonia bed last year for a litter pan. It was disgusting. I'm between the proverbial rock and a hard place. I have three dogs and two strictly indoor cats of my own. The cats are both rescues. One is a shelter adoption and one walked right in the front door without asking. When he walked in we had four dogs standing there barking like crazy and the cat totally cowed them without lifting a paw. What kind of inter-species animal communication went on there at that moment has us mystified. But it won him a home for life.

Snapple, Your neighbor needs to do TNR. I didn't read Susan's post. They can't just be left to reproduce. And they can
go into heat several times a years. My cats are all indoor now. I'm losing birds to 2 of the neighors cats. I'm a cat
person but, a responsible one. I had a neighbor call animal control on me because some cat was pooping in their
yard. It wasn't mine. Stupid people. Mine are inside. What a waste of county resources.

I'm glad your birds are coming back now. :)))

Claudecat,

Any reason why you didn't read my post?

I'm too lazy. I will go back and read it. I do that a lot. Call me crazy.

Susan, Now this why I should have read it before now. I'm so glad your were able to trap the kitties. I don't like strays around either. I work for a pet food company as a demo rep in a pet store. I can't tell you how many people feed the
strays. Most of them do TNR and the colonies are in industrial areas. Others bring them in and try to adopt them out.
Some just love to feed them. Those are the one that make me angry for all the reasons you pointed out in your
original post. I got all of my cats through cat rescues. These are the responsible people. It really is a problem. All of the no kill shelters in the SF Bay area are filled to capacity. It's sad but, some ferals just need to be put down. This is
coming from a true cat lover. :)

Cats can be deterred by tearing citrus skins into quarter sized bits and sprinkling them in the areas you need to control (around all of the shrubs near the bird feeders or the flower bed they are "using")
I found this little trick worked well on the feral population that used my beds and tried to turn my feeders into their own snack bar. I had friends save their orange peels in their freezers for me and it only took a week or 2 to send them to other peoples yards.

I'm going to try that. Thank You!

Vinegar worked for the way-big-o dog that "used" the driveway by my mailbox. He would drag his person to the other side of the road after I poured vinegar all around the end of my driveway. I was ~very~ happy to see that it worked! It worked here in Korea too, we had another lazy/nasty dog owner that let his dog go in the American peoples apartment building entry area - until I moved in! I poured vinegar all along the building and parking area entry and we never had another pile. Dogs noses are so sensitive that I don't think that they will ever walk in that direction again! I used a gallon and I could still smell it a week later, I guess it was way worse for the dog.

Huh? What? I'm busy eating oranges. ;)

LOL!

In September we noticed a dearth of birds, far more extreme than usual.
They still haven't returned in force: mostly hairy and downy woodpeckers, a few titmice, juncos.a rare chickadee. Is it true that the Atlantic Flyway shifted inland this year?

I wish I knew. I'm not a "birder" in the sense that I follow those things. I'll see what I can find out. I do miss the crazy activity at the feeders. I know I have a cat problem but I dont believe it's the whole story.

Update: When I came home this afternoon from running errands, sitting on my front deck right outside my front door, were two stray cats. They vanish in a flash if you get close. Later in the afternoon my husband saw that big hawk again perched in a neighbor's maple. He grabbed the binoculars to try to get an ID but it suddenly swooped down out of the tree and out of sight behind a stockade fence, heading for the ground. This hawk is BIG. It stands 15" to 18" tall. I think the mystery is solved of why I have so few birds compared to previous years.

I think so!!!! Between the cats and the hawk those little birdies don't have a chance. Hopefully, the hawk will move
on and the cats trapped.

No hawk, one cat. Still few birds. This year I haven't even seen the mergansers in the river. I have woodpeckers galore, a few titmice, no chickadees, and (hurrah!) one male cardinal cleaning up the spillage along with the juncos. This the worst year I've ever had.

goldfinches still absent.

I'm sorry! :-( maybe I have them LOL

Probably--trade for a black-capped chickadee?

IrisMA,

I'll gladly trade you 1/2 of our Goldfinches for a single Chickadee!!! I've never seen one other than in books :)

I have had only a handful of White-throated Sparrows and 1 White-crowned Sparrow but no Foxor Tree Sparrows so far this winter. No Purple Finch either. :(

Not sure how far west the chickadees go. DH says that you must have woods for them.

We had a full load of birds for two days, all the regulars were back and in good numbers! Then Wham! They disappeared again. What a crazy year.