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Days gone by.............as have the birds.................

17 years ago

Do ya'll remember having a lot of certain birds back in the day and now they are rarely seen? I can remember having a lot of Evening Grosbeaks, Eastern Kingbirds, Loggerhead Shrikes, and Rufous-Sided Towhees. I see an Eastern Kingbird every now and then, but the others I haven't seen in years. :( Anyone else notice this?

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Comments (4)

User
17 years ago
Oh yes, and as more and more habitat is lost this will become more common too. We'll be limited to "urban" birds and lose the variety that once was.
This trend has to be fought in backyards, planning commissions and city council chambers all across the country.
organic_bassetlvr
17 years ago
The Evening Grosbeaks are an nomadic species that are only seen when the food they eat in the far north fails-I can't remember exactly when I last had them but I think it was 1996. I'm in East Tennessee. Kingbirds are territorial so you may only see the "king", his mate & later offspring-I don't know the territory size but around my place & the neighbor's field I usually only have one on approx 4 acres. Shrikes like open areas & since I've let most of my field grow up (to try to attract woodland birds)I rarely see a shrike. All this info is anecdotal only-others may have more scientific info. The Great Backyard Bird Count info is a great way to see which birds have declined, etc.
Susan
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Aprice---Yes since the youguns have arrived the last week has been very active here. Back in June I had 3 males battling it out for this yard and claiming all the females the could and now [just guessing] between 6-10 toward evening , hard to count. During the day 4-6 at most times. I have 3 window feeders and 3 more around the yard scattered out and all are used. I have the 3oz walmart special I have to fill twice a day now. I didnt have this kind of activity last year till into august. This year I have also planted some flowers to attract them that I didnt have last year. I have guaranitica black and blues, coccinia lady in red, greggi magenta and primrose, salvia bonfire and cuphea david verity. The black and blues are great, 7 or 8 of those plants, love em. I dont know why yours would have left , did you have a lot last year , all year? Keep your nectar fresh?
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BlueBars, I was in your neck of the woods yesterday as my friend and I drove our crochet projects to be entered in the State Fair. We stopped at the Double TT and had dinner--this is our third year making this trek and I'm thinking it has become a tradition! We'll go on Sunday to see if we earned any ribbons. Other than one house sparrow attempt at one of the park trails, nesting season seems to be over here. I'll check the boxes for another week or two, then take a breather before taking stock of what needs replaced/repaired for next year. I'm thinking that nest of yours was wishful thinking on your couple's part . . . kind of along the lines of 'mind willing-body weak'. Lots of good eating (grasshoppers and tons of berries) going on now! Kathy
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birding_nut
17 years ago
Three of the four species you mentioned (the exception being Evening Grosbeak) are species of distburb areas, open areas, and over grown fields. There has been a noticeable decline in birds that occupy these successional habitats in the East as many old, abandoned farms and ag fields grow up to forest.

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naturenut5
17 years ago
I used to have hundreds, literally, of Evening Grosbeaks visit every day about 8 years ago. Since then, I've been getting maybe half a dozen or so stop by, but they don't stay longer than to have a quick meal and then they're gone.

I used to go through 1500lbs of BOSS during the winter months way back then.

Val
N.Ontario

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