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Where did they all go?

14 years ago

This is kind of an odd problem I've never had before. This spring my feeders were just filled with birds. My thistle feeders would have 8-10 American Goldfinches & Housefinches hanging on them at any given time of the day. About 2 weeks ago, we had a week of rain non-stop. The population at the feeders fell. I didn't think anything of it because I wouldn't want to hand around in the rain either. when the rain cleared up, there were very few birds at my feeders. A couple of chickadees,mourning doves & the such but only an occasional American Goldfinch & that was it. I thought maybe the seed in the feeders had spoiled from all the rain so I emptied them all out, cleaned them & refilled the with fresh seed & thistle. Still no goldfinches and it's been over a week. Where did they all go? What can I do to bring them back?

Comments (5)

Konrad___far_north
14 years ago
Sometimes I have the same feeling, bad weather less activity...I think birds go in a hiding mode.
Also for me, most migrating birds can be around several weeks, then move on, could this be in your situation?

Konrad
tami58
Original Author
14 years ago
I thought that some of the issue may be migration too, but the finches are here year round. And I had so many before & still no real activity at all. Don't know where they are ! Makes me sad.
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abbybirds
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maybe the rain woke up all the insects in your area, so the birds have other food sources?
i suspect that's what has happened in my backyard.
suzee55
14 years ago
I thought I had done something wrong also. I cleaned feeders and bought new seed too. No more finches. Please if someone has an answer to this, let us know. Could hawks in the area scare them off?
tami58
Original Author
14 years ago
I saw 3 American Goldfinches on the feeder today. Also a nuthatch walking down one of the trees. A bluejay or 2. That's it. That's the most finches I've seen in 2 weeks. The squirrels & chipmunks are living large on the feeders, but I do miss my birds.

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