I didn't hear a Whip-poor-will this year and hear Bobwhites and see Indigo Buntings only in the most remote places. I don't know why they have declined, as habitat has remained the same around here since I've been here.

This year huge flocks of Common Grackles and Starlings have taken over large areas even of isolated places like the fish hatchery and Poppy Mnt, although nobody feeds them. All I hear now is their croaking and buzzing and see their wings whirring in the underbrush where I used to see flocks of warblers and water birds. We've had to go to the very backs and corners of these properties to see anything worthwhile

There are so many variables affecting songbird populations that it is hard to see any trends developing.
But great tailed grackles are experiencing a population explosion in the last few years around here.
At our local Walmart, they nest in the trees in the parking lot year around and have grown so bold that you have to shoo them off your trunk to load the groceries.
Right now, any fast food place you drive through has young following adults aroung begging for food within a few feet of your car.
This has got to have an impact on local resident songbirds. I've found dead birds at the feeder with the back of their skulls pecked out which I'm pretty sure is the work of a grackle.

OK, this may be a better way to ask the question:

If one were to average the Audubon Christmas bird counts over the past ten years, would the results show that more SPECIES of birds are increasing or decreasing? Anyone intimately familiar with Audubon bird count data should be able to answer this. This answer will not measure explosive numbers of weedy species or reflect the obvious decline of rare and endangered species. Thanks!

RB

All birds, besides a few urban birds, are or will soon be declining. Along with just about every other living thing on the planet. For every increase of one person there is X amount of living things that will die.

Someone mentioned the decrease in a bird population, such as an Indigo Bunting, although their local habitat was still intact. You have to remember that those types of birds have to migrate down to Central America and back, 2 one way trips a year. If there is a loss of habitat or food anywhere along that path, it could be very bad for them.

Although, people are against hunting, the truth is that agriculture kills more animals than a hunter would kill in a lifetime. I'm not going to condone deer hunting one way or another, this is just an example: Say a hunter walks into the woods and kills a deer, nothing else was disturbed. He will get 50 to 100 pounds of food, only one animal killed.

To get that much food through agriculture, one would have to devastate the land, cut down all the trees and use pesticides or some other means that would rob the "pests" of food. Eventually, the use of fertilizers, which run into the water supply and kill even more animals by doing that.
I bring this up because it is what many migratory birds are encountering along the journey.

All animals need every ounce of energy we can muster up to help them.

And it's not just birds. We lost another black bear tonight on I-4 in Seminole Co. FL. Our bear population is definitely declining and it's almost entirely due to highways. I feel like crying every time.

It is too bad that no wide scale scientific study has been done on bird populations and the causes of a decline, in order of priorities. (Or that no one has knowledge of such a study that they can post.) A study on the order of recent investigations into the causes of climate change is probably what Bob_B was inquiring after. I suppose that unless a matter is of international importance to the survival of the human race, such an extensive study is not likely to find funding.

It is too bad that the knowledge gap is filled in with guesses, some likely spot-on (destruction of habitat, urban spread, cyclical changes in unfavorable conditions for a single or multiple species,) some reliant on localized observation such as the cowbird theory, and others verging on internet rumour such as the current domestic cat witch hunt.

Audubon has done extensive studies on bird populations and publishes a fairly comprehensive summary. You can find that publication at the link below - it's a fairly large pdf but well worth the bandwidth.

Here is a link that might be useful: State of the birds 2009 by Audubon

A report issued by Interior Secretary Salazaar in March, 2009 indicated that of the 800 North American bird species about 1/3 have shown a population decline. See: http://www.stateofthebirds.org/news-release

RB

The House Sparrow population is declining all over New England. Area's ten
years ago that were saturated with them are now few and far between. In the country they are rare. The largest number of sparrows now seen are in the inner
city. Bluebird fans helped pave the way the once common Bull Sparrow is on the run! And its about time.
Ray

Well they missed my (rural New England) area when they surveyed the HOSP population. I finally gave up last year and plugged the holes on my bluebird house.

I will say that I reduced the numbers in my neighborhood significantly through trapping. That however was not enough to allow the bluebirds to regain ownership of their house. One single male HOSP was able to successfully drive them away. That was the point at which I gave up the "landlord" business. It is hard to imagine enough other New Englanders willing to wage this interminable war on HOSPs long enough to have an impact.

Where did you find this info on New England house sparrow numbers? Do you have a link?