Songbirds noticeably absent

[Bill Douglas]

I think they are all over here.

Someone I know said there a lots of dead Fantails New Zealand fantail | New Zealand Birds Online around. He said it was due to there being a large number of Swallows in New Zealand now, and they out compete the Fantails for the food they both eat.

[reachme]

There are just as many birds as before. It's just that millennial birds are lazier than previous birds. They stay in the nest longer and don't learn to fly until much later so are not counted.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by reachme

There are just as many birds as before. It's just that millennial birds are lazier than previous birds. They stay in the nest longer and don't learn to fly until much later so are not counted.

That’s it!!

And they have learned to stay off my dang yard!

[BeyGon]

I have noticed when i don't put food out they stay away.

[Tervuren]

Originally Posted by RWebb

He's not entirely wrong - just few decades out of date.

He is talking about so-called "edge species" - deer or turkeys and many others. you can find old Wildlife mgmt. textbooks saying what he posted (minus the 911 analogies).

But that is now called "habitat fragmentation" and it is a leading cause of decline in what are called interior species, and those are the ones in strong decline.

WD is talking about the animals he sees around home - he is looking at fringe animals.

Now for me there is a question of should we value the interior species greater than the fringe species?

Some I say an absolute no to.
Europe got to completely destroy harmful interior species. We should maybe do the same.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by TimT

Not so sure... at least where I live..

I have two feeders, and two suet cages... and I have to refill the feeders every day.. and the suet every other...

And of course there is this... A majestic falcon tearing apart a pigeon just outside the entrance to my Gym... in the middle of one of the most populated suburbs in the states...

My feeders are covered almost all the time. If I look out and there are no songbirds on the feeders you can bet there is a hawk sitting on a branch nearby.
Yesterday I saw a bird I had never seen before. It looked a lot like a half-sized bluebird. The best I can determine from searching the web is that it was a juvenile indigo bunting.

[Sooner or later]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

My feeders are covered almost all the time. If I look out and there are no songbirds on the feeders you can bet there is a hawk sitting on a branch nearby.
Yesterday I saw a bird I had never seen before. It looked a lot like a half-sized bluebird. The best I can determine from searching the web is that it was a juvenile indigo bunting.

I have em. They are brilliant in color. They are actually black.

[JonT]

apparently they are very tasty as well according to the last Succession episode I watched.

[bkreigsr]

Actually saw a pair of Rufus-Sided Towhees at the sunflower seed feeder yesterday.
Long time-no see..

Now, if some of the Goldfinches that hatched in the back yard would just pay an occasional visit.

Bill k

[Tervuren]

Originally Posted by RWebb

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2226898-young-people-cant-remember-how-much-more-wildlife-there-used-to-be/

This isn't possible for me to gauge because I grew up different than most.

I had enough miles before I was a teenager to have gone to the moon more than once even if the moon been at Apogee.

Average car travel of triple digits per day including the less than half a year spent at home.

Every where but the northwestern United States, which I'd like to visit some day. I've only flown over into Vancouver.
42 states by car before I was a teenager. Many of them multiple times, different towns or cities.


This makes me a poor judge of being able to figure out childhood bird levels compared to present.


The chuck-will's-widow is a southern bird call I did not remember noticing much this summer. I'll have to pay attention to it more next year. I do not remember noticing it, but I've had different habits this summer as well.
Some birds I may be seeing more often, but that could also be from being home more often.

[Evans, Marv]

I was just thinking I haven't seen or heard any quail in a long while. I like them a lot and like to eat them a lot (but only store bought), & they are fun to watch. We got a feeder some years ago and gave up on it. The reason was a certain kind of finches dominated it and wouldn't let any other birds use it.

[Sooner or later]

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

I was just thinking I haven't seen or heard any quail in a long while. I like them a lot and like to eat them a lot (but only store bought), & they are fun to watch. We got a feeder some years ago and gave up on it. The reason was a certain kind of finches dominated it and wouldn't let any other birds use it.

Quail have been hit hard. A lot of theories on why.

In the past I hunted them but stopped when I noticed there were far fewer. That was 30 years ago. There is at least one covey on the Indian land that my house borders. I hear them from time to time.

They are damn good eating.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

I was just thinking I haven't seen or heard any quail in a long while.

I vividly remember the last time I saw a quail. There were some at the rural park near where I used to live where I took my dogs every day. Hunting was not allowed, but they do train hunting dogs there, so gunshots aren't unusual. (The idiots were too lazy to pick their shell casings up, so the ground in the meadow was littered with them - but that's another story).
So some asshat shot two quail and threw them under the wheels of his car/truck when he left. There weren't many quail there to begin with, and over the next year they all disappeared.
I do not understand why some people think it's fun to kill living things for the hell of it.

[Sooner or later]

Earlier this year I mowed down an entire covey with my truck. They were on the side of the road and flew up in front of me. Had two stuck in the grill. I also hit a deer this year. It did a Star Trek transporter materialization right in front of me. Wham!

[RWebb]

recipes??

[Sooner or later]

No recipe from me. I ain't no cook. Grilled, roasted, or fried. To me, far better than chicken.

[RWebb]

you didn't cook your own roadkill ???

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by RWebb

you didn't cook your own roadkill ???

Electric cars are a game changer...no radiator

[Sooner or later]

Originally Posted by RWebb

recipes??

If the two that were stuck in the grill hadn't been so mangled I would have et em.

[CurtEgerer]

This reminds me of the Bee Apocalypse from several years ago. I think there were even threads here on it. Save the bees!!! They're dying at alarming rates!!! Run, we're all going to die!!!

One problem: despite all the 'scientific' studies and hysterical articles in the press, it was never true and never happened.

bee-apocalypse-was-never-real-heres-why