where have all the birds gone ?

[PRTVR]

The birds have disappear from my garden, my feeding station remains untouched, normally there is a few black birds three blue tits a wren a few sparrows and a few other types that drop in from time to time,
But t the moment none, doves pigeons crows and magpies I have seen but none of the smaller birds.

I can not remember a time when I went outside and could not hear the sound of a blackbird marking its territory from the gable end of a house or look out to see some birds on one of the feeders.

Taking to a friend he had noticed the same, this is in the north east of England,

How are things where you are ?

[jagracer]

Maybe the pigeons, crows and magpies have scared the smaller birds off or perhaps you have a cat lurking somewhere. There seems to be plenty in my garden and I quite often hear blackbirds singing when I get up for work at 3.30am. We also have thousands of parakeets around here as well although they don't come out until it's well light.
To cap it all I have an aviary at the back of the house and my wife's bloody Cockatiels, Canaries and Budgies do a very good job of waking me up at around 6.30am on Saturday and Sunday.

[PRTVR]

jagracer said:

Maybe the pigeons, crows and magpies have scared the smaller birds off or perhaps you have a cat lurking somewhere. There seems to be plenty in my garden and I quite often hear blackbirds singing when I get up for work at 3.30am. We also have thousands of parakeets around here as well although they don't come out until it's well light.
To cap it all I have an aviary at the back of the house and my wife's bloody Cockatiels, Canaries and Budgies do a very good job of waking me up at around 6.30am on Saturday and Sunday.

that sound a bit over the top with bird song, I did think about cats but there are no new ones in the area, the large birds could be scaring away the smaller ones but there does not appear any more of the big birds, its just strange,
I have started looking around as I walk around the estate and I think the problem is greater than just my garden.

[highflyer]

We live in the North West and I can't remember the last time I saw a common garden thrush, we have a few blue tits great tits gold finches wood pecker and blackbirds that visit our feeders but only in small numbers now, sparrow hawk had the female mistle thrush 3 years ago the male returned 2 years ago but not last year, they nested on the upper window sill of the garage for a few years miss them, had to laugh because they used to dive bomb the missus. Yellow hammer, green finches seem to have gone, do see the odd Bull finch.
Skylarks, lapwings all gone ? and we live in the country with fields all around, something is amiss ?

[Turn7]

Was going through a fattty square in 4 days due to Starilings gang raping my feeder.

Then it just stopped.

See the odd Robin and tit, but certainly not the variety I had last year.

Herts based.

[madbadger]

Rarely see anything other than sparrows. Odd thrush, blackbird and collared dove but that's about it. The sparrows can get through a whole seed feeder in not much more than a day.

Also in the NE.

[KelWedge]

I know it may sound silly, but have you cleaned your feeders and bird tables recently, if not try that, feed can go mouldy which even if removed can leave the feeders and tables contaminated, so the birds react to that and leave.

[PRTVR]

KelWedge said:

I know it may sound silly, but have you cleaned your feeders and bird tables recently, if not try that, feed can go mouldy which even if removed can leave the feeders and tables contaminated, so the birds react to that and leave.

Yes , it crossed my mind so I cleaned them all out and refilled them, only used boiling water to clean them,
Did it two days ago.
But the birds are not there, not in the trees not on the roof tops, I was wondering if the wet summer we had last year had an impact on them.

[crazy about cars]

End of the world...the birds are normally the ones who felt it first...

[Simpo Two]

If they have any sense they've all fked off to a warmer country and left this freezing dull pile of flu-ridden crap called a country.

[KelWedge]

PRTVR said:

Yes , it crossed my mind so I cleaned them all out and refilled them, only used boiling water to clean them,
Did it two days ago.
But the birds are not there, not in the trees not on the roof tops, I was wondering if the wet summer we had last year had an impact on them.

I don't think so, wild bird food sales increase year on year, it may be you have other things/ birds scaring them off in your local area at present.

[rosie11]

We have them al here!!!!!, every day we have huge amounts of goldfinches,sparrows,blue,great,coal tits, bull finches,green finches,dunnocks, blackbirds, odd thrush, bramble finch, pheasants.
What are you feeding? It could be that someone close by is feeding better food and they have stopped off there.
We feed sunflower hearts,best budgie,universal mix, non of the crappy wheat mixes which really are only fit for pigeons.

[PRTVR]

rosie11 said:

We have them al here!!!!!, every day we have huge amounts of goldfinches,sparrows,blue,great,coal tits, bull finches,green finches,dunnocks, blackbirds, odd thrush, bramble finch, pheasants.
What are you feeding? It could be that someone close by is feeding better food and they have stopped off there.
We feed sunflower hearts,best budgie,universal mix, non of the crappy wheat mixes which really are only fit for pigeons.

So its time to don the Balaclava and head out and sample the feeders in my area

I have three feeders one with nuts one with a robin mix and another with a general mix, along with a flat tray with a mixture of the three along with water.

[telecat]

I'd have a nosy and see if anywhere that was "habitat" has been removed. A local orchard was built on near us and the Bird count dropped appreciably.

[GetCarter]

Lots here.

[rosie11]

Don't forget to put seed on the floor for the ground feeders, also they will appreciate sweet apple/pears put out, squish them a bit first then they can eat them even quicker.

[Bonefish Blues]

On the theme of disappearing birds.

Sat at my desk today I've seen all of my usuals (goldfinches, tit - various, blackbirds, dunnocks, robin, woodies etc) but I cannot for the life of me recall when I last saw a greenfinch.

In previous years the large mixed seed feeders have emptied in 2 or 3 days due to the attentions of these little thugs, but the current ones were filled 2 weeks ago and still aren't half empty.

Sad, the disease really has just knocked them over, at least here in North Oxfordshire

[PRTVR]

Just an update, the small birds came back after a few weeks, but not in the numbers of previous years, the feeding station remains mostly untouched, The most usage is when I clean out the feeders, more frustrating is when I visited my daughter who lives in a village outside Swindon their feeder is mobbed with birds of all kinds.

[rosie11]

Also we haven't really had any cold weather, once we get snow and plenty of heavy frosts then that will bring the birds back to the gardens,
At the moment there is plenty of natural food in the gardens,
This time last year our orchard was covered in red wings and field fares , blackbirds feeding on the fallen apples, this year there is still huge amounts of fallen fruit still not touched.

[lj04]

A few months before i left my old house we had a sparrow hawk visit my garden almost daily. Lovely to see, but the numbers of small birds went down at an alarming rate.