This is the time of year when many folks ask: Where are the birds?
The typical story is that birds suddenly have stopped coming to feeders. In some cases, all the birds seemed to have disappeared. In other cases, certain species -- robins, mockingbirds, cardinals -- seem to have become scarce in yards.
There are several reasons why birds may be missing in some yards -- even entire neighborhoods -- during certain times of the year. Reasons include:
- A new predator, such as a cat or a hawk, in the area. Sharp-shinned and Cooper's hawks in the accipter class of hawks especially prey upon songbirds. If the smaller birds detect a hawk hanging around a yard, they will be leery about coming to it. The same goes for a cat prowling about a yard.
- Dirty feeders or moldy seed. Take down the feeders and wash them in a 10 percent bleach solution. Let them dry thoroughly before refilling with fresh seeds, preferably black oil sunflower seeds, the birds' favorite.
- Lack of water. Birds need clean water sources, such as bird baths, just as much as they need food sources.
Sometimes, though, the birds may not be visiting your feeder simply because a lot of wild food is still available.
Todd Schneider, an ornithologist with the Georgia Wildlife Resources Division, said a possible reason why some people are seeing fewer cardinals and other birds right now is that a lot of the birds from northern climes have not yet headed south to join our resident birds for the winter. Northern weather has been relatively mild so far, but harsher weather later this winter may drive more birds down south.
Another possible reason for bird scarcity is that this year’s drought may have caused reproduction problems for Georgia species during the spring and so there are fewer young birds around this season.
But take heart. The seasons change. Wild food supplies diminish. Predators change locations. The birds will return.
In the sky: Winter officially arrives at 12:05 a.m. on Thursday, the winter solstice. Winter's first day also is the shortest day of the year. After Thursday, the days will gradually grow longer until we reach the longest day of the year on June 21, the first day of summer, or the summer solstice.
The first month of winter, though, is not necessarily the coldest. Because the oceans are slow to cool, they still retain some warmth from summer in December, thus usually delaying the coldest days of winter for January and February.
The Ursid meteor shower will be visible most of next week and will reach a peak on Thursday night of 15 meteors per hour, said David Dundee, astronomer with Tellus Science Museum. Look to the east from about midnight until dawn.
The moon will be last quarter Saturday night, rising about midnight and setting around midday. Mercury is low in the east just before sunrise. Venus is low in the west just after dark. Mars rises out of the east just after midnight and will appear near the moon Saturday. Jupiter is in the east at dusk. Saturn rises out of the east about four hours before dawn and will appear near the moon Monday night.
