No birds singing today - strange quiet

Originally posted by ItsEvolutionBaby

Originally posted by KhaliWitch
Blessed be.
Update: Still no birds singing, however I have just a few minutes ago seen a Bluetit sitting on my washlines!!!!

Namasté

Is the Bluetit a common bird for your area?
Just referring to the various reports of different birds appearing than the usual.

Blessed be.
Not so common, but they are seen every now and then just not that often as Robins. Ratio is about 25 RObins for every 1 Bluetit.

Namasté

Originally posted by KhaliWitch

Originally posted by ItsEvolutionBaby

Originally posted by KhaliWitch
Blessed be.
Update: Still no birds singing, however I have just a few minutes ago seen a Bluetit sitting on my washlines!!!!

Namasté

Is the Bluetit a common bird for your area?
Just referring to the various reports of different birds appearing than the usual.

Blessed be.
Not so common, but they are seen every now and then just not that often as Robins. Ratio is about 25 RObins for every 1 Bluetit.

Namasté

edit on 6/9/2011 by KhaliWitch because: Forgot to say that are still no birds singing!

Thanks for your reply. Hmmm... Just trying to relate it to the others who have heard and seen birds not native to their area. Including the yellow bird with the cardinal-type crest, and birdsong different from the usual that we (used to) hear here.

No birds again this morn. And you know, as I've mentioned, there are in the last couple of years, ALWAYS crows cawing in the mornings, if nothing else. Where did the predators go, unless there is nothing here to eat?

For the first time since this thread surfaced, and I started paying attention, I hear birds - lots of birds this morning (along with many crickets). There are different tweets coming from the woods behind my house. I see what appears to be a crow circling around in the sky above my house.

Funny thing is, its COLD here in sw VA the past few days. It was 56 degrees here the this morning.

since we're into sept, the excuse goes to migration/cold, yea

however, i havent seen birds since the nyc quake & irene

also, havent heard a single cricket all summer around heres (usually they sound a quiet rowdy swarm all previous years)

^edit - quite not quiet!

Seeing a few finches, and a few robins. Friend said about 20 robins were in their back yard this morning.
His theory on the lack of birds was a large flock of crows who passed though the area about 2 weeks ago.

I'd like to believe it, too many inconsistencies in that one.

Birds are still relatively silent though. Barely any chirps, still hardly any birds.
Also saw a small-ish hawk flying low overhead. That never happens.

And yes when telling people about it now, they are set that it is migration in action.
It was far far too soon, if that was the case.

Still searching for answers.

And thanks for continuing to update!

Blessed be.
Update: Still no birds here. But we have had our first official autumn storm yesterday!!! Internet was on the fritz due to it, that is why I did not post here yesterday!

Namasté

UPDATE!

For the first time in WEEKS, we're hearing birds here.

And they're in very large numbers.

Here's a video of what they sound like:

Nothing says it like a video - good capture on both, nusnus.

The occasional bird can be heard here now.
Have also seen robins, yet they are strangely silent. Their chirps, I know.

Still freakily quiet.
Of course when its raised in new conversations now, its just put down to migration.

Will we ever find out whats up?

Originally posted by ignant
since we're into sept, the excuse goes to migration/cold, yea

however, i havent seen birds since the nyc quake & irene

also, havent heard a single cricket all summer around heres (usually they sound a quiet rowdy swarm all previous years)

^edit - quite not quiet!

edit on 7-9-2011 by ignant because: (no reason given)

Interesting re: the crickets.. they seem as ancient as the frogs (as in once the frogs start going, thats it..) but I guess birds are ancient, too. Still too puzzling.

Hoping things have been better since the quakes,
Our best to all!

the hedgehog I mentioned earlier is becoming a regular visitor. Almost every evening he visits my parents house for a bowl of cat food. His natural behaviour also returns, he hides when we are around. However, this evening a second hedgehog appeared with simular behaviour. He was eating the cat food in the bowl and I was standing next to him and could touch him and he just didn't care. He was totally focussed on the food and ate it all.
The poor things can't find enough food in their own environment
We've been in touch with the shelter and got some advice, we'll keep feeding them and continue to observe them.

I think I am getting everyone's missing crickets. I have never seen so many in my yard and now they are in my garage and even getting into the house, where unfortunately for them, my cats and dog find them. Our frogs also made a return. We were missing them the past couple of years.

What is new to me this past year, and my dad who lives near Washington DC is agreeing on, is the presence of huge, and I mean HUGE birds of prey. Sorry I can't be more specific but other than knowing they are not vultures, I can't really say what they are. He thinks at least a few of his sightings have been of eagles. They are all large, but vary in size, with the largest having a wing span that has to be at least five feet from wing tip to wing tip for them to look so big from a great distance. And I'm being conservative on that estimate for the ones I saw earlier today, when driving into the shopping center. They are circling over heavily populated urbanized areas now. To me it's a sight to behold because as a kid I only ever saw such birds on nature programs on tv, and always had the impression such birds could only be found soaring over majestic cliffs. Even when I stayed in rural areas and when I first lived here fifteen years ago, I didn't see anything larger than very small hawks, and even those were extremely rare sightings to make. I guess I first started noticing these birds around this time last year. And this is something I would notice because it is the kind of sight that takes my breath away, to see the birds from nature specials soaring right overhead as I'm driving along.

I don't know what impact, if any, they would have on the smaller songbird population, but I'd like to know if other people have noticed a return of these kinds of birds to areas that previously haven't has such sightings in decades.

Had to be away for a few days - constantly checking the skies now.
In the countryside, 2 flocks of geese (should have been more like 20, now) and 3 huge flocks of blackbirds. Not crows.

At one point, a flock of seagulls met up with the flock of blackbirds in flight, and did a neat, strange-looking kind of "dance" with each other as the 2 flocks met.

This may be natural, must admit I've never watched the birds so intently.

No birds singing here in the mornings ever, except the occasional chirp, and mostly from birds more uncommon to this region.

Will check back to see if there is anything new not being reported in the MSM.
To those who posted, and those who posted diligently, I commend your efforts.

Will we ever know what happened?

reply to post by ItsEvolutionBaby


I haven't seen any in my neighbourhood, it's 40 degrees. illinois here.

The fruiting berry things on my trees have come and peaked about last week but the birds did NOT come for them this year. At least not yet. . I still have about a week's worth of these berrylike seeds left on the trees. The ones that were claimed, were claimed by squirrels so far, of which we seem to have far fewer as compared to early summer. Sadly I think many were lost as road kill. If I don't see birds stuffing themselves at my trees next week, I admit I will become a bit creeped out. Getting pooped on at the front entrance by an assortment of happy gorged songbirds is almost a family tradition for us since we moved here! Where are my birds? I've seen some bird poop under the trees but not nearly the amount we are used to getting. It looks like we've had only a handful of passersby compared to the hundreds of past years. Again, I will not panic and jump to conclusions that anything is horribly amiss unless this continues to the complete end of the berries on my trees. But I'm noting my observations here just as reference.

This new almost-silence is eerie and post-apocolyptic-sounding.
The assorted but minimal sound of flocks of geese and the occasional seagull and odd chirps here and there is unsettling.

I received word from relatives in NE England that the pigeons which have always been plentiful and ripe for game (ikes) are bare to minimal.

We're in western central Canada, and the fact that we are experiencing somewhat the same is troubling. Of course along with the range of locales that have reported the same on this thread.

Birds gone, and we hear nothing?
Except us??
Really.
Disturbing.

Update. There are many berries/seeds of all kinds around the neighborhood but no takers for them other than crows and squirrels. There was a notice up at a garden center reminding people to be extra vigilant this year in cleaning mold out of bird feeders. So at least our rampant mold problem is getting the necessary notice. That's about it. Very few birds are to be seen and none to be heard. I guess they migrated out already. They must have learned a lesson from last year's bad winter. We are having nasty soggy foggy weather recently. If we get another winter of deep snows my yard will be significantly damaged and require regrading and the trees behind my house will become a bit of a threat. I don't blame the birds for leaving. If I could afford it, I'd head out, too!

I live in Maryland and ever since the earthquake in Virginia the 25 or so squirrels that I have fed every morning for the last several years have disappeared.

I have been feeding the birds in my yard for the last 30 yrs. and they have been acting strangely.

The chipmunks that ran around my yard are also gone , as well as the racoon that has visited my birdfeeders for years.

It is creepy !

reply to post by iprotectwildlife

I was going to suggest that maybe a stray cat or fox moved in the area bit then I remembered I have foxes and even when a neighbor let his cat terrorize the neighborhood rodents, we still had plenty of squirrels. So I guess it can't be predators to blame. I still have my regular number of squirrels and a chipmunk. The only thing about the chipmunk is this time last year he was tame and would sit down with us as we fed him acorns. We could just pass them to him and he even came up and leaned on my daughter's leg to reach for the pile of acorns himself. Nothing scared him, not even some contractors working on our house. But this year we have to leave the acorns for him and give him privacy. He's not tame anymore. I'm wondering if it is even the same chipmunk. I am guessing it is because we never had one before until last year and they are not exactly common in this neighborhood. Whatever the reason, my kid and I miss our little buddy being friendly with us.

For many months prior to the quake my dog would freak out if we took her to two open fields near the house. Now she is fine again with going out into the fields. I can't figure it out.

I'm just astonished that the seeds on my trees have come and gone and the birds did not stop to eat them this year. To not have bird poop on my front patio and steps is kind of breaking a fine fall tradition!

We thought it may have been predators too, with the crows moving in. But the crows left at the same time the others did. And besides seeing that hawk last week, which (I think..) tells me there's nothing in the wilderness left to eat.
I heard a Native Elder recently say there are no moose tracks up north, and this concerns him.

I've been trying to find an explanation online re: the birds, and have not been able to find hardly anything (mostly just links to here, altho google searches are somewhat tainted, in my opinion).

The only thing I have found so far is off of this site, go figure:
A list of 117 top scientists dead... "ahem"... assassinated so far (and rising)., page 4
www.abovetopsecret.com...

#104 Bradley C. Livezey, 56, died in a car crash Feb. 8. Livezey knew nearly everything about the songs of birds and was considered the top anatomist. Livezey, curator of The Carnegie Museum of Natural History, never gave up researching unsolved mysteries of the world's 20,000 or so avian species. Carnegie curator since 1993, Livezey oversaw a collection of nearly 195,000 specimens of birds, the country's ninth largest. Livezey died in a two-car crash on Route 910, authorities said. An autopsy revealed he died from injuries to the head and trunk, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office said. Northern Regional Police are investigating.


What does bird songs have to do with highly classified NASA Mars projects?

Oddly enough, Mr. Livezy died a month after birds started dropping out of the sky in droves.

Originally posted by Heyyo_yoyo

I don't know. And as for the bizarre behaviour in your squirrel-buddy, SheepFlavoredAgain, and the reports on the hedgehogs, dogs, cats, racoons, crickets-- bizarre bizarre.
The dog who wouldn't enter the field -- has to be tied to electromagnetic something?

Any horse whisperers around?

reply to post by SheeplFlavoredAgain


I never saw the berries on my pyrancantha so I am not sure if I just missed them or the birds ate them.

I still have chokeberries , beautyberries and many pokeberries but I have seen the songbirds eating some of them.

It is unusual that I still have at least 4 hummingbirds still hanging around. Normally this time of year I don't see more than one late migrator at my feeders . I have also seen the hummingbirds chasing the chickadees and wrens . I have never seen them chase bigger birds !

I saw a cedar waxwing in my yard yesterday and I have never seen them here in the fall , they usually are here in the spring.