There are no birds here

I am still digging around for information and I hope I get some responses back from my emails.

We live in a fairly built up area away from farmland etc, but the amount of birds about now as I type is nothing like usual, the odd one or two.

It will be interesting to see what any one else comes up with and I will be checking outside later this evening and tomorrow at the same times for comparison.

Strange how you miss the sound of birds when they arent there.

I live in a very rural community. Birds, especially this time of year are usually flocking like crazy. It's uncommon to go outside and only hear the sound of crickets chirping. Strange.

Simon, keep me updated. I'll be leaving soon, but i'll pop on tomorrow to see if you've heard anything from your emails.

Im off here now too.

Wont be able to do any more research until tomorrow.

Have a fun evening.

Howard I found this on the forum you posted.

summer migrants-gone early ?

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since the beggining of august i have noticed the lack of summer visitors around here,we had three pairs of swallows all succesfully reared two broods june-july,but for the this month just one pair still around but not nesting ussually mid september before they get ready to leave,a few house martins and willow warblers still about but everything else as gone early is it the same all over the country ?

Migration timing varies from year to year based on a number of things, Primarily weather and food supply.

Areas that were hit by drought may see fewer birds while others may see more than usual.

The fall migrations have started and I have noticed no lack of birds in my area.

Originally posted by Zanzibar
Even though I am in England, I noticed this as well, probably not related, but there has actually been zero bird activity for a few days now, the odd seagull but thats it. Which is still odd as I am about 10-15 miles from the coast. A single seagull soaring overhead at night is the creepiest thing I have ever experienced.

Found this in that forum for you Zanzabar.

Where have all the birds gone?

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Although i have been generally interested in birds all my life, this year is the first where i have actively saught them out to photagraph them. All was going well from March until July. I went off on holiday for a few weeks and now they seem to have disappeared. On Saturday I walked 12 miles of the West Highland Way and hardly saw a bird. Just the occaisional meadow pipit and Tit. Then i went to Bemersyde Moss reserve in the Scottish borders and only saw a few ducks a Wren and a Buzzard. Then i went to the Pentland hills today and only saw the occaissional Tit, Pigeon, Crow, Pied Wagtail and Swallow. I stood still by a small coppice and there was not a sound. The birds just seem to have vanished and its only August. Have they begun migrating this early or are they hiding from me?



[edit on 29-9-2005 by zenlover28]

Maybe an early migration is a sign of an early winter? SIgns around Utah show me an early winter is coming..............
Very normal bird activity around here this year. I saw alot of cool birds this year. They are not all that prevelant right now however......doves on the telephone wires though.

Interesting observation down in Kentucky!

BTW Salt Lake City Utah is where the worlds first Kentucky Fried Chicken resteraunt is located. The Colonel was just FROM Kentucky................

I saw two egrets, an a couple of killdeers on the way home tonight. as well as a number of ducks that i was unable to identifiy.

I might go out to Illinois Beach state park this weekend to look for some hawks.

they spotted a bald eagle out there today.

They also have a hawk watch site in eastern Kentucky

Migrations have started but the Canada Geese that I look forward to all year are not stopping where they usually stop. There is a field nearby where I love to watch them glean the corn, and a wildlife preserve where every year they gather in massive numbers... Not this year. I've been looking for them. They have been passing by, but not stopping.
Also, there are fewer Purple Finches than in past years, but that might be the drought.
Very interested in this. Thanks, all!

Anyone thought of some sort of shift in the poles ? I think that birds use the poles to navigate. I am pretty sure that there is something going on with the poles these years...shifting or switching I think. Just a thought.

BTW There were some other news stories on birds disappearing. In Europe
and other countries. Scientists have looked at populations and say that
they are dwindling to nothing. I will try to find some stories to back.

news-service.stanford.edu...[/ur l]

[url=http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/12/041220023334.htm]http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/12/041220023334.htm

www.sustainable-development.gov.uk...

news.bbc.co.uk...

www.euractiv.com...:29-114795-16&type=News

Just some links I found, kinda old, but basiclly say that bird populations are going down, mostly those near farming lands. I couldnt find the one I was looking for, I think it was on BBC and it sounded pretty serious about this,
menetioned birds becomeing extinct because of lack of food in the oceans.

[edit on 30-9-2005 by imbalanced]

[edit on 30-9-2005 by imbalanced]

I live in Minnesota where migration begins as early as August sometimes. The other day my husband and noticed a flock of geese flying in the wrong direction.

As this is a sure sign of winter coming for us up here every year I watch them go and every year up to now they all fly south. This time however at least with this batch they were confused and were flying north.
North from here just a little ways is Canada.

Birds are out and about this morning here. Plenty of singing and flying around.

No responses to my emails yet, I will keep you posted on this.

Many thanks for the links above. Off now to check these out.

Any change this morning with you Zen?

Woke up to the sound of crickets again this a.m. However, I did spot a few birds sitting on a telephone wire on my way into work. It's still just so weird. No bird poop on the windshield at this time of year is definitely a nice change! LOL But, I miss all the birdies!

I posted about the birds here on the weird weather site, on the 28th if you want to read it. But to sum it up, that morning my yard was full of every kind of bird that lives in this area, including some that might not because I had never seen them before. Even blue birds which even thought they are the state bird, they are very rare to see. Any way, they were going bonkers. They all ate their fill and migrated. They were all gone by the time the cold front came through. So dont wory they are not dead and they did not fail to reproduce. THey just migrated early. I am looking for an early and hard winter. The bugs have been real strange too that is why I say a hard winter. One thing that I thought was interesting though was that instead of heading due south like they usualy do here, they went south east. Another thing that I thought was odd, is that the geese migrated at night. Usually I watch them in big flocks during the day, but this year they all went through at night. THat was kind of odd. It drove my dog well....all the dogs in the neighborhood crazy.

Mrsdurdara thanks for sharing that. Where are you located? The neighborhood has been full of dogs barking at night. I wonder if the geese is what is causing it? Thanks for bringing that up. It must be an early migration, but even the elders around here are saying they've never experienced this in their lifetimes with birds being gone this early and the thing is that the winter migrants aren't here either. The elders think something else is going on.

As for me I can't explain it. Something must be happening to their ecosystem for it to be happening all over the planet though.

Here is the reply I just received from my email to Gary Ritchison of the Kentucky Ornithological Society...

A cold front came through on Wednesday night and migrating birds often
head south in large numbers this time of year when such fronts pass through.
So, that might account for some decline in numbers. Of course, fronts have
no impact on our resident birds like cardinals, chickadees, etc. Probably just
coincidence that you saw few of those birds yesterday.

Maybe coincidence, but why were there no birds yesterday and today they seem back?
Puzzling.

Originally posted by simon_alex0327
Here is the reply I just received from my email to Gary Ritchison of the Kentucky Ornithological Society...

A cold front came through on Wednesday night and migrating birds often
head south in large numbers this time of year when such fronts pass through.
So, that might account for some decline in numbers. Of course, fronts have
no impact on our resident birds like cardinals, chickadees, etc. Probably just
coincidence that you saw few of those birds yesterday.

Maybe coincidence, but why were there no birds yesterday and today they seem back?
Puzzling.

Hey Simon! Thanks for posting the reply. The birds aren't back here in large numbers. I have seen a few more flying around though.

Not back in the usual numbers here either, though after yesterday its nice to see a few.

We spotted some geese on Tuesday afternoon during our walk migrating south, but havent seen any more since.

I have sent another email to him asking if he has any other reports of birds going AWOL around the area.

Will post any further news.

You know, something just occurred to me that I only thought of when you mentioned there were some birds back today...

Raptors! Hawks, eagles, etc... can clear out an area pretty fast. Their presence alone in a tree is enough to push most birds on their merry way. Get more than one raptor and the radius of evacuation can be quite large.

I'm now thinking that is what happened to each of you.

Just my thoughts.

I have not seen any evidence of this loam. Nothing out the normal flying round.

Me and my son are off out on a walk in a few so I will check back later with my observations.

Thanks for your input.