Where Have The Birds Gone?

Oh my goodness, after all my begging for new decorative birdhouses I need to take the Christmas Tree outside and plant it in the snow fully stocked with some of the most beautiful housing for my garden residents and visitors. The only problem is all my birds have disappeared and I don't know where they went. I have filled the ornamental birdfeeders with the most tempting bird food. They stay full, no one visits, and it's so lonely.

I can hear them though, rather distant, talking to each other, finding the other areas of food in the neighborhood. The last time this happened we had a red tailed hawk move in so no one felt safe. Eventually she left and everyone came back. But I have no indication of predatory birds and no one around has cats, I miss my birdies.

The raccoons have wandered off and the bears have finally gone into some sort of hibernation, so I can leave the birdfeeders out without worrying about the marauders. I guess it's time to really work on attracting the little ones back again. Generally this time of year I have a variety of chickadees, Junkos, nuthatches, flickers, a couple of, mourning doves and woodpeckers. But right now I have no one. I can hear the flicker and the Junkos. I think the late season snow has kept enough natural food around so they don't need me yet. I guess that's really a good thing, but I miss them.

As I write I suddenly remember an incident last summer. A baby owl landed on my neighbor's railing, sat there looking at us for awhile and then fluttered off. He or his siblings just might be the reason for the missing birds. We have fabulous wildlife habitat right here and I think it is entirely possible that the balance has shifted slightly.

Remember, when attempting to supplement a habitat that you keep the birdfeeders in safe places. Not too exposed, not to high or too low, protected but not crowded. When feeding birds with predatory birds around make sure there is tree cover over the feeders so that the visual field is interrupted and an owl or a hawk can't easily see the potential victim from a distance. It is a good idea to make sure the heated birdbath is also safe from overhead predators.

Okay so I am taking my brand new decorative birdfeeders, filling them with their favorite foods and waiting for my friends to return. Hope your yard is teeming with winter friends, Happy New Year.