Common birds in decline

[Roy Tucker]

We're losing birds in North America.

http://www.audubon.org/bird/stateoft...wseSpecies.php

http://www.audubon.org/bird/stateoft...cbid/index.php

[westofyou]

Greater Scaup and other tundra-breeding birds are succumbing to dramatic changes to their breeding habitat as the permafrost melts earlier and more temperate predators move north in a likely response to global warming. Boreal forest birds like the Boreal Chickadee face deforestation from increased insect outbreaks and fire, as well as excessive logging, drilling, and mining.

Color me surprised.... not..... and yet I'm a tree hugger for caring... so I have heard.

[Dom Heffner]

Nothing to see here, folks, move along.

[Rojo]

We only need two birds -- chickens and turkeys.

[Highlifeman21]

All I know is Orioles and Blue Jays are all over my golf course. Makes sense, we're in Western MA. Freakin AL East country...

But seriously, those two types of birds are everywhere. The Blue Jays like to stay between holes 6, 7, 14 and 15, and the Orioles like to stay between holes 1, 2, 9, 17, 18.

[Yachtzee]

Looking at that list, it looks like a lot of Canadian birds are getting hit. However, in my area, a number of birds have made an incredible comeback. Talking to my aunt, a naturalist for the Cleveland Metroparks, a lot of the birds that have come back had been hit hard by overuse of DDT, but are now starting to thrive again.

I have a nice pond and wooded thicket behind my house, so I have a lot of bird visitors. Cardinals, Blue Jays, Robins, Doves, and Turkey Vultures are quite common, of course. But I've seen a lot of birds that, when I was a kid in the '70s were pretty rare. Red-winged Blackbirds have become quite common, as well as various hawks and owls that I never saw much of as a kid, and I've even seen the peregrin falcons that nest in the Akron skyscrapers. When we moved in, we even had bluebirds nesting in one of our nesting boxes, which surprised me because I had been told as a kid that they were almost extinct. As the years have gone by, larger birds have widened the holes and taken them over, so I should probably try to put up some new boxes. My neighborhood has a lot of ponds and farmland in the vicinity, so we get a lot of Canadian Geese and ducks, mostly Mallards. We see a lot of Great Blue Herons too, as the herons have a nesting preserve in the Cuyahoga Valley where you can see dozens of nests up in the tall trees near the river. Some Bald Eagles have taken up nesting there too, which is pretty cool, but they had babies recently, so the viewing area at the side of the road has been closed to avoid too many people disturbing them.

[OldRightHander]

One thing's for sure. Geese are not in short supply around here. The darn things are everywhere.

[LoganBuck]

I have seen some more information on this. The ducks on the list are at risk because the more common ducks are exploding in numbers. They are mating with the ducks on this list and because of the sheer numbers these varieties are disappearing.

[Rojo]

Some species do fantastic in civlization's wake. I live one block from Golden Gate Park and have seen foxes, possums, racoons, skunks, red-tail hawks and even coyotes!

Also there's an explosion of big, black ravens. Anyone else notice this?

[TeamCasey]

I haven't seen a red-winged black bird since I was a kid.

[Ravenlord]

I haven't seen a red-winged black bird since I was a kid.

they're everywhere around my apartment and in the park i go to in Symmes and Deerfield.

[MrCinatit]

One thing's for sure. Geese are not in short supply around here. The darn things are everywhere.

The Geese shall inherit the Earth.

I haven't seen a red-winged black bird since I was a kid.

Interesting. When Yachtzee mentioned seeing a lot, I thought to myself that it was funny, as it has been ages since I have seen them, as well.

When I was a little kid, I remember it almost being an event when literally hundreds of birds would flock together and begin their fly south.
Perhaps I am not looking at the right times, but I have not seen this in ages.

[BoxingRed]

I read a summary of the Audobon reports on CNN. It made me realize that I have not heard a bobwhite or a whip-poor-will in 20 years. Sad, as I used to go to sleep to there calls every night as a kid.
Any Louisvillians still hear them?

[gonelong]

I haven't seen a red-winged black bird since I was a kid.

Mrs. Gonelong and I noticed a handful of them up at Indian Lake (Ohio) a few weeks back.

GL

[westofyou]

I haven't seen a red-winged black bird since I was a kid.

I see them all over the place and all over the freeway dividers in Ohio.

Also there's an explosion of big, black ravens. Anyone else notice this?

Crows those are, I believe at least in the city, Big Ravens tend to be more in the wild.