A Fox Sparrow, present at our feeders in Durham since mid-December has been a welcome addition to our winter feeder watching sessions.
After beginning a “feeder watching blog” while stuck at home from shoulder surgery in the winter of 2023 (here and here), I continued the tradition last year in an attempt to gauge the difference between the two winters. A lot of folks were commenting at the store at the time about how few birds there were at feeders in the winter of 2023-24, but this was changing by the time I collected my data in February of 2024.
This year, a lack of feeder birds has most definitely not been the complaint. In fact, bird seed sales are through the roof in much of the East, and at our store, we are really, really busy. Most folks are commenting about how much birds are eating at their feeders. And while recent snowfall is part of that, this pattern began in the fall.
My perception, however, is that there is actually somewhat lower diversity at our feeders (especially the complete dearth of any “winter finches”), and perhaps the number of individuals at the feeders is a little lower than usual, but those species and individuals that are at our feeders are eating a lot more.
Let’s start with the numbers. Once again, I dedicated time to counting feeder birds at our feeding station in Durham each day for at least one hour. I was unable to dedicate the time on two dates, so I counted for 10 of 12 days between February 2nd and February 13th – a window that began three days earlier than last year. Like last year, I used the standard methodology of using “high counts” (maximum number of individuals seen at any one time, unless they were readily identifiable as being different).
February 2 – February 13(minus 2/8 and 2/11), 2025.
Species
Avg./day 2023
Avg./day 2024
Avg./day 2025
Average 3 years
Difference 24vs25
Difference 25 vs 3yr
Wild Turkey
0.2
0
0
0.07
0
-0.07
Mourning Dove
13.5
26.5
29.6
23.2
-3.1
+6.4
Sharp-shinned Hawk
0.4
0.2
0
0.2
-0.2
-0.2
American Goshawk
0
0.1
0
0.03
-0.1
-0.03
Red-bellied Woodpecker
1
1
1.2
1.07
+0.2
+0.13
Downy Wo-odpecker
2.4
2.9
2.5
2.6
-0.4
-0.01
Hairy Wo-odpecker
2
2
2
2
0
0
Pileated Woodpecker
1
0.1
0
0.37
-0.1
-0.37
Blue Jay
7.8
3.0
9.2
6.67
+6.2
+2.53
American Crow
0.7
0
1.8
0.83
+1.83
+0.97
Black-capped Chickadee
7.4
2.9
5.2
5.17
+2.3
+0.03
Tufted Titmouse
4
3
4
3.67
+1
+0.33
White-breasted Nuthatch
2
1.4
2.4
1.93
-1
+0.47
Red-breasted Nuthatch
0.7
0
0.6
0.43
+0.6
+0.17
Brown Creeper
0.4
0
0
0.13
0
-0.13
Carolina Wren
0.9
1
1.8
1.23
+0.8
+0.57
GRAY CATBIRD
0
0
0.1
0
+0.1
+0.1
European Starling
1.1
2.7
8.7
4.17
+6
+4.53
Eastern Bluebird
4.4
3
5.7
4.37
+2.7
+1.33
House Finch
2.1
0
0.4
0.83
+0.4
-0.43
Purple Finch
0.5
0.3
0
0.03
-0.3
-0.03
Pine Siskin
0
0.2
0
0.01
-0.2
-0.01
American Goldfinch
26.6
46.8
25
32.8
-21.8
-7.8
FOX SPARROW
0
0
1
0.3
+1
+0.7
American Tree Sparrow
8.0
4.2
6
6.07
+1.8
-0.07
Dark-eyed Junco
16.6
30.3
13.2
20.03
-17.1
-6.83
White-throated Sparrow
2
2.3
0
1.43
-2.3
-1.43
Song Sparrow
0
0.9
0.6
0.5
-0.3
+0.1
Northern Cardinal
5.2
3.8
6.7
5.2
-2.9
+1.5
Total individuals/day
110.9
138.6
127.5
125
-11.1
+2.5
Every year is different, and every yard is different. Controlling here for time and place, we can make some comparisons, however.
Once again, I am sure I undercounted Black-capped Chickadees, and likely Tufted Titmice and White-breasted Nuthatches as I think there could be two small mixed species foraging-flocks around. I also think there are more than one pair each of Hairy and definitely Downy Woodpeckers, but using the “high count” method, I only tabulated the maximum seen at one time.
Two seasonal rarities graced us with their presence this winter. Our Gray Catbird, present since January 2nd, made it long enough to just make it on the list. Meanwhile, a Fox Sparrow that arrived in mid-December continues through today. I won’t expect either of these species to be at our feeders every year.
When our catbird first arrived, it was growing in most of its tail feathers. When it departed, the tail was mostly restored, it survived the coldest night of the season to date, and it coincided with the depletion of the last of the Winterberry in our yard – all a good sign that it simply moved on and did not perish. Here’s it’s taking a serving of semi-frozen grape jelly, but it mostly ate suet while it was here.
American Goldfinches were down from last year in our yard, but they were extremely abundant from the fall through early winter. The difference now is most of our birch catkin crops have now been consumed. Dark-eyed Juncos were way down for us this year, and we don’t have any White-throated Sparrows around. This is likely a direct function of increasing snow depths and the lack of dense coniferous cover in the part of our property that our home and feeders are in.
I’m not going to out a lot of weight into three-year averages, but a few early trends coincide with region-wide trends, such as the steady increase in Eastern Bluebirds and Northern Cardinals. I’m not liking this trend of rapidly increasing European Starlings in our yard, however. At least for now, this is only a winter occurrence for us, however.
Eastern Bluebirds are no longer rare at feeders throughout at least the southern half of Maine in winter.
The average morning low at our home during this period was a measly 6.5F. That was 13.1 degrees colder than the ten days I looked at last year. That’s a lot more calories that need to be burned each night! While total number of individuals is down this year from last, we are going through more seed than we were at this time last year, and the cold and snow is a part of this equation.
However, I think the biggest reason for the difference between the two years can be explained in three words: Eastern White Pine. Last year, our state tree had a “generational” mast; crowns of trees were absolutely covered in cones. This year, it’s hard to find any cones anywhere in the state. Therefore, last winter our local birds had such an overabundance of their most preferred food that they spent much less time at feeders. This year, they’re eating more because there is less natural food available. And with the weather – especially with recent snowfall and ice accumulations making some food resources harder to find – birds are taking advantage of supplemental food more often. The woods, away from yards with well-stocked feeders, are exceptionally quiet this winter.
While some Black-capped Chickadees and Red-breasted Nuthatches vacated the northern woods this year, it was not a major irruption. They, and Tufted Titmice and White-breasted Nuthatches did seem to have a good breeding season, perhaps having been supplemented by caches of all of that pine seed. Meanwhile, Blue Jays are around in good numbers thanks to a very good Red Oak acorn crop that has kept them here this winter.
Like last year (and as opposed to 2023), we didn’t have a lot of accipiter presence: I only glimpsed one unidentified accipiter back on the 4th, but there were times without any birds at the feeders suggestive of an avian predator hanging around. It’s possible this might just have been due to a pair of regular Red-tailed Hawks in our yard. Despite having little interest in small birds, few birds are willing to take the chance.
Now, to really take this “study” to the next level, I would be keeping track of the amount of seed and other foodstuffs that we are putting out each year. But that’s getting to sound like work, and real research! We’re filling almost all of our feeders at least daily (often twice daily when we are home in another snowstorm), and that concurs with comments we receive at the store. But every yard is different, and not everyone has the same results. If your feeders have seemed comparatively slow, consider what you are feeding, and how fresh the seed and suet is. These are important and we can help you with that here at the store. It’s worth exploring some of my previous blog posts on the topic that discuss reasons why feeder activity ebbs and flows.
American Goldfinches and Morning Doves were once again the most common birds at our feeding station.
We’ve only lived at this location for three years, so it’s too soon to tell what an “average” winter is like in terms of volume and diversity. Furthermore, we are rapidly accelerating plantings and habitat improvement that should increase the number of birds our property sustains. Given that feeders are only a supplement to natural food supplies, I believe our habitat work will pay dividends for our feeder-watching in years to come.
I enjoy this little project, and time permitting, I’ll plan on doing it again next year. It’s only one yard, but it’s a case study that can answer some questions or at least offer a little detailed context as to what others are reporting. How does our feeder activity compare to yours? Are you seeing anything different? Or do some of our observations and hypotheses fit with your observations?
Using our Durham yard as a case study, I wanted to check to see if there were indeed fewer birds this winter than last year, as some (but no longer a majority) of folks have continued to mention to us at the store.
Stuck at home last winter while recovering from shoulder surgery, our feeding station provided my primary source of entertainment. I occupied my time with mugs of tea and enjoying the activity, and occupied my mind with figuring our exact counts, keeping tallies, and watching behavior closely. I wrote about my counts and observations in a pair of blogs, the first one is here, and the second one is here.
This past fall, everyone saw a very slow fall at feeders in Maine, and throughout the East, as discussed here. That was changing for a lot of people – but not all, by December, which I talked about in this follow-up blog.
In January, a series of strong storms, unseasonable heavy rain and flooding, a few cold spells, and eventually, by month’s end, solid snowcover helped change the narrative. Winter food resources were being consumed, ground-feeders were being forced out of the woods, finches were moving about, and so on. Furthermore, I believe that those strong storms knocked a lot of cones – especially those of Eastern White Pine – to the ground where they were subsequently consumed and/or buried.
At least here at our feeders in Durham, a slow start to the winter was a thing of the past, as we were filling almost all of our feeders daily by the end of January. Some impressive tallies included over 70 American Goldfinches and over 50 Dark-eyed Juncos at the end of the month.
American Goldfinches have been absolutely ravaging Nyjer at our home this winter. Fresh Nyjer makes all of the difference!
While some factors remain true from the fall – an abundance of natural food overall, relatively limited snowcover, low movement of irruptive species, etc – clearly most people were reporting to the store that things were “back to normal” or “tons of birds all of the sudden,” and so on. Our seed sales more than doubled by the end of January from what they were at the beginning of the month (by overall poundage).
Just how “normal” have things returned to, and what anomalies are out there? While our home in Durham is only two years old, and we’re a long way away from baseline data or long-term averages, we can at least compare February of 2024 to February of 2023. And since I had nothing better to do last winter, I already had some data to compare to.
So, for the last 10 days (not including the two that we were out of town for), I have once again returned to the window for dedicated sessions of feeder-watching and counting. Like last year, I used the standard methodology of using “high counts” (maximum number of individuals seen at any one time, unless they were readily identifiable as being different), and I was sure to count for at least one hour a day each day.
February 5 – February 15 (minus 2/12 and 2/13).
Species
Average per day 2023
Average per day 2024
Difference
Wild Turkey
0.2
0
-0.2
Mourning Dove
13.5
26.5
+13
Sharp-shinned Hawk
0.4
0.2
-0.2
American Goshawk
0
0.1
+0.1
Red-bellied Woodpecker
1
1
Same
Downy Woodpecker
2.4
2.9
+.5
Hairy Woodpecker
2
2
Same
Pileated Woodpecker
1
0.1
-0.9
Blue Jay
7.8
3.0
-4.8
American Crow
0.7
0
-0.7
Black-capped Chickadee
7.4
2.9
-4.5
Tufted Titmouse
4
3
-1
White-breasted Nuthatch
2
1.4
-0.6
Red-breasted Nuthatch
0.7
0
-0.7
Brown Creeper
0.4
0
-0.4
Carolina Wren
0.9
1
+0.1
European Starling
1.1
2.7
+1.6
Eastern Bluebird
4.4
3
-1.1
House Finch
2.1
0
-2.1
Purple Finch
0.5
0.3
-0.2
Pine Siskin
0
0.2
+0.2
American Goldfinch
26.6
46.8
+20.2
American Tree Sparrow
8.0
4.2
-3.8
Dark-eyed Junco
16.6
30.3
+13.7
White-throated Sparrow
2
2.3
+0.3
Song Sparrow
0
0.9
+0.9
Northern Cardinal
5.2
3.8
-1.4
Total individuals/day
110.9
138.6
+27.7
*Addendum: I guess I should have continued the study for a few more days! By 2/17, we had a whopping 72 Dark-eyed Juncos and an increase to 13 American Tree Sparrows, and by the next day, the American Goldfinch flock returned to well over 60 birds!*
Every year is different, and every yard is different. Controlling here for time and place, we can make some comparisons however. It was much colder in this period last year, with an average morning low of 19.6. This year, the average morning low for the ten days was 23.9 and there is a lot less snow on the ground, even after the fresh inch and a half Friday morning; there were three light snowfall events during the “study period” last year.
Clearly, there are plenty of birds at our feeders at least! And, contrary to conventional wisdom, we actually have more birds overall than last year! The dearth of feeder birds from the fall is no longer true for us. Similar conclusions can be reached from comparing data on our feeder birds at the store, and from conversations with friends and customers. Therefore, I believe the overall pattern fits what many are observing throughout the area.
As discussed in the aforementioned feeder blogs from the fall, Black-capped Chickadees are in low numbers. I saw 4.5 fewer per day at the feeders than last year. This goes with the idea that our local residents were not augmented by irruptives from points north, but also suggests that they did not have a great breeding season. Same for Red-breasted Nuthatch and Blue Jays.
But native sparrows are in larger numbers than last year, especially Dark-eyed Juncos (and elsewhere, like our store, significantly more White-throated Sparrows with a new winter record of 24 on 2/16). My guess is because the mild fall, abundant seeds from a productive growing season, and benign start to the winter kept those around to be pushed to feeders as the season wore on.
And yes, there are indeed a lot of goldfinches around! But very few other finches – at least at feeders. I am not sure where these European Starlings came from, however, and I’m not overly pleased by it!
Raptors are another part of the equation. This time last year, we had more consistent presence from two different Sharp-shinned Hawks. This winter, we only recently confirmed the presence of a single Sharp-shinned Hawk (seen on 2/15 and 2/16, but she likely took a Mourning Dove on the 14th). There was also an all-too brief fly-through of an immature American Goshawk on the 6th. Also this winter, a Red-tailed Hawk has been more frequent around the feeding station, but its focus is primarily the squirrels and voles. So we’ve had enough native predator presence both years that it shouldn’t be a huge factor in comparing feeder counts.
There you have it. 2024 does not have fewer birds at feeders compared to the same period in 2023, at least not in our yard as a single case study. With continued improvement of our yard’s habitat (most of which was put on hold this year due to my shoulder issues) planned, we would hopefully be increasing our yard’s carrying capacity, as feeders remain only a supplement and a relatively small percentage of a bird’s diet, even in the depths of winter.
Next winter, we also might not find a single Eastern White Pine cone in the entire state, and a lot fewer Red Oak acorns and Balsam Fir cones. And if that’s true to our north, perhaps this will increase the amount of irruptives around the area. But we’ll see! And maybe I’ll repeat this exercise next year, if I can force myself to sit still long enough!
Last winter, we had a male Red-bellied Woodpecker nearly every day, while this winter it has only been this female. We hope they find each other!
The huge waves of Pine Siskins that moved through in October have been replaced by smaller, more widely dispersed groups. Very few are making their way to feeders, however, as they have been finding an abundance of favored natural food sources, such as Northern White Cedar.
Late in September, I posted a blog summarizing the various factors that were resulting in numerous, often panicked, reports of “no birds” at feeders, or otherwise significantly reduced activity. While I added a few updates to it over the past couple of months, now that it’s early December and some folks are still reporting reduced or little feeder activity, I thought it would be worth checking back in on the situation.
As for the current conditions here in Maine, it’s finally gotten colder (mostly), and much of the state has some snow on the ground (at least for now). In fact, overall November was below average, so a “mild” fall as a limiting factor for how many calories birds need via supplemental food is not much of an issue anymore.
It’s not surprising then that over the past few weeks, we have had numerous reports of “the birds are back!” and other noticeable increases in activity. Overall, our weekly seed sales are now nearly double what they were just one month ago, for one example.
But what has not changed is the overall plethora of natural food sources (especially the massive mast of Eastern White Pine) and, for the most part, the overall lack of irruptives from points north so far (at least at feeding stations). Let’s break it down again.
New arrivals.
Facultative migrants and short-distance migrants, such as White-throated Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos are now mostly in their winter territories, although numbers will ebb and flow with snow depths. Same for American Tree Sparrows, which are only now arriving in yards. Their delay in showing up at feeders was due to natural food sources (“weed” and grass seeds from our excellent growing season) and the overall lack of snow cover until recently, making food resources easily accessible late into the season. Their numbers should be closer to “normal” for your yard and surrounding habitat now.
American Tree Sparrows are only now arriving at feeding stations, with snow finally beginning to accumulate.
Irruptives (or lack there of)
While there are plenty of Red Crossbills around the state, these spend very little time at feeders. We were lucky enough to have a pair at our feeding station in Durham one morning (11/26), which was a real treat.
Meanwhile, the Winter Finch Forecast accurately predicted a big flight of Pine Siskins, and this was certainly the case this fall. However, as of early December, it appears the biggest waves have moved south of us. However, scattered siskins are being reported in small numbers around the state, including at feeders. So, we at least have some of these added to the mix over overall feeder bird abundance.
Purple Finches remain few and far between, however, and I am not hearing reports of Common Redpolls just yet. My guess is that we’ll see an uptick in both of these species as the winter goes on, but I don’t expect huge numbers this winter.
Again, irruptions are based on the abundances (or lack thereof) of cyclical natural food sources, and so this is completely normal and natural; nothing to worry about here! On the other hand, wow, are there a lot of American Goldfinches around right now (40-50 daily at our feeders in Durham, for example)!
The Mixed Species Foraging flocks.
Now here’s where things get a little tougher to figure out, but I think here in lies one of the issues with the overall reduced feeder bird activity for many folks who are good stewards of their feeding stations and are using quality products (more on that later)
Many of our resident birds spend the winters in a mixed-species flock that includes species that eat a wide variety of things, from seed-obligate nuthatches to insect-only Golden-crowned Kinglets and Brown Creepers. They roam around their winter territories exploiting food sources together, perhaps for safety in numbers and/or for sharing local knowledge about resources and predators. My observations at feeders and in the woods, suggest these mixed-species foraging flocks -which include some of our most common and widespread feeder birds – are smaller than average this winter.
With close to zero Black-capped Chickadees and Red-breasted Nuthatches departing the Boreal this year, and no sign of a fall movement of White-breasted Nuthatches out of the northern limits of their range (again, all due to the abundance of various natural food sources), our local flocks are not supplemented by birds joining them from afar.
Therefore, each flock is made up entirely of “local” birds. If you don’t have a resident pair of Red-breasted Nuthatches, for example, you probably don’t have Red-breasted Nuthatches right now. And if they’re around, there’s probably stuffing their larders with white pine seeds anyway.
While I can’t see any suggestion of more or less Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers around, there may have been another increase in Red-bellied Woodpeckers as we have had quite a few reports of yards seeing this southern colonizer for the first time.
So that leaves Black-capped Chickadees and Tufted Titmice. These core members of the mixed-species flock are exploiting the same abundance of natural food as everyone else and are spending less time at feeders now than normal. But these two birds have different winter flocking strategies: titmice remain as a family group through the winter, but chickadees’ fledglings leave the parents and join other flocks. Very anecdotally, from observing mixed-species foraging flocks while out birding and watching feeders, it seems that the number of Tufted Titmice in each flock (2-6) is usually pretty normal.
But, without any real data to cite, my impression has been the flock has less chickadees than average. For one, there are no additional birds from points north to join the group, but I also have been wondering if they had reduced productivity this year. Chickadees often use shallow cavities that they excavate in rotting wood, and with such a cool and incredibly wet June, I can’t help but wonder if they had higher nestling mortality than other cavity-nesters. Just a thought, but something I have been mulling. We’ll see if Christmas Bird Count data sheds light on this one way or another.
Eastern Bluebirds
No shortage here! Their numbers and winter range in Maine continue to grow, and this year is no different. We’ve never sold so many 11-pound (yes, 11 lbs) bags of dried mealworms as we have this year. So. Many. Bluebirds. All’s well with this.
But what about me – _I_ still don’t have birds!
Between comments at the store and the number of searches online for “why there are no birds at my feeders,” it’s very clear that some folks are not seeing many birds – much less than just the reduced numbers from factors described above. This is much trickier to analyze, especially since it’s all anecdotal. But I’ve had enough conversations of late to narrow it down to two distinct issues – quality of supplemental food and quality of local habit.
As we talked about in the earlier blog – and constantly through other means at and through the store – it was a wet then hot and humid summer, and it was a warm and fairly wet fall. This is not good for seed. Remember, up until about a month ago, any seed you bought – was harvested in 2022. How that’s handled (from the farm to the distributor to the retail store to you, the consumer) dictates how fresh and nutritious it is. Stale seed is often rejected by birds, and seed went stale quickly this summer and fall – or worse, turned rancid and/or spoiled – unless it was properly handled throughout each step.
While our seed distributor uses climate-controlled silos to store the seed and bags it upon order, we know virtually no one else in the region that does that. A pallet of bags on the floor of some warehouse somewhere since being purchased last winter is just not very valuable to birds by the time winter set in. And if it’s stored in your garage all summer, it’s gone by, too.
With birds eating less food this summer and fall due to the abundances of natural food resources, seed sat around even longer, and if it’s been with you since the spring, it’s worthless by now. Any seed stored at home for several months needs to be replaced; no other way around it. Seed is food, and fresh food goes bad – just like in our own pantries.
Start with high-quality, fresh seed in a newly cleaned feeder and birds will be back soon. But the longer you go without a valuable food resource, the longer you’ll go without birds as they’ll take more time to get back in the routine of visiting your feeding station.
And the same factors that spoiled seed out in the garage or in the corner of a hardware store does the same in your feeders. Yesterday, Jeannette and I went birding and saw three feeders on one pole full of cheap seed and the bottom half was full of mold, algae, and packed so hard that a bird couldn’t get a seed out even if it wanted to.
If you haven’t done so, it’s imperative to clean your feeders to keep your birds safe and healthy – and keep the food accessible! It’s easy to get complacent about cleaning and refreshing seed when there’s less activity at the feeding station, but this is even more important when it’s slow.
Snowfall usually pushed ground feeders, such as Dark-eyed Juncos and White-throated Sparrows to feeding stations. Be sure to have plenty of white millet on hand.
Yeah, but still…
So, you just picked up some fresh seed from us a couple of weeks ago, you thoroughly cleaned your feeders, and you still don’t have “any birds.” While we have talked about why there are reduced numbers of birds around (lots of natural food, no supplement of species or individuals from the north), there may be other macro factors at play.
I’m beginning to wonder if the reduced birds at feeders this season is also an indictment of how low-quality so much of our suburban and urban habitat has become. Invasive plants, chemically-treated monocultures of short grass, liberal use of neonicotinoid pesticides, development, and so on all impact our yards – even if we haven’t sprayed a thing or cut down a single bush. Since “our” birds are shared with all of the properties around us (and some, like Pileated Woodpeckers, perhaps multiple square miles), what others do directly impact how healthy our yards’ bird populations are.
Here on our large, rural property in Durham we’ve had the same factors that have affected everyone else. But we never “lost” our birds – our feeders have been consistently active all season, even if overall feeding has been reduced. A friend in Freeport, who has spent decades improving his bird habitat and is surrounded by larger yards and fairly healthy woodlands, also has not felt a significant drop-off in activity.
At our store, on the other hand, minus the urban birds (House Sparrows, European Starlings, and especially Rock Pigeons) that we don’t have at home, activity has been very sparse from native birds, and our mixed-species foraging flock is small and visits infrequent. There, we’re surrounded by highways, parking lots, a woodland with nearly 100% of its understory composed of invasive plants, and a neighborhood that sees a heavy use of chemicals. Our surrounding habitat at work just doesn’t hold the volume of birds as the habitat that surrounds our home, or our friend’s, no matter how much we do in our garden.
Jeannette and I spent our Tuesday birding the southern York County Coast. Fort Foster was absolutely chock full of birds – not just the Spotted Towhee! – and the mixed-species foraging flocks were active, conspicuous, and diverse. Later, we birded the neighborhood around The Nubble in York, which I have done for years. Minus a couple of large flocks of House Sparrows, it was shockingly devoid of birds. There are more houses, more glass, more cats, fewer feeders with any sort of quality food, and the few remaining thickets are almost completely taken over by invasive plants. We found exactly one mixed-species foraging flock of chickadees and titmice, etc, and they were busy feeding on birches and Pitch Pine, ignoring the one nearby feeder that had mostly milo (a filler seeds our birds almost never eat at all) and visible mold. The homeowner undoubtably would report “no birds at my feeders.”
Fewer birds around due to larger-scale problems with habitats and local populations, and what birds around would mean fewer birds at feeders no matter what. Add that to the abundance of food sources right now, and those fewer birds would spend less time visiting feeders for supplemental food. Likewise, if your surrounding habitat was fantastic and absolutely full of natural food sources, then birds that are around may also be ignoring feeders.
This chickadee might just be waiting for you to clean your feeders!
In conclusion.
You should have birds by now! If you don’t, I would check your feeders, get new seed, and think about factors in your surrounding habitat.
But for the vast majority of us, it’s time to settle in with our cup of bird-friendly coffee (speaking of ways to guarantee we have enough birds to go around!) and enjoy the renewed – even if somewhat reduced- feeder bird activity that comes with the season. And rest assured, for the most part, our “yard birds” are doing just fine in Maine, and a season like this only helps to prove that they are not in any way dependent on our feeders! But quality supplemental food sure helps, and as winter settles in, food resources are consumed or buried, more birds will undoubtedly bless us with their beauty and providing countless hours of entertainment!
And sometimes, there are temporary reasons to not see a lot of birds at your feeders!
Although around in excellent numbers, goldfinches are not inundating feeders despite a bumper crop of juveniles thanks to the abundance of natural food resources from our exceptional growing season.
If you think it’s slow at your feeders right now, you are not alone. We are being swamped with reports and concerns here at Freeport Wild Bird Supply of “no birds,” “slow,” “they all disappeared” etc. In fact, they are so frequent – and causing so much consternation – I decided to write this blog to help further explain the observations (or lack there of).
So the first thing to know is: don’t worry. This is normal, this is natural, and it happens on a fairly regular basis. There is a lot of concern, even panic, going on right now, fueled by misinformation, inadequate answers, and downright fear-mongering on the internet (I know, shocking!).
I think the success of the 3 Billion Birds campaign, which analyzed and publicized the finding that North America has lost one in four birds since 1970, has greatly heightened awareness about the plight of the continent’s birds. Media coverage of disease in birds has increased in recent years, which is both good and bad (good in the awareness about the issues, bad in the misleading, misguided, and often irrational coverage). So we are hyper-aware.
But yes, your feeders have been slow. Our feeders have been slow. And feeders throughout the state have been slow. But let me assure you that this is OK. In fact, it’s very OK. It is not a sign of the sky falling, the Rapture, or another disease outbreak. While the overall decline of songbirds is dramatic and palpable, many resident feeder bird species are actually increasing over the long term. While I don’t want to talk you out of being concerned about the general welfare of all birds, I want to assure you that what your feeders are experiencing right now is nothing to be worried about. It’s impacting our enjoyment, yes, but it’s not a bad thing for the birds!
The most important thing to remember is that birds always prefer natural food sources (our feeders are only a helpful supplement) so if they can find what they need in their natural habitats, they do not need to visit our feeders nearly as often. If there’s ever proof-positive to finally kill this silly myth about birds being dependent on feeders, seasons like this are it! (If they were dependent, there would be the same amount of birds at feeders all the time).
So let’s talk about what’s really happening. And as usual in nature, it’s not completely simple. It’s a myriad of issues and events that have once again collided in a “perfect storm” of low feeder activity scenarios. And every yard is different, so there are exceptions to each and every rule.
Yes, it has happened before!
In fact, it happened as recently as 2017 and 2019. In 2017, the lack of feeder birds was so widespread that it was making the TV news, and it was even registering in the region-wide wholesale market. It was not just in Maine. That fall, I took to my blog to explain it and ease concerns. Interestingly, this was my most popular (by views and shares) blog entry of all time, meaning people found it valuable. I hope this blog helps in the same way, and since many of the circumstances are the same, you’ll see more similarities than differences in the explanation.
Likewise, in the winter of 2019, I put together a little Christmas Bird Count case study to explain the perceived lack of birds at that time – to put a small amount of data into the equation.
2.Abundance of Natural Food Sources. For the most part, it is the abundance – or paucity – of natural food that determines how much activity you will have in your yard. This is particularly significant for our seed-eaters, like finches and sparrows, and fruit-eaters, like waxwings. Many trees go through “masting” cycles. This is a survival strategy in which a tree will produce a huge amount of fruit or seed one fall, followed by one or more years of very little production. Therefore, in the high production years, there is so much seed/fruit that predators cannot possibly consume it all, and the tree is all but guaranteed that a large number of its seeds will survive to germinate.
This fall has been a high production year for several common tree species. Acorns, beechnut, and other foods are in good supply, keeping Blue Jays busy. Balsam fir and Red Spruce are in good to great supply, keeping Red-breasted Nuthatches and Black-capped Chickadees happy. In fact, the mast of balsam fir is one of the components that has led to minimal southbound movements of Red-breasted Nuthatches and chickadees that would augment our local populations in winters where they move south out of the boreal, according to the Winter Finch Forecast (more on that later
Elsewhere..my goodness are Eastern White Pines laden! I mean like fall-over-from-the-weight-laden. There are so many cones that it looks like the crowns of healthy White Pine are dying.
And the soft cones and abundant seeds of White Pine are just as important to Maine’s birds as the trees are to our cultural heritage, and when there’s a mast, there’s a lot of nutritious food for our resident and migratory seed-eaters alike. There’s so much of it that Red Crossbills all the way from the Rockies are spreading east to take advantage of it (and other conifer crops), and keeping a lot of our “Northeastern” (aka Type 12) Red Crossbills around, hopefully to breed this fall and winter. Unfortunately, few if any will visit feeders as usual, at least in most of the state.
In addition to these important tree food resources, you may have noticed a wee bit of rain this summer. All summer. Record amounts. And after a slow start to the breeding and growing season (why you were feeding so much more seed than normal back in June and into July), the productive growing season has produced a whole lot of soft seeds: grasses, “weeds,” wildflowers – the natural food that our resident and migratory sparrows depend on. And goldfinches…there are A LOT of goldfinches around right now, but they are more frequent on native wildflowers such as Evening Primose that are abundant right now.
For example, in Durham, our yard is hosting 30-40 American Goldfinches daily. They’re spending most of their time in the weedy edges, meadows, and birches around our property. But since there are so many, they are constantly coming and going from our feeding station. Hulled Sunflower and Nyjer – both seeds that need to be constantly refreshed if not consumed rapidly – are by far our most popular feeders, and the two tubes dedicated to hulled sunflower have to replenished daily here. I’ve been enjoying them feasting on Evening Primrose, peeling the seed pods like a banana, then hopping over to the feeders, and after a few minutes, plopping right back into the patch of primrose (the opposite of what dependency would look like!).
2) Mild and Benign Weather. After an often miserable summer, we have earned a lovely fall, and the last few weeks have been delightful! But the mild weather also means birds eat less supplemental food as they don’t need to burn as many calories to make it through the night. There’s also a lot of insects still available – no killing frosts yet, and none on the horizon at least here in Southern Maine.
3) Facultative and Long-Distance Migrants While most of our long-distance migrants (like warblers and orioles) are departing rapidly, many of our later-season migrants (like blackbirds and most of our native sparrows, as well as most of our waterfowl) are facultative (or “flexible”) in their timing. They can adjust their respective arrival and departures based on abundance and/or access to food. Dark-eyed Juncos, White-throated Sparrows, Fox Sparrows, and the last wave of blackbirds are still not here in Southern Maine, lingering as far north as they can for as long as they can. These birds will move a short distance south as soon as they have to, and if the winter is a short one, they will begin to work their way north earlier – or even “overwinter” further north than normal. Not even a freak snowstorm will affect them – they are built for it, and will make range adjustments as needed. With so many hayfields unmowed, corn still being harvested, and lack of urgency, the usual fall complaint about being overwhelmed by flocks of voracious blackbirds have not been heard. Enjoy it while you can!
As for long (and medium-distance obligate migrants), it just so happens many of them clear out in late September. While there are still scattered Ruby-throated Hummingbirds around the state, a large portion of the population cleared out in the last two weeks. Adding to the perception that “all the birds have disappeared” was the reality that many of our migrants took advantage of favorable conditions to be on their way.
Another example of this is that here at our feeders in Durham, at least three Gray Catbirds have remained loyal and persistent. Thanks to the abundance of Arrowwood Viburnum on our property, they are still around, and between bouts of berry-harvesting, they continue to visit our suet and nut feeders. They will depart any night now, and when they do, the feeding station will be much quieter. Woodpeckers are taking advantage of all of the natural food and insects out there, so they are – as usual in the fall – making less frequent visits to the suet feeders. Our suet will be depleted much less quickly when the voracious trio of fat-deposting catbirds departs!
Also here in Durham, the first few White-throated Sparrows have finally arrived, and the first wave of Dark-eyed Juncos will be here soon. However, our extensive grassland restoration project and weedy edges have produced a bumper crop of Song Sparrows, which will mostly leave our yard before the winter. If your Song Sparrows have left already and you don’t have White-throats or juncos yet, then your white millet is not being used as quickly. Here, our millet platform is one of our feeders that we have to still fill daily (plus more on the ground) as we continue to improve our already sparrow-rific yard.
4) Irruptives, or Lack There Of.
The venerable Winter Finch Forecast (WFF) lights our way here. As predicted, Purple Finches have been slow to arrive outside of the Boreal and Boreal transition belts. “In the east, many Purple Finches are expected to overwinter in southern Canada and the northeastern United States… Don’t be surprised if, as winter progresses, a late movement in January and February occurs into the Carolinas as eastern crops are depleted.” Here at our feeders in Durham, a male Purple Finch arrived this weekend – our first in a couple of weeks here.
The WFF however, is predicting a flight of Pine Siskins, possibly in large numbers. We’re starting to see a few here and there in Southern Maine, and a massive flock of 200+ showed up on Monhegan mid-week before dispersing. However, with the aforementioned abundances of natural food sources for them (hemlock, birch, alder, weeds, etc), few have been reported at feeders which will likely be the case for a while.
There may be other birds arriving in the coming months, according to the WFF, but those will be a topic for another time.
5) Predators.
Many people have said that the birds “disappeared all at once.” And while for the most part, it is just a combination of the various topics discussed above, there are instances when feeder activity does in fact grind to a sudden halt.
There are two reasons birds stop coming to a feeder all of the sudden: the food has spoiled or is no longer accessible (the feeder clogged up) or there’s a new predator on the scene. Hopefully there’s not a new outdoor cat in the neighborhood, but it’s also the peak of raptor migration. A transient or winter resident Cooper’s or Sharp-shinned Hawk setting up camp near your feeders will indeed reduce activity suddenly. Hey, if you want to feed the small ones, you’re going to feed the big ones, so this is an important part of the cycle and should be celebrated (but yes, we all have our rooting interests). Especially young, inexperienced juvenile birds don’t always make good decisions about where to perch and give up their presence too easily. However, as soon as the local birds figure this out, they’ll stop coming and the raptor will move along and look for another concentration. And your songbirds will be back soon thereafter. That cat is a bigger problem, however.
6) Memory Bias. Humans inherently think of the recent past first (“recency bias), and so we find ourselves often comparing this fall to last fall, which saw exceptionally high feeder visitation thanks to the prolonged drought we had experienced throughout the summer, greatly reducing perennial seed crops (exactly as we had seen in the summer of 2017). Some of the masting trees were at cyclical lows, and cyclical lows of many cone and seed crops. And irruptions of Red-breasted Nuthatches, and to a lesser extent Purple Finches, were already underway by now. Especially if you have only been feeding birds – or paying more attention to your feeder birds – in the past two years, this fall would seem like a striking anomaly.
6) The Filthy Feeders and Stale Seed Catch-22. When activity is low at feeders, we can become a bit blasé about maintenance. Not keeping feeders clean and filled with fresh seed will only make it less likely that birds will want to frequent your yard. And, with ridiculously prolonged wet weather of the summer, seed went bad out there – even if it was fresh when you bought it. And unusually high humidity for much of the summer meant the “cool, dry” place you tried to store seed in was anything but. Seed spoils. It gets stale. And it did that more quickly this summer than most. Unless you have it stored in a climate controlled silo and bagged a couple of days before its ship like our exceptional seed distributor does, the seed that you have had since the spring is now worthless. And the birds know this.
No one likes to waste seed, but if it has been sitting in a feeder untouched for a month or so, it is time to toss it and start over. This is especially true for Nyjer, hulled sunflower, and shelled peanuts, which are most susceptible to the elements. (If you dump it in the woods, rest assured that something will eat it, or at the very least nothing will be harmed by it. If mold is visible, however, it is best to bury it). Clean your feeders, and disinfect them with a mixture of one part white vinegar to four parts water if mold was present. Fill your feeders halfway until activity builds up again if you are concerned about waste. When birds return and they find stale or spoiled seed in your feeders, they’ll continue right on by. Toss that saved seed. Start fresh. The birds will start coming back, but the longer you wait to restock, the longer it will take for your feeder activity to return.
7) The Big Picture We certainly do not want to downplay the significance of population declines in many of our bird species due to a whole host of large-scale issues (a topic for a different article), but rest assured that “your” birds are probably doing just fine from one year to the next over the short term. In fact, most of our resident “feeder birds” have steady, if not in some cases, increasing populations. Climate Change is affecting bird populations. Habitat loss is affecting bird populations. Cats are killing up to 4 BILLION birds a year. Windows are killing up to 1 BILLION birds a year. We could go on.
However, this has not changed in the past few weeks. Those long-term declines are often subtle and hard to detect without coordinated scientific investigation. All it takes is a walk in the woods and fields to see that the birds are out there. In fact, there are a lot of them out there, and they are doing just fine. They just don’t need our feeders as much right now.
And because of that, consider working on adding more native plants and natural food sources to your yard. That will keep more birds around more of the time, and – like our goldfinches and sparrows at our home in Durham – augment feeder activity in what is otherwise a slow season.
8) It WILL Change! Natural food supplies will slowly get used up, nights will get colder and longer, and our facultative migrants will come. A frost will come, ending the growing and insect seasons. Eventually, we’ll see some snow and ice that will make it harder to find the remaining natural food, and when all of those things happen, our feeders will be ready for them!
White-throated Sparrows have just returned to our feeders in Durham.
In a few weeks, the comment about Blue Jays “eating me out of house and home” will begin as they ramp up their winter caching. They’ll focus mostly on acorns as usual, augment it with pine nuts, but also supplement that with nuts and seeds from our feeders. Blackbirds flocks will begin to depart the farmlands and stop by feeding stations for some refueling. Weed seeds will begin to be used up, pushing more arriving sparrows and goldfinches back to feeders more of the time.
9) In sum.
This is normal, explainable, and predictable. It happens every now and then. It will change. Refresh your seed, adjust your offerings, and clean your feeders. Quality seed matters, especially when there are other options around for birds to choose instead. Make a planting plan for next year to improve the quality of your surrounding habitat. Keep cats indoors, windows treated to prevent strikes, and support bird conservation efforts. We want more birds around us, for our pleasure and for the ecological benefits. And as this fall demonstrates, feeders are only a small part of the equation.
We hope this helps clear up some of the misinformation out there. And please do share this widely – we want to get the word out. And finally, if you have any additional questions, feel free to drop by the store.
And never stop looking! You never known what might show up out there, even on the slow days, like this young female Dickcissel that graced the feeders at the store for a week earlier this month.
10/7 Update:
A lot of people have asked about Hurricane Lee and its effect on birds, so just wanted to comment about that here. Simply put: Lee had NOTHING to do with it; it was irrelevant. However, in the days before and after the storm’s passage, there was excellent conditions for migration (the first in a while), so many migratory birds did clear out at that time. And yes, the amount of rain likely clogged some feeders and spoiled some seed, too, but no more than any other storm would. So basically, I believe the passage of Lee was merely coincidental at best.
On the other hand…here come the Pine Siskins! Reports of huge numbers pouring out of the boreal are being received, and birds are arriving in northern and eastern Maine. Be sure you have fresh Nyjer ready to go!
11/15 Update:
With the onset of colder weather, feeder activity is picking up dramatically. More and more folks are reporting “the birds are back” at their feeding stations. At our home in Durham, we never “lost” feeder activity, but it has certainly picked up over the past two weeks. We’ve had 50+ American Goldfinches scarfing Nyjer and hulled sunflower the last few days, up from the 20-30 that have been frequent for most of the fall.
Dark-eyed Juncos and Eastern Bluebirds are returning to feeders, but sparrow numbers overall remain low…I think most of the White-throated Sparrows have gone over and through, but American Tree Sparrows have not yet arrived.
Here at the store, the feeder activity remains below normal, however, but Eastern Bluebirds have just returned here as well. But our surrounding habitat doesn’t hold nearly as many birds as our yard in Durham, so this is a big part of the equation.
So to sum it up: it’s getting better, more active, and more diverse at the feeders. And I think fresh seed is a big part of the equation, so if you’re waiting for birds to return with only old, stale (or worse) seed to offer, I think you’ll be waiting even longer (more on this soon, as I am playing around with another blog on the topic).
Maine Birding Field Notes 