Subject: absence makes the heart grow heavy
Date: Apr 17 18:04:52 2003
From: Christine - nightbird7 at seanet.com
Same here in Everett, Paul. Just over the last few days, I haven't seen
birds feeding, and the Mandarin ducks haven't been seen since Monday. Last
year they stayed for several weeks. I can hear birds in the trees, but
they're not feeding except for the occasional crow, jay, or house finch.
Nary a junco, varied thrush, or even chickadee. Earthquake on the way or ??
It feels very strange.
Christine
Everett
mailto:nightbird7 at seanet.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Netta Smith" <nettasmith at attbi.com>
To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2003 5:22 PM
Subject: absence makes the heart grow heavy
> "Seattle's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there." Or
so
> said the birds in my yard. In a period of about one week, mostly the
first
> week of April, our yard emptied of birds. The juncos I understand, as
they
> never breed around here. But Anna's Hummingbirds decreased from perhaps
> three to one (easily measured by the reduced sugar-water decline in the
> feeder as well as the scarcity of sightings), our one or two Song Sparrows
> left, towhees all of a sudden became scarce, and the flicker flock
> fluctuated downward. Nuthatches, which were coming regularly to the
feeder,
> seem to be absent, but I'll reserve judgment for a little longer, as they
> come and go like stealth flyers.
>
> Some of this may be attributable to nicer weather that allows birds to
feed
> more away from the feeders, but the resident birds usually come to the
> feeders all through the summer, so I don't think that's the primary
> explanation. Perhaps some of the birds are on nests, but they also
usually
> come to the yard during that period. It's more like a local extirpation,
> and we were even wondering if a herd of cats had colonized the yard or we
> were the epicenter for passerine West Nile virus, but I don't think either
> of those explanations are very credible, nor is the likelihood that the
big
> bullfrog in our pond ate them all. Perhaps the birds are merely moving
away
> to better breeding habitat out in the country. Robins, B-c Chickadees,
> Bushtits, and Bewick's Wrens are still in evidence, as are House Sparrows,
> House Finches, and House (oops, I mean Steller's) Jays. Other than one
> brief White-crowned Sparrow, not a spring migrant has appeared in the
yard,
> but hope springs eternal.
>
> Dennis Paulson
> --
> Netta Smith and Dennis Paulson
> 1724 NE 98 St.
> Seattle, WA 98115
>
>