First time ever/ no birds

[jbmaine]

Hi all, Here in the area we live, Southern Maine, we are seeing ( or not seeing) the strangest thing. I've always lived in this area, and like now, always lived in the woods. As such, the MRS. and I love watching the wildlife. We have squirrels, chipmunks, ermine, racoons, skunks, deer, bobcat ,possum and years past we've seen moose. But what we see , or saw, the most of was birds. We have a large bird feeder and bird bath at the edge of the woods, 20 feet or so from the back of the house. We have always seen scores of chickadees, nut hatches, blue jays, gold and purple finches ( in the summer). We also have, had, four pairs of cardinals, several pairs of doves, owls, crows, thrushs, turkeys, gosbeaks and more.

 So here's the mystery. Last month hurricane Lee came thru this area. It wasn't bad, winds 30 MPH or so. Honestly, we've had Nor'easters that were worse. But all our birds have disappeared, gone, vanished. It's been several weeks now and not a bird to be seen. The bird feeder is still full from when I filled it weeks ago. We really miss them. It feels so strange to walk thru the woods and not see or hear any birds.

   Do any of you know what might have happened, or ever heard of or experienced something like this. I've tried contacting Maine fish and game to ask about this but so far it's leave a message ( which I did) and we'll get back to you( which they haven't). If you have suddenly found a bunch of birds in your area, looking lost, could you send them back our way.

                                                   Thanks

                                                                Jim 

[Will Ketchum]

The birds in my backyard come during breeding season and disappear afterwards such as now. When winter sets in, I get chickadees cardinals, song sparrows and some which I see so seldom that I have to look them up to identify. Lee missed us,

[padlin]

Same as Will. A month ago we had many chickadees and finch, now almost none. I get the same early summer, I blame that outage on breeding. I think many of our winter birds head south by now, leaving just a few thru the winter.

 

I took down my big feeders due to the bears wiping them out several times this year. Only have a couple for the small birds that I hang up high, I think I have 2 gold finch and one or 2 chickadees at the moment. I’d give it a while and see what happens.

[Jig Man]

We have nothing left here in SWMO except sparrows.  Everything else has disappeared.

[TnRiver46]

I think you already answered your question when you mentioned the Hurricane. My in laws friends were seeing flamingos in ag fields in Ohio that got off track migrating during a hurricane this season 

[gim]

50 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

My in laws friends were seeing flamingos in ag fields in Ohio that got off track migrating during a hurricane this season

There were some in Wisconsin not long ago too. Which is very odd, obviously.

[detroit1]

I would move. Right now....

[Scott F]

Watching the birds at our feeders is something my wife and I enjoy quite a bit. I can’t offer any insight on the disappearance of your birds but I know I’d be very disappointed if all our birds suddenly vanished. I think your situation is temporary. They’ll be back soon, at least those who normally spend the winter in your area.

[VolFan]

I’d switch the food out, just in case. And maybe look for bobcat or cat cat tracks around it to see if something’s putting them off that feeder. Otherwise wait until it gets colder and hopefully they’ll be back.

[casts_by_fly]

a lot of our birds are moving on, especially the smaller migrating species.  We didn't have too much with the hurricane, but they seem to be moving on earlier this year.  The blue jays are here in spades though (we must have yours) and I had a flock of a dozen last evening in the deer stand.  The robins have been largely gone for a while now.  They are the first to show up and usually stick around until November.  We get spring/summer bluebirds but you don't see them much past when the trees have leaves.

 

On a separate note, we were at a wolf preserve two weekends ago (super cool if anyone's interested) and the owner made a comment about the wolves having a super thick coat already built up this year, their tails in particular.  He said that's usually indicative of a colder winter and a heavier snowfall.  I have to think that the cooler summer we've had contributed, but I'm not going to argue with his decades of observation.  if the birds are moving south earlier also, that's another puzzle piece.

[scaleface]

This time of year food is plentiful . Berries , seeds and nuts are all mature. Instead of filling the feeder every day now its about once a week. 

[steve carpenter]

Feed birds and squirrels every day and have for many years. Had a hurricane that effected our weather and they all left for quite a while.  Back stronger than ever now.