Cardinals at a winter feeder
Ruth Tetirick, Logan County Electric Cooperative
Q. I enjoy and look forward to reading your monthly article in Ohio Cooperative Living magazine every month. I have lived in Logan County (Jefferson Township) for 20 years. I have been a bird watcher all my life and have been submitting daily counts of the birds I observe to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology for the past five years.
There has been a drastic drop in the numbers of year-round species (songbirds mostly) that, up to this point in time, have been so prolific here over the years. I live in a rural setting; there is a four-acre woods behind my house which provides a great habitat for many species of birds. The birds that I do see are mostly juveniles from this year’s breeding season. I have almost no house sparrows. The red-bellied, hairy, and downy woodpecker numbers are all very low. Northern cardinal, blue jay, and American goldfinch numbers are also down. Instead of filling my feeders every other day, I am only needing to fill them twice a week.
I began to notice this situation two months ago. Other residents in the area have also noticed the decline in the number of birds. I keep my feeders clean.I am not finding dead birds. I sent an email to the Ohio DNR and to the Cornell Lab weeks ago asking if there is anything of note that has been discovered that would account for this. I have not received a response from either entity. I am hopeful that you may have some information.
A. Hi, Ruth: Thanks for your kind words and insightful question. I, too, feed wild birds at my home, maintaining half a dozen feeders through the winter months, plus two oriole feeders during the spring and two hummingbird feeders in summer. And, like you, I have noticed diminishing numbers of wild birds in recent years.
That said, I contacted ornithologist Jim McCormac about this disturbing question. Jim is my go-to guy for all things birding in Ohio, as he’s the author of the handy bird ID field guide Birds of Ohio. Here’s what he had to say:
“In general, birds are declining, some of them dramatically. In the past month or so, I have probably had three or four people ask me about their backyard songbird declines, and have seen plenty of other comments
