[Mnbird] missing birds

[Johnson, Douglas]

I live in a townhouse in White Bear Township, near a constructed pond with
some woodland next to it.  My impression is that barn and tree swallows are
as common as usual.  Song sparrows are down a bit, but still very common.
Red-winged blackbirds have had a banner year producing more red-winged
blackbirds.  Mallard broods are common.  We also had broods of Canada geese
(yippee!), wood ducks, hooded mergansers, and pied-billed grebes on our
pond.  The most noticeable differences from previous years seem to be a
greater number of house wrens and ubiquitous gray catbirds; I see both of
these species where I had not seen them in the past 10 years.

These reports demonstrate the value of repeated monitoring, using
consistent methods, of the same areas year after year.  The North American
Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) does exactly that.  I would be interested in
hearing from folks who run BBS routes to see if they noticed major changes
in recent years.

Doug Johnson

On Sun, Jun 28, 2015 at 8:14 PM, ssmorton via Mnbird <
mnbird at lists.mnbird.net> wrote:

> I have few birds at our feeders in SW MN.  Other than grackles, house
> sparrows and bluejays, feeder birds are few and far between.  Even the
> grackles and sparrows are fewer than normal.  I do have mourning and EC
> doves.
>
> Sue Morton
> Cottonwood
> Lyon County
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Jun 28, 2015, at 7:38 PM, Gkuyava--- via Mnbird <
> mnbird at lists.mnbird.net> wrote:
>
>  After seeing several comments about fewer birds around it became obvious
> to me  that we are experiencing the same problem in t he east Duluth area.
> I attributed some to migration and then the busy birds  nesting and taking
> care of their young.  Except for the hummers almost no birds are seen at
> our feeders.
> the spring migration seemed normal but it has been not normal since. No
> chickadees, nuthatches, grosbeaks or most of the sparrows and goldfinches.
> What is going one.  Has the bird flu that has affected our poultry flocks
> moved on to the wild birds?
>
> Gary Kuyava in Duluth
>
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 
*****************************************
Douglas H. Johnson
Research Statistician, retired
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology
2003 Upper Buford Circle, Suite 135.
University of Minnesota
St. Paul, MN 55108
Phone: 612-624-4716
Fax: 612-625-5299
Email: Douglas_H_Johnson at usgs.gov
*****************************************

Most of the time I am a truthful person, but when you are dealing with
bureaucracy, careful lying is sometimes essential.

George E. P. Box
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