Thanks for your inquiry, Susan. I suspect that the main thing happening is that the birds are tending nests, and are therefore spending less time visiting your feeders, baths, etc. I suspect that they’ll be back in a few weeks.
It’s also very possible that there’s either a hawk or an owl that is checking out your feeders, so I’d keep an eye out for that possibility. But generally that creates only a temporary abandonment of feeders while the predator is in the immediate area, not a more lasting absence. I’m especially glad to hear that you keep your seed fresh, your bathes clean and your suet fresh. Power to you! Hope this is helpful. Keith Olstad, Audubon Chapter of Mpls > On Jun 12, 2019, at 2:26 PM, Susan Gilmore <[email protected]> wrote: > > MOU: > > I have a question that I need help answering. We have fed birds for many > years and typically have marveled at how many come to our feeders. This > entire winter and spring all feeders have remained steadily busy until this > last week where we have had so few song birds and woodpeckers. We were out of > town for a week but had our neighbor fill the feeders plus add fresh water to > the bird baths and when we returned there was a noticeable decline in birds > coming here. In fact we hardly have any. Before we left town all feeders were > busy with activity. > > The bird seed is fresh, only bought it maybe a month ago. The feeders had > been cleaned out about a month ago, rinsed well and dried. The suet feeders > are clean and filled with fresh suet. The hummingbird feeders also clean with > fresh sugar water and were clean before we left town. > > We wondered if an owl or hawk might have taken up residence near by but we > feel we would have seen some activity around a nest or hole in a tree and we > have seen none. > > Please help solve our mystery. > > Thank you! > > Susan > > > Susan Gilmore > [email protected] > 612-382-1171 > > > > ---- > Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net > Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
