Date: 11/24/25 7:04 pm From: Erik Johnson via groups.io <cassowary43...> Subject: Re: [labird] Fewer birds?
All - remember that bird flu is primarily a disease passed among highly
congregatory birds, notably farm poultry, wild waterfowl, and the raptors
that feed on them. Not songbirds, even those that visit feeders in decent
numbers. House Sparrows are a minor exception as they intersect some with
poultry, but for most of us, our House Sparrows are not moving between
farms and our feeders.
As others have noted, feeder activity this time of year is almost entirely
dependent on the availability of wild foods.
On Mon, Nov 24, 2025 at 7:54 PM Paul Conover via groups.io <zoiseaux=
<lusfiber.net...> wrote:
> Sandra, all,
>
> A number of the possibilities floated in responses could be true.
> Typically, the conventional wisdom is as John says, that food supplies
> and warmer weather are allowing birds to live off the land away from our
> yards. June and July were pretty wet, and from what I saw around
> Lafayette, that translated into good berry and nut supplies. In my yard,
> vines and shrubs produced bumper crops of bird food, and I'm sure the
> same plants out in the wild did as well.
>
> Another important point to remember is the record cold of last
> winter. At my house it got down to 4 degrees F with 9 inches of snow.
> That snap probably resulted in heavy mortality, and birds from species
> with high site fidelity that might have returned to the same yard every
> winter might not have survived to do so this year, leaving vacancies
> that it might take more than one year to fill. I typically host several
> R-c. Kinglets and Orange-crowned Warblers every winter, but this year I
> think I only have one of each. On the other hand, some species are more
> nomadic by nature, so they might show up just about anywhere in typical
> numbers.
>
> In my yard thus far, I'm seeing very little bird activity, but
> it's a bit nuanced. Birds like chickadees still make appearances, but
> much more sporadically than in some winters. That could mean that the
> population is smaller and more thinly spread, that the birds are finding
> better food elsewhere, or some other option that's beyond me.
>
> In terms of whether the birds have arrived yet or not due to
> weather, there may be something to that as well. In the past few days
> I've been seeing a lot more birds in the field than I did a week ago.
> The woods were pretty dead last week, but yesterday in CENLA I saw large
> flocks of robins overhead, and today in SWLA I got incredible response
> to screech owl calls, especially from large groups of 20-50 Myrtle
> Warblers per stop where I only saw a few last week.
>
>
> Paul Conover
>
> Lafayette
>
>
> On 11/23/2025 6:00 PM, Sandra Barbier via groups.io wrote:
> > Someone I know in Crowley says he has not seen any birds in his yard
> > recently. I think he means migrants and locals. Has anyone else noticed
> > this and if so, do you know why it may be? I am thinking drought, maybe.
> > Found this recent map of drought Louisiana Drought Deepens: 43% of State
> > Now Affected — Louisiana Farm Bureau News
> > <
> https://lafarmbureaunews.com/news/2025/11/20/louisiana-drought-deepens-43-of-state-now-affected > >
> > that
> > shows he is in an area marked "severe drought." Thanks.--
> >
> > Sandra Barbier
> > LaPlace, LA
> >
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> >
> >
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