Syracuse.com - Where are the birds? Unseasonably warm winter impacts local bird watching scene

[HuntingNY-News]

The warm winter hasn't favored local bird feeder watchers.

Peter Chen/The Post-StandardGene HugginsThis winter has been for the birds.

The unseasonably warm weather and lack of snow cover has made food on the ground easily attainable.

“A lot of birds don’t feel the need to congregate at bird feeders,” said Gene Huggins, president of the Onondaga Chapter of the Audubon Society. “It’s been discouraging for people who watch the birds at their feeders. They’re not seeing the variety or numbers that they’re used to seeing throughout the winter.”

Huggins, who lives in Tully and has five bird feeders on his property, said he’s been seeing a lot of dark-eyed juncos, tree sparrows, starlings and the occasional mourning dove.

He keeps in touch with the local bird scene, thanks to the constant filing of reports by members on the club’s website. He said he hasn’t seen any yellow-bellied sapsuckers at his feeder, and club members are noting a paucity of finches in the area.

Courtesy Cornell Lab of OrnithologyCommon Redpoll

“We haven’t had too many reports of white-winged snowfinches, crossbills or the red crossbills,” he said. “The same goes for pine grosbeaks, purple finches and common redpolls.”

Many of the migrating flocks of these birds are most likely still up north because of the availability of food there.

The relatively open ground has been one factor. The warm weather is another.

“A few gray catbirds were seen in the early part of January off Andrews Road in the town of DeWitt. Usually they’ve gone south by October,” he said.

The fact that many ponds, lakes and rivers remain unfrozen has had a considerable impact on waterfowl in particular. They aren’t congregating on certain local lakes or migrating as much as they normally do through this area.

One noticeable difference from last winter is that there are fewer bald eagles gathering at Onondaga Lake, Huggins said.

Last year, with the lake frozen, ducks and geese gravitated to the open water around the Nine Mile Creek outlet or on the south shore near the Carousel Center. The eagles would congregate there, as well, to feed on the waterfowl.

“The lake is still not frozen over,” he said. “As a result, the waterfowl are dispersed all over the area.”

Tom Jasikoff, manager at the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, said the refuge is seeing more snow geese, swans and waterfowl than usual for this time of year on its pools.

“Unlike a song bird that feeds on such things as insects or fruit, these birds feed on aquatic vegetation,” he said. “If the water is open and not frozen, they’ll hang around.”

The warm weather isn’t the only factor affecting the Central New York bird scene.

This area, along with other parts of the country as far west as Seattle, are seeing large numbers of snowy owls. Marshall Iliff, eBird project leader, said their appearance is most likely caused by a population explosion of lemmings, their primary food up north on the tundra, where they breed and spend most of the year. More food has resulted in greater numbers of young birds, he said.

The lemming population explosions are usually followed by precipitous declines, resulting in less food for the younger birds. Iliff said the young owls will sometimes make a southern journey of 1,000 miles or more in search of prey. Locally, the snowy owls were spotted recently around Hancock International Airport.

Ebird, a website run jointly by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and the national Audubon Society, uses sightings posted by bird watchers to understand changes in populations, movements and other trends across the world. Iliff said bird populations are constantly being affected by changes in landscape and climate.

Courtesy Cornell Lab of OrnithologyCommon raven

He said there’s no one answer as to how this winter will impact the Central New York bird population come spring and summer. Changes in migration patterns and in breeding grounds, for example, are trends that often take years to develop.

“One trend we are noticing, though, is that waterfowl seem to be wintering farther and farther north,” he said.

Huggins said members from his club participated in the recent Christmas Bird Count and noticed several changes from last year. Among them: “We’re seeing more and more ravens. Also, more crows than ever before.”

Members did spot a relatively rare cackling goose, a smaller version of the Canada goose, during this year’s count.

Huggins said every day brings surprises.

“We had a brief eruption of Bohemian waxwings around B’ville and Lake Ontario within the last week,” he said. “They’re not seen every winter. They’re always a welcome addition.”

Courtesy Cornell Lab of OrnithologyBohemian waxwing

For more

Check out the website of the Onondaga Chapter of the Audubon Society ; the website of Ebird or the website of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology .

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog

[Doc]

I suppose it stands to reason that if the weather is such that natural sources of food are still available, they won't be as dependant on feeders. Also, with temps and weather conditions being so mild, they don't have the same level of caloric needs.