James Etheridge

Our backyard birds disappeared about a month or so ago. I don’t mean just a few of them are gone. I mean all of them, even the squirrels and chipmunks. It’s pretty bad when the squirrels split.

We have eighteen feeders around our house, including seed feeders, suet cages, a seed cake cage, thistle socks, three bluebird houses and a See Rock City birdhouse on a 4×4 post in the middle of the back yard. We even have a corncob holder for the squirrels mounted on one of the trees, put there in a mostly futile attempt to distract them from the seed and suet. It’s not uncommon for the activity at the feeders slows down about this time of year, although sometimes in September and October we have seen the number of different species increase as the birds migrate south. Flocks of blackbirds will come in and take over the yard, before suddenly all flying off at the same time. The mourning doves are always on the ground foraging under the feeders. The goldfinches bicker with one another at the thistle socks. The nuthatches scurry down the trees to a feeder, grab a sunflower seed and scurry back up. The cardinals are always around and the woodpeckers peck away at the suet cakes. The bluebirds are perched in front of the houses, guarding their nests. Not this trip around the sun, however.

I am upset, to say the least. I love to sit at the kitchen window and watch the wildlife in the back yard below. Jackie says I spend more money feeding the birds than I do feeding us. For the past month however, all I have seen around the feeders is air. Jackie assured me that when it gets cold and they get hungry, the birds will be back. I did some research online and found a few articles, but nothing that really helped. My friend Brenda posts pictures of all the activity at her feeders and all I can think is, “What have I done wrong?”

Yesterday I called Wild Birds Unlimited in Athens and spoke with Angela. She assured me that we were not alone and that many customers had called asking the same question. She explained that due to the dry, warm October weather we had here in North Georgia caused an increase in the natural food resources for the birds, such as berries, insects and grubs. She said Jackie was right, once the weather turned cold they would be back. I also told her that we have a lot of trees in our neighborhood and there are hawks in the area. There was one around our yard during the summer. I would go out and try to shoo it away. The big bird would just turn its head and give me an “eat it and die” look before gliding away. Angela advised me to take our feeders down if one showed up in the yard again. That way it will move on to another area after a couple of days. Her insight, advice and reassurance helped ease my mind.

A feeder hangs outside the window of my studio at the front of the house and after Angela and I spoke, a bright red cardinal flew up to the feeder outside my studio window, almost on cue. Later in the afternoon, at the feeders in the back I saw a black-capped chickadee at the seed cake, then a woodpecker at one of the suet feeders. There were a couple of finches at the Yankee Flipper feeder that hangs from the Rock City birdhouse pole. The woodpecker moved to another suet feeder and spent quite a bit of time there. And, of course, a squirrel showed up and hung from one of the suet feeders. Normally I’d run out and yell, “Gitonouttaheah!”, but this time I was actually glad to see him. I never thought I’d say that. Hopefully my feathered friends will return soon and the squirrels and I will resume our ongoing feud. I’ve missed it and I’m looking forward to it.

While researching, I found the article linked below on the Georgia Department of Natural Resources page. It contains feeding tips and tables on feeders and winter-feeding food preferences.
https://georgiawildlife.com/seeds-birds