Comments about ‘Songbirds: Numbers are dwindling for Mother Nature's little monitors’

Look at the affect the Starling is having on these birds.

"Although there are approximately 200 million starlings in North America, they are all descendants of approximately 60 birds (or 100 [1]) released in 1890 in Central Park, New York, by Eugene Schieffelin, who was a member of the Acclimation Society of North America reputedly trying to introduce to North America every bird species mentioned in the works of William Shakespeare."

The Starling should be reduced or eliminated. They may very well be what is causing the problem. Robins, Meadow Larks and others have a great deal of problem with them. Why not the riparian song birds?

I have seen and heard more songbirds this year than I can remember anytime in the past.
I also have noticed a super rise in the bee population. What does it all mean?

My neighbor has many house cats and they kill birds everyday.

Predators. Wake up, I have even seen hawks fly into nest and take chicks.

Please take all the Robbins from my yard. I am tired of loosing about 1/3 of my fruit crops to them year after year. They seem to like all fruits and even take dog food right out of the dog dish. The Starlings are almost as bad.

They are probably freezing their little butts off and moved somewhere where it's warmer!!!

If we'll get rid of the parasite Starling that was illegally imported from England we would see a reversal of the trend of songbird depletion. Starlings, if you don't already know, take over nests that have been build by other birds. There should be a national campaign to eliminate them from the face of the earth.

As the birds go, so go we.

Two problems:
First, starlings. Get rid of them, and things go better for a wide variety of other birds.
Second, preserve our wetlands. Much of the Jordan River has been sacrificed in the name of development, to the detriment of everyone but the developers. Other areas have suffered similar fates.

I'm sure there are many reasons, but I think the magpies have had an effect. Those repulsive, screeching things massacre songbirds.

If house cats were really housecats would they be outside killing birds?

What about magpies? I have heard the cries of baby birds as they pluck them from their nests and fly away with them.

This is just the beginning.

I have watched a hawk take 6 birds in mid-air in my backyard. I know he enjoyed it and I did too. Nothing like a well honed predator.

Starlings are aggressive, but aren't actually going to use songbird nests. They are opportunists, and thus have had a great deal more success breeding in a wider range of developed areas, including urban areas, whereas songbirds in general are not as tolerant and can be sensitive to all sorts of pollution, including light pollution. Generally speaking, if there isn't an overpopulation of starlings, they won't damage a garden, but can actually help keep the bugs off.

If the songbirds are declining, we should look hardest at what has changed.

Native predators: stable or declining. Not the problem. They have always been around, some are even declining with the songbirds.(If you don't like hawks picking off your feeder birds, maybe you shouldn't bait them in for the hawk).

Imported predators: increasing. Cats, yes they are a significant problem, but probably not the only problem. Starlings: mostly affect birds that nest in cavities and competes with food for birds in urban areas. House Sparrows and Pigeons also compete but mostly in urban areas.

Diseases: increasing. Some diseases our birds haven't encountered before are taking a toll. Example- West Nile Virus: affecting ravens, hawks and magpies the hardest.

Migration hazards: increasing. Tall structures from skyscrapers to powerlines take a significant toll on migrating birds. Loss of habitat to feed in while migrating. Light pollution confuses migrating birds.

Riparian habitat for nesting and migration: decreasing. Dewatering and loss of riparian plants due to invasive plants, overgrazing, or fire all take a toll.

Pollution, pesticides, other environmental hazards: increasing. They likely all take their toll on their food sources and affect the health of birds.

You say you've seen a lot of birds this year. Good.

What are your numbers? What were your numbers last year? What time of day were you counting? How many species did you see each time? How long did you look this year and other years? Where did you look this year and other years?

What kind of bees? Did you plant different flowers this year? How often do you look for bees? Are you looking just in your backyard?

If you are presenting evidence different than the combination of many different studies that have been going on for years, I'd be interested in seeing your data.

Human caused songbird declline is a myth perpetuated by the left to force socialism on all of America.

Why didn't the article present numbers...is the decline 1%/year, 0.1%/year, 0.0001%/year? Hard to know how excited to get when there's no reference as to how serious a problem it is.

It's gotta be global warming...