FYI: Take down bird feeders if you're in the Mid-Atlantic (maybe Southeast and Midwest also)

[Innisfree]

https://www.npr.org/2021/07/02/1012541984/a-mystery-illness-is-killing-mid-atlantic-songbirds

Quote

Federal and state wildlife officials in the Mid-Atlantic region are asking people to stop feeding birds and providing water in bird baths amid dozens of reports of mysterious songbird deaths.

Reports first emerged in the Washington, D.C., area in late May. Now wildlife agencies throughout the Mid-Atlantic and into the Southeast and Midwest are receiving similar reports.

☹️ Just took mine down. Still need to remove the bird bath. Sorry about the text size above, I don't know what's up.

Edited July 8, 2021 by Innisfree

[Annie G]

This has been a weird year. We had a rash of songbird deaths this spring. Never have I seen anything like it. That seemed to end around early May.  (It was the finch issue mentioned at the end of the article) And generally we have hummingbirds at our feeders for a few months by now. We have ONE that comes occasionally even though I faithfully wash and change the food every few days. It’s not just us- our local bird store and birders are all talking about it. We live in Georgia. 

Edited July 8, 2021 by Annie G

[Innisfree]

3 minutes ago, Annie G said:

This has been a weird year. We had a rash of songbird deaths this spring. Never have I seen anything like it. That seemed to end around early May.  And generally we have hummingbirds at our feeders for a few months by now. We have ONE that comes occasionally even though I faithfully wash and change the food every few days. It’s not just us- our local bird store and birders are all talking about it. We live in Georgia. 

That's worrying. The article does say that the illness is moving into the Southeast and Midwest, so maybe that's what happened in your area. 

[Pam in CT]

Huh. I'm a bit north of that region, and only feed hummingbirds (of which I've had WAAAAAY more this year than usual), and just leave the songbirds to forage the vegetables and flowers.  But I *seem* to have lots of them and certainly haven't seen any sick or dead ones.

Hope they figure it out.

[ktgrok]

huh...I was just about to order a bird feeder. Guess I won't!

[MEmama]

We’ve seen 6 hummingbirds, two outside the normal time they are in our yard (usually they come only when the azaleas bloom. I’m lucky to see another one or two in late summer when they migrate back through again). That’s more than I typically get, despite my various feeders and hummingbird friendly plants.

The regular bird numbers seem pretty typical so far, but I’ll definitely keep my eye out for any news of this hitting New England. Now I’m going to worry that maybe I should take the feeders down just in case! 

[Selkie]

We took down our bird feeders a few years ago because of the finch illness. We were finding sick and dead finches in our yard - it was so sad.

Now the only feeder left is our hummingbird feeder. Usually we have swarms of hummingbirds, but this year I have only seen a couple.

I'm in the midwest.

 

[marbel]

Thanks for posting. We had seen some warnings about this and taken down our feeders a few days ago. The goldfinches were so mad when they came around later that day! I miss seeing the birds around our feeders.

A local-ish news site had an article about pushback from people who are loath to give up their feeders. "I haven't seen any dead birds!" Well alrighty then. 

[ktgrok]

A friend let birdseed she spilled sprout in her garden area, and the birds eat the seeds right off the plants that grew. Would that still be safe?

[Innisfree]

1 minute ago, marbel said:

The goldfinches were so mad when they came around later that day! I miss seeing the birds around our feeders.

Yes, I hated to take them down. We've had families of babies lately-- so adorable, they're fully fledged but still have a bit of baby down in spots. Now the tufted titmouse family is trying to figure out where the feeder has gone. 

[Innisfree]

6 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

A friend let birdseed she spilled sprout in her garden area, and the birds eat the seeds right off the plants that grew. Would that still be safe?

I've been wondering what the limits are. The birds have to forage somewhere, so I don't know why foraging from garden plants would be any worse, kwim? I haven't brought in the shepherd's-crook type supports for the feeders, and the birds were hopping on them. But they also perch on any available branch, so... Idk.

I guess removing the feeders means removing places they tend to congregate, like telling us all to stay out of the grocery store. Then hopefully they forage in a more dispersed pattern.

Eta that maybe I'll at least wipe the feeder supports down with the bleach solution they mentioned. After the feeder's been gone a few days, they won't land on it much more than on any other good landing spots.

Edited July 8, 2021 by Innisfree

[Lady Florida.]

Not sure if Florida would count but I stopped a while ago anyway. I used to have such a variety of songbirds at my backyard feeder but at our new place I just get crows and mourning doves. I know it's because of the new construction and I expect more birds to come eventually but for now I'm not feeding any. Our ever hopeful neighbor still puts seed out so I'll let him know.

[MercyA]

This is happening in Indiana, too. 😞 

[Farrar]

One hypothesis is that it's something to do with the cicadas.

If you see a sick bird, the Smithsonian is doing research and wants to know:

https://nationalzoo.si.edu/bird-report

[sheryl]

Thanks for sharing.  Will not refill bird feeder right now.  

[Farrar]

WTOP (local DC news radio) is reporting that the bird deaths seem to be slackening off, which I think does give credence to the idea that it may have been cicada related. Of course, correlation is not causation, but the overlap in where the birds were dying and where the cicadas were, plus the emergence of the illness and the decrease once the cicadas are really gone... when it's a key part of their diets when they're out, it seems like it's likely.

They're urging people to continue taking feeders down and to use the Smithsonian portal to report sick birds.

[cintinative]

This is from the Ohio State University extension. I thought it might be helpful.

Bird-Ilness-Handout-June-2021-OSU-Extension.pdf

[prairiewindmomma]

Also PNW—but due to salmonellosis. Finches and pine siskins struggled through the spring. In April, when one can usually rehang, the recommendation came to not.

We were also told to scrub our bird baths, fwiw, and not refill except during the massive heat wave we just went through.

[Murphy101]

I wish I had known about this months ago. I’m not sure I understand the reasoning of the removing the feeders/baths.  Social birds that will congregate are still going to congregate. My husband says it’s like a birds’ 6 ft rule.

I had noticed a marked decrease in song birds on my early am walks. Usually around 5-6:30, dawn times the ruckus of song birds in my neighborhood is quite varied and volcano during that time. Dozens of birds calling to each other on a one block area. Now there’s only one or two birds singing at those times in each block area. I was sad bc I figured it was bc this is also peek spray all the insecticide everywhere and pour all the anti-algae stuff in the decorative water features. Both of which will cause very similar deaths in birds and make their eggs more fragile. 

[Innisfree]

12 minutes ago, Murphy101 said:

I wish I had known about this months ago.

Me too! I feel like I heard about it very late, but I just saw it mentioned by a naturalist I follow on Twitter the other day.