I’ve been getting a lot of emails from readers asking why so few birds are coming to their feeders this winter.
Many note in particular a scarcity of cardinals.
Here’s one example from a man who lives on the Muskingum River in Morgan County in southeastern Ohio: “My bird feeders this winter are totally void of cardinals. Why is this?”
Jim McCormac, the avian expert at the Ohio Division of Wildlife, said he is getting similar questions.
He suggested that one reason fewer birds are showing up at feeders is an abundance of natural food this winter. He called it “a bumper crop,” particularly of seeds and fruits on certain trees and plants, including tulip trees, poison ivy, rose hips and red cedars.
McCormac is leaning toward that conclusion because he noticed a lot of cardinals feeding in tulip trees while doing Christmas bird counts this winter.
In the summer, goldfinches sometimes disappear from our feeders for long periods because they are off eating seeds from wild plants and garden flowers.
If the birds are concentrating on wild foods, folks who live in rural areas probably would notice it more, McCormac said.
I have heard bird experts say that birds often favor wild food over what we offer in our feeders.
It is my custom to name every fall and winter bird-feeding season after a particular species to differentiate one year from another. The name may come from an unusual bird at my feeders that winter or because I had an abundance of one species.
Last year was the red-breasted nuthatch season because so many came from the far north to spend the winter with us because of a shortage of food in their normal habitat. I’ve named seasons after northern flickers, mockingbirds and so on.
This has not been a particularly outstanding season so far, although I have been getting my normal complement of cardinals and blue jays. Right now, I am leaning toward naming this season after a dazzling, male red-bellied woodpecker that has been visiting my feeder each day since late summer.
He is so gorgeous that every time I see him he brightens my day.
Here is something that might brighten your day: Sunset is now coming more than 25 minutes later than it did on
Dec. 21, the winter solstice. Daylight is growing longer.
Retired weather columnist John Switzer writes a Sunday Metro column.