The "An Alarming Loss Of Wildlife On Our Rear Deck!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Cleaning out our bird houses after another season of listening to and watching a few houses of baby birds again this year.  This year we did notice a drop in the birds that built nests and raised their young ones on our back deck.  It seems that each year we have a slight decline in how many houses are filled on our deck.  

A few of the many birdhouses we have on our rear deck.

This year we did not see any chickadees, gold finches, tufted titmice or dark-eyed juncos at all, but still had a few houses of wrens.  Also had the usual bluejays, cardinals, finches and sparrows, but seems that they are visiting our bird feeder in fewer quantities.  My wife and I have been traveling to the island of St. Martin for many years and just about every year we have fed the island's sugar birds, aka Banaquit.  

Sugar birds feeding on sugar in St. Martin.

At times they would come in large numbers, but the past two years we have seen only a few.  Could be that many were killed or left the island due to Hurricane Irma which devastated the island in September of 2017.  But, we felt we should have seen a few during the past year.  

The House Wren

So, what's going on?  Naturally, I went online to see if I could find the answer to the decline in the birds around the world and found there is a shocking decline in the numbers of birds world wide.  The decrease has been staggering with a decline of about 3 billion just in North America.  And, that's not just in rare species, but in the backyard species such as the chickadees, wrens and even the tufted titmice.  So why is there such a big drop in backyard birds.  Seems it is due to the Earth's ecosystems and their ability to support life.  

The dark-eyed Junco

The main culprit is habitat and loss of degrada- tion.  Can also be an increase in feral cats, and pet cats that are allowed to be outside.  We do have a few feral cats in our neighborhood, but now have two less since we have made them into indoor cats almost two years ago. And one more reason might be the insects the birds rely on for food.  Other reports say wind turbines and building strikes take their toll.  Not sure I believe the wind turbines do that much damage, but I can see that large buildings that are lit at night lead birds to fly into their windows.  

The Chickadee

We have a large glass door on our back deck and have had a few birds fly into it.  Our neighbor- hood has had a recent large shopping center open as well as a few large new buildings.  So, what can Carol and I, as well as you, do to bring back the birds?  First, put out a birdbath that you can heat in the winter.  Plant native trees, shrubs and flowers that provide seeds and berries favored by birds.  A few examples would be the Dogwood, crabapple, winterberry, holly and hawthorn plants.  Put out numerous bird feeders including hummingbird feeders.  Also call your Congressperson and ask them to support The Recovering America's Wildlife Act which will help with declines in fish and bird life.  It is rather depressing not to see the wildlife that we used to see on our back deck.  What will happen if the loss becomes greater?  I'm not sure, but I hope the decline can be stopped before that happens.  Do all you can to help, please!  It wasn't another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.