no birds

[lifemuffin]

can anyone explain to me why suddenly all the birds have stopped coming to my feeders? I have had, until last week, goldfinch, greenfinch, chaffinch,as many as 30 of these together at any one time, sparrows, a few starlings, the odd robin and blackbird, now suddenly nothing! I had a visit or two from a sparrow hawk about a month ago and it didn't seem to deter them at the time. My neighbour is suffering too and her feeding area is too enclosed for the sparrow hawk to go to her garden so I can't think it's that. I have been feeding birds for years and have never experienced a dirth of birds as I have in the last week I would love to know why I miss them so much.
hollytree

[squishy]

welcome to WAB lifemuffin. it appears you accidentally posted this thread twice, but never mind.

dont worry about your birds! its just that the birds need to change their feathers at this time of year, and for periods when they are doing this they cant move properly and therefore need to stay hidden from predators (like the spawk). it is very common for gardens to appear empty of birds at this time because of this.

they will all return in a few weeks

[Adam Cheeseman]

They don't change their feathers all at once. It's a protracted change where a few are droppped and replaced at a time. They might look a little unkempt but they should still have decent manoeuvreability so raptors aren't really any more of a problem than normal.

Cheers,

Adam

[Gill Catton]

It may well be that the birds have moved on in migration a little. Many don't reallise that its not just the swallows ans geese and fieldfares that move around in the autumn /winter

[Hedge Witch]

The birds haven't lessened in my garden too. It's ever since the fireworks for Diwali and bonfire night - we live in a "war zone" at this time of year. I'm going to record what happens next year before I make too much of a judgement though.

I'm hoping they will come back / others will visit.

[DavyG]

I'm experiencing the same thing.

Up until around 5th November, we were having to refill the sunflower heart feeder every 2 to 3 days, since 5th November it's been refilled once.

There were a number of different bird species moving around in the trees today but very few came into the feeders.

Let's hope they some back soon.

Dave

[galanthus]

There's a lot of flora bearing berries and seeds around now so our usual food provided at bird tables etc aren't really as necessary. As the weather gets colder and the food on the trees et al get eaten they'll soon return

[Ollie]

I find that when the weather is a little milder as has been recently the number of birds using the feeders decreases. As soon as it turns a little colder they will be back and it's forecast to turn colder by the end of this week.
Roger

[Wild-Woman]

They've all been down our way emptying our feeders today!

[squishy]

no, they will stay abit more hidden when they are changing plumage