mysterious dead birds?

[Space Toker]

I have been finding dead birds that seem apparently undamaged and I'd like to figure out what's causing it to prevent it if possible. Like 3 dead birds in 2 months, when I've only found a few more in my whole life! Among then were a dead junco, a ground feeding bird... and today a dead kinglet, a tree foraging bug eater. Both were found far from feeders or bird baths or windows.

I don't know if they are finding glass that they think is grit, if they have some disease, if it is coincidence and I am just finding birds that naturally reached the end of their life, or what it could be. If it were salmonella from the egg shells we put into the peanut butter suet, or the bird baths or feeders which are usually kept clean, there would be far more dead birds one would think. It is a grim mystery: help!

 

[Weezard]

I see that you live "Northeast of Nowhere".

For the last week, the midwest of nowhere has been getting hammered with storms.
Sometimes, small birds will get caught in the updrafts, frozen, and/or asphyxiated, and carried vast distances by the jet stream, where they then fall to the ground from clear skies.

That's probably what's happening there.

Aloha,
Weezard

 

[Growcephus]

Call your local fish and game department and I bet they'll be able to point you to a local ornithologist that might have some other answers for you as well.

Migration time is hard on those little dudes, and maybe those birds just didn't make it.

 

[Space Toker]

well, I could have/should have been an ornithologist. I did not "go all the way", but I do know something about the subject. And you both have a point. the junco is supposed to be here year round, but in reality is not in the summer, when they migrate into higher elevations. The kinglet, which I see just see one or two times in the late fall and maybe spring as well, was just around a few days ago bouncing around on the ends of branches and looking like it was falling off as it scraped the ends with its feet presumably to get bugs as it would then scrape its beak before "falling" down to another branch to do the same.

I was enjoying watching him, and as I only ever see one at a time a total of 2-4 times a year, he could have been the only one here! I feel so bad he is dead! But the point is, one is migratory and the other semi or pseudo migratory. The last few days have been extremely windy and unusually cold then a little above average. So maybe that did effect them. or is it affect? could never get that straight! anyway, I know birds from well outside their normal range can get swept up in hurricanes and other big storms and end up well outside their range. A storm did pass out to sea recently and was the reason for these winds. These were not accidentals or casuals, just a regular winter bird coming back and a regular but rare late fall visitor. Both did just complete their migration here at the time of their deaths.

The tree sparrows just came back most recently, I hope I don't find one of them dead either. yeah I am in the northeast. I am still skeptical as kinglets are noted for their hardiness of being able to survive some of the coldest temps on the planet despite being tiny maybe even smaller than a warbler, really the next biggest thing to a hummingbird! Truly amazing birds! And the junco I have been watching coming back in the fall here since the 80's and this is the first time I have seen a dead one! I forget what the first bird I found dead was. I just hope we are not in any way responsible for their deaths. Oh, ok the first bird was a goldfinch (here year round and frequently at the feeders and bird bath). That was the only one that was possibly explainable as the bird bath was a little dirty and I spotted a sickly looking one just sitting there on the edge of it looking sickly and was found the next day floating in it. Ok that revives a memory of a 4th bird, a house finch which was really the first found dead and kind of a pest. That and the goldfinch could have been affected by feeders or birdbaths. The bath was cleaned and has remained clean ever since. The feeders, well we have very rarely cleaned them but it has been that way since the early 80's and never a problem until the last few months. It has never been a problem (the last of the 80's feeders were retired a year or 2 ago) but I would feel horrible if it has suddenly become one somehow. I doubt that is it but will clean them to be sure. It is not as if they are encrusted with waste or anything, they look clean but seed can tend to rot in the bottoms of a couple tube feeders at times but I have been shaking that out and putting fresh in. The kinglet may visit the peanut butter conceivably, but did not eat seed. I think it mostly just ate soft or melting bits from the regular beef fat suet feeder. Juncos only rarely eat at the feeders and usually just on the ground. The finches are always at the feeders. So I don't know I officially call it a mystery still.

 

[Space Toker]

anyone else?

 

[AlterEgo860]

weird that u say that. I usually take the dog for walks with the girl.. and we have been seeing tons of undamaged dead birds everywere..; we been bringing poop bags.. and I picked 2 up.. and called animal control.. and they are having them tested.. im not sure if they will send me the results or not.. but they seemed to be very interested in this.. as they were saying something about westnile.. and other shit killing birds.. up in North CT

 

[Space Toker]

oh man that's not good! I am not that far from there, so it could be! Keep me posted if you find out more, and thanks for the info!

 

[supermanlives]

theres a few that wake me up early that I wish would die. one day I might help them squacking cherping mutherfuckers

 

[Space Toker]

Hahaha you rampaging redneck you!
Yes once when I was more of a nightowl and more in tune with owls than ordinary birds with my schedule, I used to dread hearing the sound I love now, the cardinals and several species of sparrows and all kinds of seasonal birds singing just before and after dawn. I have come to love them, their sounds sooth instead of annoy me now and even if I am still trying to sleep I enjoy the music and fall back to sleep. But I do still get annoyed at jays squaking endlessly and house (any species with the word "house" in it is a pest and no damn good) sparrows/finches/wrens/mice drive me nuts! but most that visit the feeders are wonderful incredible birds, they do so much with what little they have! I love most birds and don't want anything to happen to them.

 

[Space Toker]

no dead birds lately and I am happy!

 

[unregistered190]

Thats good news Space Toker...in the mornings I always enjoy a coffee on the back porch while listening to the birds waking up in the woods

 

[Space Toker]

Nice! I enjoy watching them on and under the feeders while having my coffee as well!

 

[armedoldhippy]

in some places, blackbirds & starlings roost in such huge numbers in winter that they create a health hazard with their droppings. when that occurs, the roost trees get an aerial spraying with a chemical that removes the protective oils from their feathers. this, in turn, lets them get wet & freeze to death. not violent, but death regardless. the ones you are finding may have had the misfortune of roosting near or with the pests. collateral damage so to speak...

 

[Gelado`]

I think it's an infectious disease like West Nile Virus--I remember finding a bunch in the backyard when I lived up your way, even a few right on my doorstep, which was unnerving.

 

[Space Toker]

Well still no dead birds, thrushes that shouldn't be here like discussed in another thread, but no dead birds thank God! But yes blackbirds of the redwing kind, and grackles, can be quite numerous around here in spring and fall mostly, same with cowbirds. Don't like house anything, house wrens or finches or sparrows. Jays can be quite pesky. Still 2x the species of "good" birds to bad, but I wish there were a way to take care of all those nasty things!

 

[MIway]

Nice! I enjoy watching them on and under the feeders while having my coffee as well!

the little dinnosaurs started eating my cat food this winter, lol. didnt know they did that.

 

[Space Toker]

Well I haven't had a cat in a while, but think the only birds I saw doing that were crows and jays. Anyway, they are little dinosaurs but that doesn't stop me from loving them (except the pests). There was a true sparrow (as opposed to a house sparrow which is not really a sparrow, they are pests true sparrows are not, many make that mistake) which could not seem to get on its feet, but rather kept falling over on its left side. I had to put it out of its misery, hated to but couldn't let it suffer. I hope this was an isolated incident and the problem whatever it is does not return.

 

[MIway]

i feed the outdoor cats in the neighborhood, so usually just have it out 24/7. with the winter this bad, birds started eating the cat food. give em an hour after sunrise & will eat both bowls, shit all over my porch too. they even were able to flip a cardboard cover, watched em do it. crafty... used their wings to get 'lift' on the cover, shit u not, lol. never identified them, just the everyday little ones that are all over. dont mind feeding em, but w cat food it gets expensive.

but no matter, they'll be here long after we are extinct...picking away at the last of us. maybe the world will start over w them? or the bees? i feel nature is more resilient than we are destructive... once we really screw things up, nature will rebound in full, just without us.

 

[xxxstr8edgexxx]

house cats are a menace to migrating song birds. severe ecological damage is done by them. when you feed feral cats it increases population density by lowering stressors that facilitate territorial aggression thus increasing population and rate of reproduction. areas where cats are fed get so dense that they become biological black holes.

 

[MIway]

wasnt aware of that... and in truth, never seen a local cat w a bird. nonetheless, it breaks my heart to see so many ferals out there. in actuality, never had cats before the housing bubble broke... it seemed like people were abandoning them everywhere. took in two cats at that time, for the first time. now the local kids see me as the crazy cat guy that just smokes cigarettes on the porch all day, lol. there are about 3 of us on two blocks that care for em... vet trips, catch & fix, winter homes, food, water. cant help myself anymore.