We’re not sure why we haven’t seen the number and variety of birds this year that we’ve had in the past. Our speculation is mainly that clear cutting in South America has led to loss of habitat in critical wintering grounds as well as the impact of storms during fall migration. But we don’t really know. All I can say is that it’s been a sadly difficult year for birds. Except for Northern Cardinals, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Wrens, and Carolina Chickadees, all of which have done very well and are everywhere around here.
In the past, we’ve had a much greater variety and simply more birds including Kentucky Warblers, Hooded Warblers, Prairie Warblers, and Swainson’s Warbler. Last year, we had Hooded Warblers, Prairie Warblers, and Swainson’s Warblers. This year, we’ve had none of those. Well, we did briefly have one male Prairie Warbler during spring migration, but he didn’t seem to stick around very long.
The birds that we do have are here in far fewer numbers, such as the Prothonotary Warbler. Last year (2020) we had so many Prothonotary Warblers that one pair nested in an old birdhouse we had set up as a decoration figuring that no sane bird would nest in it. We even installed four new nest boxes during the winter to give them more options for nesting.
In 2020, I counted at least five pairs of prothonotaries on our property. For those wondering how I know, I based my counting on finding prothonotary nests with a singing male and a female in a specific area. The pair nesting in our yard raised and fledged 4 chicks and at least two of the nests in the swamp also fledged 4 chicks each as I watched the fledglings following the adults around and begging for food in or near their home ranges. Other nests may have fledged more, but I know for sure about those in 2020.
In 2021, I only found two pairs in the swamp and of those, I only found one group of 3 or 4 fledglings following adults around and begging.
That’s not to say that there aren’t more, but I can say that it was dramatically fewer than in 2020. We’re seeing far fewer White Ibis, Wood Storks, and various egrets (e.g. Great Blue Egret, Snowy Egret, Great Egret) as well and the flocks are half what they were this time last year. In 2020, it wasn’t unusual for me to see a flock of 200 White Ibis. This year, I see flocks of around 50 or so.
The burgeoning Yellow-crowned Night-heron colonies here did really well in 2020, with 4 nests fledging a grand total of 20 chicks! Of course, after fledging, who is to say how many survived, but that was at least 20 fledglings that left the nest alive as well as the original 8 adults. And I quite often saw adults and juveniles foraging for crayfish around our property until they left during fall migration.
This year was very bad for the night-herons. I only found two nests. Each nest originally had 5 chicks that hatched. Then…raccoons found them. The raccoons got at least one adult (I found a puddle of adult feathers attesting to this) as well as at least 9 of the 10 chicks. I say 9 out of the 10 because a month later, I found one juvenile Yellow-crowned Night-heron on our property. That’s not to say it is the 10th chick–it may be a juvenile from an entirely different nest somewhere else around here–but I did see that one. I’ve seen no adults since the raccoons discovered the nests. It’s possible the surviving adults (if there were any) simply went elsewhere. I certainly hope so.
But I’m not sure what that means for next year–that may have spelled the end of our tiny Yellow-crowned Night-heron colony.
In 2020, we also had White-eyed Vireos all over the place (as well as other vireos like the Yellow-throated Vireo and Red-eyed Vireo) and juvenile birds flitting around everywhere. This summer, I’ve only seen a few adults and two juvenile birds. Last year, we had at least 8 juveniles and close to 10 adults.
I always hate being pessimistic, however, and perhaps next year will be better. We are certainly doing everything we can to provide good quality habitat. We’ve even ordered 100 wild cherry trees to plant around our property to provide more food and shelter for a variety of species.
All was not completely lost this year either, even with far fewer birds. Past the edge of our swamp property is more swamp and somewhere in that tangle of trees and water, Little Blue Herons did pretty well. They visit our property regularly even though they don’t nest here (or at least I haven’t found any of their nests). I’ve counted 7 adults at one time and this month (July) I counted close to 35 juvenile Little Blue Herons! So they had a pretty good colony somewhere with a decent success rate.
As you can see, the juvenile Little Blue Herons are actually white so it’s pretty easy to count the juveniles and the adults. The photo above was taken just a few days ago on our property and that was the day that I counted close to 35 (well, exactly 35) juvenile birds exploring the mudflats and streams and searching for crayfish. There were 6 adults with them that day, but I’ve seen as many as 7 adults at one time.
The young Little Blue Herons seem to like hanging out with the White Ibis. Wherever I see a flock of White Ibis, I find a few Little Blue Herons mixed in and vice versa. The day I counted 35 young Little Blue Herons, I also spotted a small flock of juvenile White Ibis (7 birds) and 1 mature White Ibis foraging with them.
So a few birds did manage to raise young despite the predation and other factors. And who knows? Maybe more of our warblers will be back next year and the prothonotaries will decide to nest in one of our numerous nest boxes again. Hopefully, they’ll choose a good nest box instead of a rotten decorative one, but that choice is entirely up to them.
Every spring, I’m filled with optimism and hope that a variety of birds will come to our neck of the woods and build nests to raise a family. Every year is unique and special. Here’s hoping that 2022 will be an outstanding year.
