Where have all the young birds gone?
Songbirds may soon return to backyard nesting grounds to feed and roost
If you happen to see my bluebirds, let me know.
A pair of bluebirds nesting in my yard this summer raised three broods, producing at least eight chicks that grew to be juveniles. And boy, did they eat.
My wife, Kathy, and I kept cartons of mealworms stacked in our refrigerator to nourish our bluebirds morning, noon and afternoon. Our neighbor Yoka Meyer kindly helped feed them when we were away.
But they’ve been gone since mid-August, well before Hurricane Harvey. Same is true for our red-bellied and downy woodpecker families that each raised a couple of chicks. Our mockingbird family, including the male singing from dawn to dusk, are nowhere to be seen or heard.
As compensation, rubythroated hummingbirds have been coming to our yard since late-August in numbers of up to 10 at a time. Our refrigerator now holds bottles of sugar water to refill hummingbird feeders.
Readers with similar stories ask, what’s going on?
Hummingbirds are gulping down sugar-water and flower nectar for energy to chase down and gobble up insects, which will build up body fat to fuel their migratory flight to southern Mexico and Central America. Some will remain in Texas.
Meanwhile, resident backyard songbirds and their young usually wander off after breeding season in a behavior called post-breeding dispersal. But why?
Studies indicate that young birds go in search of their own
territories to avoid competing with parents and siblings for food. Young also disperse to avoid inbreeding with siblings and female parents.
Breeding with close family members can result in physically impaired offspring, and long-term inbreeding will have a deleterious effect on the gene pool.
A few birds, including red-cockaded woodpeckers, engage in cooperative breeding, wherein one or more young males remain with their parents as nonbreeding “helpers” for the next nesting season.
Parent birds, being weary after months spent feeding chicks and guarding breeding territories from interlopers, may meander to territories with new food sources and with fewer competitors for food.
Migratory songbirds, like summer tanagers that breed in local neighborhoods, go to winter homes in Latin America, whereas migrants like yellowrumped warblers that breed in northern states, go to our neighborhoods for the winter.
Resident songbirds that flew the coop, so to speak, may soon return from their meanderings to backyard nesting grounds to feed and roost before breeding again in the spring.
Ah ha! My bluebirds came back. The male and female just perched atop their old nest box, and I’ll be dishing out mealworms shortly.