where have all the rose breasted grosbeaks gone?

[art321]

We always enjoyed their visits and color and now we haven't seen many. 1 male and female. I've heard West Nile virus is devastating songbird populations. But they say the ones that survive are immune and virulent so it takes some time to re-establish said populations. I miss our Grosbeaks but have hope that they will return. Anyone else notice the decline and thoughts on the west nile ramifications on native bird populations? Also heard it has hit the blue jays, robins, titmouses, etc. Any input?????

[MARINERMAGNUM]

We have plenty of blue jays-more than normal. You can't swing a dead cat around here without hitting a robin.

[Steve Foss]

Jeez, MM, swinging a dead cat is straight out of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer." But I guess you ARE wtihin spitting distance of the Mississippi.

[MarchelRipley1]

I've noticed a larger amount of Rose Breasted GB's this year actually.

[Steve Foss]

Art, welcome to FM, by the way. It's great to have you here.

It's not unusual to see a good bit of variance in what types of birds come in from season to season. Lots of factors determine whether a certain species of bird comes around, and things that may have attracted them in recent years, things we don't notice, may not be there this year, for example.

As to West Nile, I can't really say I know enough about its real impact to have an opinion.

We have as many robins and jays in our yard this year as we ever have. And, while we usually have a couple r-b grosbeaks hanging around in summer and haven't seen them yet this year, that's not much to go on. I sure do like their song and the male's colors, though, and miss them when they're not around.

[art321]

Oh I've been around awhile. My post count had to go back to 0 when I had to reregister after a computer crash.

I've checked all my record keeping books and bird arrivals and such from years past and where I'm at we usually see them early to mid-May. Yet this year, only the one pair. It just struck me as odd and wondered if anyone else has experienced the same. It sounds like they're around, just not at my place. Yes, we have plenty of robins chirpping away at 4:30am and a good number of blue Jays, oriole, hummingbirds, cardinals, house wrens and the other usual suspects. We just miss the Grosbeaks.