CEE’S FUN FOTO CHALLENGE: MANY BIRDS
This morning, I noticed that the Brown-headed Cowbirds are back. They were missing last summer, but we’d had a slew of them the year before. Each year is a little different. My guess is that some of this is based on what kind of food we are offering, but also on the weather and luck.
We are losing birds by the billions. Not millions — BILLIONS. About 30 billion in the past two decades and as we keep cutting down the places where they used to live, only those that are comfortable living near people survive and much of that is due to backyard feeders.
The birds have helped us through the past year and some as we’ve tried hard to retain our sanity in the midst of changing times and pandemic illness as well as major social changes. I keep looking at the world and wondering where I am. I don’t recognize my world. The birds must feel like strangers when they migrate to what was their forested home only to find asphalt and flat, grassy lawns.
However displaced we feel, it can’t be nearly as heartbreaking as being a wild creature who has lost his whole world. So, we feed them. We enjoy their company, too. We feed the squirrels, the little chipmunks, and every other creature that we can manage.
We’d feed the flying squirrels too, but they simply eat more than we can offer them. I wish I could, but I can’t give out 10 pounds of food every night. I hope they find good food elsewhere.
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Categories: #Birds, #gallery, #Photography, Cee's Photo Challenge, Wildlife
#CBWC – BIRDS IN BLACK & WHITE 
NATURE’S PATTERNS IN BLACK & WHITE 
FEATHERS – Marilyn Armstrong 
THE CUTE FACTOR IN BLACK & WHITE – Marilyn Armstrong 
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
Marilyn, you have a heart of gold. Your statement should shock us all into action. I’ve been guilty of taking birds for granted until recently thanks to my blogging friends.
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I think many people take them for granted which really should be perfectly normal. IF we had a more normal world, that is. The problem is this isn’t a normal world. Aside from whatever issues climate change brings, the thing that is fastest killing the birds are cutting down all the wooded places they lived, tall building that are lit all night in the middle of migratory paths, pesticides and chemical fertilizers. The biggest, worst one is cutting down the woods everywhere a developer thinks he can build another expensive house. The ugliest part of this is that is doesn’t have to BE this way. Houses can be tucked into the trees. You don’t have to clear-cut every property. Yes, it makes it easier for the builder, but it eliminates all the wildlife, especially birds, but not exclusively. The lights in tall buildings can be dimmed and they are doing that in New York now. Not only does it save the birds, it also cuts electricity costs HUGELY.
Some of these pesticides and fertilizers should have been banned years ago. The kill the birds and pretty much everything else that eats anything in or around where they’ve been used and there are plenty of NON TOXIC pesticides and fertilizers. They don’t have to use those lethal ones, but they are cheaper to produce.
And of course, water pollution which is pretty lethal to everything near it including us. I feed them because I want them to live. I hope after me someone else will feed them.
We SHOULD be able to take them for granted, but we need to have a world where they can nest and make babies and eat natural food without getting poisoned. We don’t even need a national referendum for this. We could ALL pitch it and make sure developers are required to treat the land with respect and people can read labels on spray cans and NOT buy the ones with all the skulls and crossbones. It’s so frustrating that even this small amount of effort seems beyond us.
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You raise good issues and unfortunately people need to hear it constantly.
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Oh what lovely birds of many feathers you have on display 😀
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Thank you. I tried to pick one of each of my favorites. It turns out, I have a lot of favorites. Birds are so much fun to photograph. Love YOUR pelicans. I wish we had some, but we are too far north.
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Wonderful variety of birds you have there!
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Thanks. And the feathered friends thank you, too 🙂
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Your bird photos are wonderful as always . I really should get a feeder before winter.
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You really just need a flat box with something to hang it on. The flat feeders are inexpensive and the nice thing is that any kind of bird can use it. The cage feeders have to be the right kind for whatever birds you have, so if you have a lot of various birds, a box with a grate and hangers will make all the birds happy. Well, depending on what you feed them!
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