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cardinals?
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Posted by pinwheel SE PA (My Page) on Mon, May 26, 08 at 19:35
| Hi,
I realized today that I haven't seen the cardinal couple that uses my birdfeeder. It's been at least a few days since I last saw them, and it seems to me it's been longer than that, maybe a week or so.
There was another cardinal couple that used to compete for the feeder, and they haven't been around either.
Also there hasn't been any cardinal activity around the tree where they have nested for years.
Has anyone else had disappearing cardinals? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: cardinals?
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| Some of mine were eaten by Coopers or Sharpshin hawks. |
RE: cardinals?
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| I have noticed a lot of red tail hawks in my area recently. Some are larger, so they may be golden eagles. But either way, there have been a large increase in their numbers. pinwheel, Is there a housing development going up nearby, or a has someone knocked down some trees? It is possible that their habitat has been disrupted and they relocated. It is a shame that all these houses are going up everywhere. Developers clear the land to make a buck and not think about the habitats they are destroying. Why don't they knock down existing abandoned homes and re-develop those areas? |
RE: cardinals?
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| Last week I found a fluff of red feathers that seemed to spell the end of one of the resident cardinals here (probably also due to hawks)... but also early this spring there was a sick cardinal at the bird feeder. Kind of listless, no energy. A few days later I found the body not too far away. I only mention this because I almost NEVER find bird bodies around here, so I thought a sick bird was unusual. (but I also saw a healthy one this afternoon, so they're still around) |
RE: cardinals?
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| I have lots of Cardinals at my place in Centre County. This is the time of year when a lot of cardinals are busy nesting or raising young, which eat bugs, not seeds. So, your cardinals may be spending a lot of time on the nest, so you aren't seeing them, or spending a lot of time catching bugs for the young, so they don't visit feeders. They may also move to a nearby spot that is brushier than your yard, where they have found a more suitable place to nest. Also, with the abundant bugs around this time of the year, they simply might bother to visit feeders. I see lots of cardinals in the neighborhood, so I don't think there is any widespread decline of the Cardinal population going on. |
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