It has been a hard winter for suburban bird spotters in Great Britain. The nation's house birds have disappeared from towns and cities, leaving gardens devoid of their most familiar feathered visitors.The absence of the birds has triggered a flurry of letters and emails to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds from anxious householders disconcerted by the absence of blue tits, greenfinches, chaffinches and house sparrows from suburban Britain.
"We have been inundated with letters over the past few weeks from homeowners who have got used to seeing house birds in their gardens over our recent harsh winters but who are perplexed by their absence this year," said Nik Shelton, an RSPB official.
The reason for the birds' disappearance is straightforward, he added.
"House birds like the blue tit or the chaffinch (left, a male chaffinch) eat seeds or insects, which are easy to find in the countryside when the weather is mild, as it has been for this winter so far. When the conditions get tough, when the ground becomes hard and 
frosty, it is difficult to get at insects or pick up seeds. Food becomes scarce, so the birds head into towns and cities in search of sustenance. That is what happened last year and the year before when we had very hard winters. But not this year. Our blue tits (at right) and chaffinches are perfectly happy in the countryside at the moment."
The unexpectedly mild conditions have had other disconcerting effects on Britain's birds. For example, woodpeckers (at left) can be heard making their distinctive drumming noise in woods, a territorial display 
that is usually a prelude to nesting and which is not normally heard until later in the year. Jackdaws (at right) appear to be equally confused. "The warm weather has convinced them that spring is at hand. It will take a severe cold snap before they can reset their internal clocks and resume normal behavior for the time of year," added Shelton. |
"The first scenario consists of changeable weather with rain at times and with temperatures noticeably above average for early February, with only occasional frosts," said a Met Office forecaster. "The alternative scenario is that much colder
weather with winds mainly from an easterly or northeasterly quarter, will prevail well into February, bringing widespread frosts and snow to some areas. At present we cannot determine which will happen."In other words, it is a 50-50 shot if the nation's house birds return to suburbia to avoid the cold of the countryside next month and the woodpeckers stop their drumming.
Source:
The Guardian,"Why Britain's garden birds are staying in the country", by Robin McKie, accessed January 24, 2012
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, credit for bird images, accessed January 24, 2012
