SILENT SPRING

Winter 2006/07 scared me.

While I've been noticing a slow decline in visiting migrating birds in the past years, the recent season was woefully sparse, despite my extra effort and budget to provide food, even splurging on Thistle seeds. The migrating stopovers were the lowest I've seen in over ten years; even the cacophonous springtime onslaught of Robins appeared to be thinned out. One big fat old noble male (no, not me) stayed until the end of May, either oblivious to or relishing his solitary stint.

No uncommon birds were spotted, save for a pair of Orioles, which optimistically is the same pair seen here the past three years. Cedar Waxwings numbers were somewhat fewer. but the flocks stayed unusually long this year, despite some very warm weeks, perhaps because of the extra abundance of fruit borne on the Black Cherries and Cherry Laurels , perhaps not.

Across the road, the local tribe of threatened Florida Scrub Jays, which were banded during a filming of a documentary by the University of Florida has decreased from a thriving family of six to two haggard individuals in a span of six months, obviously because of urban sprawl and subsequent traffic creeping ever closer. Fucked up.

American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula)
Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)
Florida Scrub Jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens)

Black Cherry (Prunus serotina)
Carolina Cherry Laruel (Prunus caroliniana)

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