Since November I have had a number of people comment to me that there are many fewer birds around this winter than usual.  Ed Carlson, Director at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, recently told me that visitors to the Sanctuary “want to know where all the birds are.”  And earlier, in a 30 November 2008 article in the Miami Herald about the up-coming Christmas Bird Counts, local count organizers reported a “melancholy aspect” to the annual event, because of the disappearance in urban areas in south Florida of such birds as rare warblers, ducks and sparrows, Carolina wrens and white-eyed vireos. These reports and concerns seem to point to two different scales of change in the wintering birds in Florida.  The question from Corkscrew exemplifies the comments from a number of observers that birds have been unusually scarce in this winter of 2008/2009.  The “melancholy” comment reflects a more long term decline in many species, including many that we once considered common, but which are becoming increasingly less so.

The big question is what can we do about it?  Many people suggest (continue reading here)