Yesterday morning, the sun broke through the clouds late and ordered us into the woods, where it was enchanting the new sugar-like snow sprinkled under the evergreen canopy. We obeyed and enjoyed moments such as these:
However, once we had entered the wooded world, we became aware – yet again this winter – of the absence of winter birds that we used to see and hear on most cold days. As with several prior walks this winter, yesterday we neither saw nor heard a single chickadee, nuthatch, or woodpecker. (We did hear a pileated woodpecker laugh at us from a great distance.) We also have been seeing significantly fewer winter song birds at our feeders this winter.
It may be just one of those localized quirks, but expert reports of extraordinary bird losses have got us worrying about our spring birds. We have no Rachel Carson to write another Silent Spring and environmentally sane people seem to be disappearing faster than the birds. (Brooklin, Maine)