Chicago outdoors: Questions of feeder birds, an odd perch and changing singing insects around Chicag

[SheltieLover]

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/1/24/22246960/chicago-outdoors-questions-feeder-birds-odd-perch-changing-singing-insects-chicago

Fritz Plous emailed earlier this month about a lack of birds at his feeder, which they had just put up 10 days ago after a two-year absence because of neighborhood rat problems.

“But there have been no bird visits and there is no seed on the ground underneath it,” Plous emailed. “My daughter said she saw a sparrow on it briefly this morning, but it flew away and has not returned.

“Our neighbor has always had a feeder and has always been successful at attracting birds. But yesterday she said, `Something’s wrong. This time of year I always see sparrows, juncos, chickadees and cardinals, but this year I’m only seeing a few sparrows.’ “

The question was universal, so I tweeted the Field Museum’s Museum’s senior conservation ecologist Doug Stotz.

More at link. Interesting article.