Anyone else notice a lack of birds in the Valley? (Phoenix: house, neighborhood)

[trumpethim]

My wife and I have both noticed in thinking back over the last couple of months, that there seems to be a lack of birds. We live in NE Mesa, but there has always been a good amount of birds in the trees and flying around the neighborhood. I'm a bit hard of hearing, so the chirping wouldn't be noticed by me, but my wife notices a difference. But one sound I have missed and that I CAN hear, is the chattering of the Mockingbirds in the spring, and this year I don't recall hearing a single one, and I've only seen a few in flight around here. Has anyone else noticed this, or maybe this is a neighborhood thing. We live near 2 golf courses, and the Salt River, along with it's flora and fauna are close by, so I have my doubts that it is the area we live in that is chasing them off. I also purposely watched for birds as I drove around for a while this morning, but there were few to be found. Comments?

[LBTRS]

Haven't noticed that here...matter of fact, give me your address and I'll hand deliver some of the pigeons that roost on my roof so you can enjoy the "birds" again.

[Jimrob1]

I don't live there now, but those quails were ridiculous. They were building nests in anything and everything on the patio. The sound of their constant flying from the ground up to the roof, was like a giant fan. I don't remember really seeing other types of birds all that much in Arizona. Though I'm sure they were there.

[grmi66]

On my side of town it's all about the sparrows. Even though I live about a mile and a half from a wetlands area full of bird diversity, all I see are sparrows. Have a couple of bird feeders and one attracts the sparrows and the other the occasional hummingbird. But I guess it's better than the woodpeckers I had when I lived in north central Phoenix. They kept putting holes in the side of my house and pulling out insulation.

[Bondurant]

My car must follow the path of the only birds in the Valley.

[new2colo]

Originally Posted by trumpethim

My wife and I have both noticed in thinking back over the last couple of months, that there seems to be a lack of birds. We live in NE Mesa, but there has always been a good amount of birds in the trees and flying around the neighborhood. I'm a bit hard of hearing, so the chirping wouldn't be noticed by me, but my wife notices a difference. But one sound I have missed and that I CAN hear, is the chattering of the Mockingbirds in the spring, and this year I don't recall hearing a single one, and I've only seen a few in flight around here. Has anyone else noticed this, or maybe this is a neighborhood thing. We live near 2 golf courses, and the Salt River, along with it's flora and fauna are close by, so I have my doubts that it is the area we live in that is chasing them off. I also purposely watched for birds as I drove around for a while this morning, but there were few to be found. Comments?

I have seen no shortage of bids here. This winter I experienced massive flocks of black birds in the ficus trees of a neighboring property, especially in the afternoon. I also had a near daily visit on my porch by a hummingbird. I have a friend in the West Valley who has a tremendous problem with pigeons who use his walkway and roof as a bathroom. I also find my car splattered with bird poop at least 1-2 times weekly. You must be lucky.

[DetroitN8V]

We have a surplus. Please come to north Scottsdale and take as many as you'd like. We have these doves everywhere that make this really loud cooing sound all day (I originally thought it was owls), giant crows that squawk like crazy, woodpeckers everywhere and quails pooping all over block walls. I was actually just talking with a neighbor and we both agreed that there are tons of birds around this year. DM for my address and come with a large net.

[trumpethim]

Originally Posted by new2colo

I have seen no shortage of bids here. This winter I experienced massive flocks of black birds in the ficus trees of a neighboring property, especially in the afternoon. I also had a near daily visit on my porch by a hummingbird. I have a friend in the West Valley who has a tremendous problem with pigeons who use his walkway and roof as a bathroom. I also find my car splattered with bird poop at least 1-2 times weekly. You must be lucky.

Well, that's good to hear that it's just a thing that may be happening here. As far as pigeons go, you can keep them! Maybe it's the vapors from the meth labs that I heard are in the neighborhood! No evidence for sure though! LOL! In my little 5 mile ride today, I saw 1 blackbird and a sparrow. That was it. I did see some late-leaving snowbirds though! An Arkansonian and a Saskatchetonian!

[wit-nit]

Birds galore here, especially pigeons, and we also have mockingbirds, owls, ravens and a few other species like geese, ducks, swans, hummingbirds, etal.
Driving down the road the other day someone tried to give me a bird so I see no shortages around town.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by wit-nit

Birds galore here, especially pigeons, and we also have mockingbirds, owls, ravens and a few other species like geese, ducks, swans, hummingbirds, etal.
Driving down the road the other day someone tried to give me a bird so I see no shortages around town.

Too funny^^!

In our neighborhood (home of 14 parks and tons of trees) there are more birds here than I see in MN. In AZ, you don't need a bird feeder to attract them. In AZ, birds want water. My wife loves to watch birds so we left our fountain on. Humming birds galore are landing and bathing themselves in the bubbling water. Way cool! Now the sparrows and mocking birds have figured it out. Inside of a month, I had to turn off the water. Birds==bird poop.