re: What happened to the black bird flocks

Go to any Kroger parking lot if you want to see grackles

Deforestation and building

I don’t see very many birds of any kind like I used to and I live out in the country on family land I’ve been coming to all my life.
Have Cardinals,Wrens,Hummingbirds,Crows
Haven’t seen a Mockingbird in probably 5 years,very few Blue Jays.Used to have several kinds of woodpeckers-Downy,Pileated,Flickers,never see them anymore.We had a pair of Red Headed Woodpeckers around the yard last year but they’re not here this year.
We used to always have Red Shouldered Hawks,rarely see them anymore.

It’s kinda disconcerting to tell the truth.

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Murders

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And murmurations.

Went to the same place as the lightning bugs and missing socks

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Grey catbird? You certain thats not brown headed cowbird?

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Funny you ask, because I thought the same for a while. I kept seeing them and figured they were Cowbirds because they'd be mixed in, too. I started taking pics and IDd both, actually. I don't see the arsehole brown heads with them as much in Winter, mainly when they're flocking up in the Fall.

On an unrelated note, I'll never know how a Brown Headed Cowbird knows how to be a Brown Headed Cowbird. Nature is really strong in that one, because Nurture doesn't matter at all.

Many comments here must be a regional/local thing.

Fireflies have been increasing in numbers every year on my acreage in Wisconsin. Same can be said about blackbirds of various types and when they migrate through the flocks have gotten bigger each year over the past decade.

The “save the monarch/monarchs are endangered” propaganda gets louder every year and that’s a good thing but holy shite balls….those things are everywhere in and around the town where I live. Walking around my yard you’d never think that they are at risk at all.

“Modern” farming practices along with some of the newer pesticides and herbicides messed up the biodiversity big time. I used to despise crows and became curious what the point of having them around was and then I learned that one of their preferred food sources are junebug larvae. Now I try to make my place more crow friendly and in doing so the yearly junebug invasions have become but a whimper.

Too early, not cold enough yet

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When I was a young, I saw huge black bird flocks flying over my place of residence.

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Same here, there would be thick lines of them lasting for minutes (read: miles long). I can't remember the last time I've seen that large a migration of them.

Conversely, we now see more geese than we used to but they are more noticeable when resting. There can be so many it makes a field look like it's covered in snow (but those are still nothing compared to the old black bird migrations).