Where are the Songbirds?

I just realized something. This summer, I bought a bird feeder for our lower porch to attract birds to entertain the cats, since they don't have much to look at otherwise. But aside from a few mourning doves, it hasn't been visited once. It's been looking rather sad actually. I kept wondering where all of the birds are.  The birds that I have been looking for all summer, the missing songbirds, flew north. North! Every year in Pennsylvania I would watch all the birds fly south for the winter. It never occurred to me that in the Spring they all came back from somewhere. Duh, the South!!! Well now I am on the southern end of the migration. All the birds I have been missing all summer are coming back now that it is Fall. I just heard a few house sparrows outside as I was sitting here eating my homemade pistachio ice cream for breakfast.

http://www.birdnature.com/allflyways.html

You can see on this map on the far west side, a little Flyway is coming down and landing right about where I am. I am very excited that my bird feeder might be getting a little action finally.

On a more sobering note, songbirds are disappearing all over the country, primarily because of a loss of habitat. As more and more family farms disappear, so do the tree lines and hedgerows that serve as areas or protection and nesting sites for birds. A stop over point on a migration route that has food and shelter is essential for birds to replenish energy stores in order to safely make their way to their wintering grounds. As more and more areas are developed, these stop over points become few and far between. At least 20 species have lost 50% of their population in the last 40 years. The state of songbird populations is an important indicator of the ecosystem health as a whole. The Audubon society (where I'm getting this information) says that individuals can actually make a difference for birds. Even having a small area of native plants in your yard and providing water can help birds survive migration. The Audubon society lists ten things you can do to help here.

My notebook for specifically bird drawings.... and the first drawing in it. Hoping I will get to add more once my bird feeder becomes a popular hangout this winter.