Silent Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall
By Jean Siers
February, 2024
The big windstorms that pushed through Salisbury in January took out two large trees in our neighbor’s yard. We live on a street with aging trees, and we were sad to see them go. In the year and half we’ve lived here, we’ve seen woodpeckers and chickadees and hawks in those trees, to name just a few species.
As we stood in our driveway with another neighbor, watching the tree company work, she told us about the yard that is ours now: About five years ago, the previous owners had removed an enormous sycamore and a magnolia, which dwarfed our small lot. Our neighbor said, “It was nice to get more light, but I noticed right away that the yard sounded dead. We used to hear birds all the time, and they were silenced. Just silenced.”
She thought it might have been her imagination, but it most likely was not. Trees are essential for our feathered friends, and the loss of our tree canopy and the leaves and bugs and habitat they provide, across the country and right here on the Eastern Shore, has a crushing impact on their numbers.
A recent story in the Washington Post discusses the decline of bird populations tracked by eBird across the country and allows readers to search for birds by location to see general population trends from 2012 to 2022. I searched for bird populations in Salisbury, MD:
American Robin (down 21%)
Barn Swallow (down 19%)
Red-winged Blackbird (down 37%)
Ring Billed and Herring Gulls (down 30% and 33% respectively)
Carolina Chickadee (down 12%)
Carolina Wren (up 17%)
Turkey Vulture (up13%)
Snow Goose (up 23%)
American Crow down 12% nationally and down 19% in Salisbury, MD
Most of the changes in bird populations can be traced to human activity: habitat loss, pesticide use, light pollution which affects migratory bird paths, climate change in general, and even domestic cats allowed to roam free.
There are, of course, some bird success stories. Vulture populations are up because they are highly adaptable to many different environments. Snow geese and other waterfowl benefit from money dedicated to preservation from groups such as Ducks Unlimited.
Another recent article in the New York Times also highlighted how human behaviors can affect biodiversity in cities. The article references academic studies which show that bird populations in neighborhoods that were redlined beginning in the 1930s are dramatically lower and have much less diverse populations than wealthier and predominantly white neighborhoods. Wealthier neighborhoods have more trees, more parks.
Why does any of this matter? Lots of reasons. First, like the proverbial canary in the coal mine, bird populations tell us about the environments around us. They are bellwethers. A neighborhood where birds don’t thrive often means a neighborhood lacking, for instance, clean air for humans as well. Also, those disappearing barn swallows? They eat up to 850 bugs each per day. We need them to keep bug populations under control. Birds help pollinate plants. They help spread seeds of natives to improve plant diversity.
And they just make us feel better. This is from an essay in Audubon, ". . . a new study by the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research connected greater bird biodiversity to increased life satisfaction for more than 26,000 people in 26 European countries. It turns out the people who live near natural areas with a greater diversity of bird species were demonstrably happier. In fact, the study found that seeing 10 percent more bird species generates satisfaction on par with a comparable increase in income.”
What can we do?
We can encourage local governments to plant native trees that provide shelter and food for bird populations, both in street plantings and in parks and other public spaces.
If we have a yard, we can plant native trees and shrubs.
Beyond shelter and food, birds need sources of water. Simple bird baths in your yard will offer birds a safe place to drink and bathe.
Native perennials provide seeds (think about goldfinches and coneflowers and rudbeckia) and options for pollinators (for example, hummingbirds and honeysuckle).
I’m already planning on a few more native shrubs and trees for my own small yard, as well as lots of perennials that are, excuse the pun, perennial favorites of birds and butterflies. While they might not offset the loss of the old, large trees behind me, I know it’s a place to start.
Jean Siers is the Delmarva regional director for the Society of St. Andrew; a WET board member; and a Maryland Agriculture Extension Master Gardner intern.