Its just so quiet now (Zurich) since a couple of months. No sparrows,no blackbird ,just a couple of crows.

Seen plenty of sparrows, crows, magpies and hawks here, but we are out in the countryside.

I like to look at the birds when it's hot out. Maybe wrong thread.

You filthy ornithophile, you!

I was actually wondering the same the other day while I was out in my garden. I've seen some of "the big guys" out there lately, but all of the small birds seem to have gone MIA. Maybe it's been too hot for them here so they booked some Airbnb's up in the Alps somewhere.

Probably the same place all the insects went....!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Spring

But unnoticed by the media there was a massive outbreak of avian flu just recently and birds have all but vanished all over Europe and Asia so it looks like a double whammy for our feathered friends.

it's normal, reproduction season is over since a while so they don't sing and move around as much.

But I still go out looking

The sparrows and tits (ahem) are going crazy at the sunflowers in my garden. And there is a family of sparrows that I feed in front of my building. I see them every day.

We have got a pond and lots of water dishes with fresh water every day- and sunflower seeds. Plenty of resident sparrows, red starts, several types of tits, nuthatches, and many more. Resident swallows went a few days ago.

But it is in between seasons, the winter birds still up in the woods, mostly.

Lots of red kites, buzzards, kestrels and hobbies hunting too.

Sparrow: a girl who seems tough, angry and mean, but after you get to know her you realize she is the exact opposite. Often young-looking.
Blackbird: A female that has a Hispanic-descent mother and an African-descent father.
Crow: A person (male or female) who is really thirsty/desperate and tries too hard to get laid.

Why not try online dating?

What's the term for the opposite of this?

Not sure, but in FRench 'piaf' was the slang name- as in Edith Piaf- the sparrow (moineau).

Learn something new every day.

Our resident blackbird male has finished his main job and, looking a bit the worse for wear, sits in the yew tree (sorry, Pancakes) singing to himself sooooo quietly. Only if you are sitting on the terrace next to him can you hear his lovely little trills. Is he practicing new material for next year?

I've done my bit for blackbirds this summer - managed to save two from a nasty destiny. One baby blackbird from the clutches of our neighbours' cat, and one fledgling who was just sitting in the middle of the road in Horgen, with cars simply driving over the top of him

Both blackbirds survived, miraculously...

From about two weeks ago we suddenly had far fewer birds visiting my Ausserschwyz garden. The doves are still there, of course, but most of the others are gone.

Since we had a burst of feeding activity shortly before that, where the birds were eating faster than I could fill the feeder, and now this drop-off, I would guess they have left for the season.

Migration seems awfully early this year. I so enjoy watching the local birds through the summer. When they leave there is always a tinge of seasonal sadness.

——

In other bird watching news, I’m in Maine now, and saw my very first bald eagle yesterday. That was a real treat!

According to the "feathered friends" link in your post, they've all been turned into sleeping bags!!!

Jealous of Meloncollie in Maine, hopefully some of the hordes have headed back south and it is still warm enough for lobster on the dock where the boat comes in…

Does anyone use a birding app, eg ebird or Merlin? (there are many to choose from) Might indicate in vicinity where the (avian) birds are.

Thanks to Swiss neighbours near our country abode in Sweden (the father was married to a Swede and kept a summer house, he is no longer alive but his 2 adult children and their partner/family spend time there every summer)
I became aware of what the various names are in German.

Two species considered endangered in CH 1) Kiebitz, a type of lapwing seem to be abundant in the western Swedish countryside as we had an air show every day.

There is a tawny owl nested in the barn.

We live in the countryside here too, I hear owls almost every night when I check the stars. Hawks and Red Kites are aplenty during the day, need to tweek my knowledge to identify some of the others.

The Turmfalken were wonderful to watch this summer above Zurich city, and the usual birdLife. But haven’t seem them either since since a couple of days.

Sparrows are still around. But otherwise it is pretty bare here.

You talk about Sweden - on the islands around Sweden (one Danish one in particular), the arrival of all the wonderful species of bird life there was additionally very remarkably late this year.

Of course it’s due to migration patterns, and that is in turn based on the wonderful intelligence of the bird species reacting to the climate and it’s needs.

I do wonder how future years will look.

PS: For Switzerland as an app I use “BirdLife”.
Perhaps an interesting article:

Den Rotmilanen fehlt das Futter - Rekordverdächtig viele Jungvögel in der Zürcher Greifvogelstation
https://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/rekordv...n-187040146143