Birds In Trouble

Not long ago on the Internet, I read a post from a bird lover who was concerned that fewer songbirds were visiting his feeders than had visited in previous years. He expressed concern that this might be a result of the mysterious deaths of birds from some unknown cause last summer.

A flurry of responses to his post seemed to amplify his observation. They expressed special alarm for cardinals and chickadees.

I have to admit I was concerned about their observations. However, since we no longer maintain bird feeders at our home during the winter, I couldn't say whether there were fewer birds a...