What the heck has happened to all the birds?

First, it was the mysterious disappearance of billions of honeybees around the globe in the past several years. But, like the Arctic icepack, they seem to have made a comeback.

Now, it seems that it's the 20 most common birds that are in a sharp decline worldwide, especially here in the U.S. My wife Sharon is constantly asking, "Where are the birds?" Her bird feeders are often untouched except, perhaps, for extremely athletic squirrels that dive from the trees onto the swinging feeders in the backyard.

Sharon has likewise seen less hummingbirds this season. But, as Elaine Cerny said in her Sept. 15 Press article, "other hummers have summered far to the north of us. These hummingbirds will be coming through on their journey south for a short stay at your 'Bed and Breakfast' feeders." So, leave those feeders out there a bit longer despite the fact that we haven't seen a hummingbird on Player Drive in at least two weeks.

According to the National Audubon Society's unprecedented analysis on more than 48 years of bird population studies, there has been "an alarming decline for many of our most common and beloved birds."

Since early 1967, the average populations of the top 20 common birds have fallen by an incredible 68 percent. Some species, like finches, bluebirds and chickadees, have nose-dived in numbers by as much as 80 percent. All of the rest of the common bird populations have seen at least half of their numbers literally "vanish off the face of the earth in the past five decades."

Populations of meadowlarks, for example, as well as other grassland birds, have fallen off sharply due to suburban sprawl, industrial expansion and the intensive usage of farming chemicals, including deadly pesticides.

These same harsh chemicals are likewise widely used in our artificially greened-up yards. The insect populations have therefore dropped significantly cutting down on a primary natural food source for birds.

Also, it has been estimated that bird-catching cats have more than doubled in numbers across the country since the mid 1960s.

It is my climatological opinion that WIDE WEATHER EXTREMES are proving fatal for many species of birds. They find it almost impossible to cope with intense heat and cold, record droughts and 500-year flooding like we've recently seen in Colorado and New Mexico as well as parts of Arizona and Nevada, places that have also had to cope with horrible wildfires in the past decade that have destroyed bird habitats.

We need to become "bird friendly," as Sharon says. Going 'GREEN' is not enough!

NORTH IDAHO WEATHER REVIEW AND LONG-RANGE OUTLOOKS

Following our 37th 'Sholeh Day' of the summer season above 90 degrees last Sunday, Sept. 15, we've seen much cooler temperatures and frequent showers riding across our region from the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Alaska.

Due to a strengthening 'La Nina' sea-surface temperature event in the eastern Pacific, it appears as if we will see a cooler and wetter autumn than normal in our part of the country followed, perhaps, by a colder and snowier winter in 2013-14, especially during the mid December to early February period.

I'm still planning on buying a bigger snowblower this fall. My small blower just can't handle the huge berms at the end of my driveway or the piles of snow near my mailbox.

As I predicted last week, we may see our snowiest winter season in 2013-14 since at least 2008-09 when we gauged 145.6 inches of the white stuff in town. Stay tuned for further updates.

Cliff Harris is a climatologist who writes a weekly column for The Press. His opinions are his own. Email sfharris@roadrunner.com