Songbirds

We were very sad to read in the newspaper today that thousands of songbirds have died here in Minnesota due to the very long, cold spring we had this year, and a heavy late-April snowfall. Hardest hit are swallows, bluebirds, kinglets, sparrows, robins & warblers. The insect eating birds could not find find food when they arrived during the migration and starved to death.
Dead birds are being found in nesting boxes, some huddled together in a futile attempt to keep warm. One man spotted a lethargic tree swallow sitting along a country road and suspected trouble. When he checked his nesting boxes he found 19 dead tree swallows. In one state park, 27 swallows and 2 bluebirds were found dead in the boxes.
The weather is just now warming up so the insects should be along soon, we hope, before too many more birds die.