The paucity of common resident avian species, especially songbirds, was one more peculiar element of an unusually strange Anchorage winter. And, arguably, early spring. Local birders, biologists and watchers all noticed something was off.

There have virtually no songbirds at our bird feeder this month. Wondering (and a little worried) where they have all gone to, and whether this is neighborhood, or something that is being noticed more broadly.

This winter large numbers of redpolls have been observed at bird feeders, from Fairbanks to Anchorage. ADFG reports that mass mortality events of redpolls have also been observed. ADFG advises homeowners not to handle dead or sick birds, and to prevent pets from coming in contact with them. Bird illness may be caused by a bacteria that could also affect people and pets.

Big snow falls, warm temperatures, and strong winds covers snow surface with a variety of seeds from trees.

After a record-low last winter, the birds are making a comeback. Redpolls, seen in two varieties in Alaska — the common and the hoary — have attracted scientists’ attention because the birds survive super-cold temperatures. Physiologist Laurence Irving ranked redpolls’ feathers just behind pine grosbeaks for “apparent usefulness for insulation.”Redpolls have a secret weapon other small birds, including chickadees, don’t possess: food pouches on each side of their necks.

An Okanagan program was designed 15 years ago to control the invasive species of starlings

A flock of European Starlings sighted at a mid-town Anchorage building.

The Department of Fish and Game plans to trap a flock of birds not native to Alaska that is trying to move in. The agency says starlings could cause big problems for humans and other birds native to the area. They want to get rid of the flock before their numbers grow.

Local birders who participated in the recent 2005 Anchorage Christmas Bird Count noted a sharp increase in European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), a sometimes aggressive species that's relatively new to Alaska.