I think most birds are not having a great time these days, between losing habitat and losing insects/biomass.
We are still thinking of nature and animals as being self-sustaining, the way they have been in the past, but more and more it's becoming apparent that we have to not only reduce harm, but also step in and help, to become true caretakers of the biome.
I live in a house with a decent garden and opposite a park. Both of which are absolutely rammed with wildlife. Which is nice.
However I completely agree with you:
"We are still thinking of nature and animals as being self-sustaining, the way they have been in the past, but more and more it's becoming apparent that we have to not only reduce harm, but also step in and help, to become true caretakers of the biome."
We humans now dominate the biome. Completely. We can no longer rely on it to function on its own. I personally gave up on the notion of "natural", with regards a British environment a long time ago. For example I have a huge number of non native plant species growing here in my garden. What does non-native or native actually mean anyway? Are apples native? - not really (Roman introduced but work well - only about 2000 years local.) Oak? probably been here for quite a few years but check your subspecies out.
We used to have a whopper of a walnut tree here. It died two years back and we had it cut down. It was over 50' tall and when I found myself spending more time at home instead of at work recently, I noticed that wood peckers and pigeons and others used it. I saw a series of circuits. The ravens would start from next door and whizz off clockwise and the pigeons would randomly fly everywhere. The woodpeckers would simply appear and start whizzing around. It's quite hard to describe but I'd be happy to formally log stuff for a study.
I think most birds are not having a great time these days, between losing habitat and losing insects/biomass.
We are still thinking of nature and animals as being self-sustaining, the way they have been in the past, but more and more it's becoming apparent that we have to not only reduce harm, but also step in and help, to become true caretakers of the biome.