Birders

I hope you get answers to this question.

My observations for what happens here in central Arizona probably wouldn't apply to your situation, but I'm still curious nonetheless about why groups of similar birds abruptly leave a favorable area when there's no obvious environmental reason why they would or should.

We have seen some things that are hard to explain, like the sudden appearance of hundreds of doves that stays around for several weeks then completely vanishes. I also have cardinals that will disappear for a very long time and then come back in for a short period--sometimes seemingly a day (as if they are traveling). Our extreme heat and monsoon rains probably explains a lot of the movement we see this time of year.

Hope you get some interesting answers. I know when you start to care about the birds in your yard, you really do think about them, wonder about them, and fear them coming to harm or winding up in a bad place.