WITH GALLERY: Hot, dry summer takes toll on bird populations in Ann Arbor area

Also, many plants that would have provided birds with seeds this fall didn’t do well this summer and some died, Smith said.

Finches, cardinals, sparrows, blue jays and junkos feed on those seeds, Smith said.

“People should feed birds like mad,” Smith said.

Carol Akerlof, executive director of the Bird Center of Washtenaw County, also advised people with dead flowering plants in their yards to not cut them down yet so birds can feed on them.

Birds that need food include some juvenile hummingbirds that haven't migrated south. Bird Center volunteers are encouraging people to keep their hummingbird feeders up until a hard freeze happens so the remaining young birds will have something to eat.

Fewer water sources during the summer also heightened the exposure of many birds to disease, as they gathered in larger than usual numbers at watering spots, Akerlof said.

Diseases like West Nile virus - which is carried by birds - and pests like Trichomonas protozoa are likely more prevalent with the hot weather, said Janet Hinshaw, bird division collection manager at U-M’s Museum of Zoology.

Volunteers at the bird center have also reported seeing a number of sick birds that don’t seem to get better.

“This year’s been so unusual, and we don’t know what next year will be like,” said

Statistics confirm Akerlof's assessment of the summer's weather. The average temperature of 74.2 degrees this summer was 3.2 degrees above normal, according to statistics kept by University of Michigan weather observer Dennis Kahlbaum. That ranked as the second-hottest summer since record-keeping for Ann Arbor began in 1880. The warmest was in 1934, when an average temperature of 74.3 degrees was recorded.

The summer also ranked as the 19th driest on record. Rainfall of 6.06 inches during June, July and August was 4.88 inches below normal, Kahlbaum said.

Henry Pollack, professor emeritus of earth and environmental sciences at U-M, said statistics like these are consistent with climate change models.

“In recorded meteorological records since we’ve been taking temperatures, we’ve never seen anything like this,” said

Pollack was a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former vice president Al Gore.

The warm trend is set to continue through the end of the year. Pollack said that without unusually cooler fall weather, 2012 is on track to be the warmest year on record.

Lisa Paull, an avid Bird Center volunteer, believes the unusually warm weather is affecting birds' habits.

“Everything’s four to six weeks pushed forward,” Paull said. “I noticed everything’s off.”

For the first time throughout this fall and winter, the Bird Center will be staying open to help migratory birds who may be injured or sick during their travels.

Typically, the organization shuts down its operations at the end of the summer.

“There is more demand for our services than can be met by one person trying to do this during the winter,” Akerlof said, noting that last fall, she took home 17 birds to tend to over the winter.

Because spring this year came so early, Akerlof said she and several volunteers were caring for 36 baby birds in May out of her own home before the bird center opened. Previously, Akerlof said she has only had to care for a couple before the center opens at the end of May.

Akerlof said the Bird Center sees about 65 different species of birds as they migrate through Michigan in the fall to points south.

“You always get something you’ve never had before,” she said.

Tuesday at the center, a volunteer and the center’s one full-time employee cared for about 12 birds.

A Tennessee Warbler that had broken his chest bone after flying into a window was almost ready to continue his migration south.

Perched on a stick inside a laundry basket covered by a mesh screen and partially shaded by a towel, the warbler entertained himself by feeding on some small mealworms and blueberries.

The birds - mostly goldfinches, pigeons, mourning doves, cardinals, robins and bluebirds - were quiet. Few flitted their wings inside their baskets; some chirped. The rehabilitation experience is stressful for them, Akerlof said.

By the time people bring in injured or sick birds to the center, Akerlof said it’s often too late and the bird is already dead.

The center, at 926 Mary St., is located in a nest-like building which also serves as a city polling place. It rehabilitates birds from much of southeast Michigan.

After this week, the center will be cutting back on its open hours to save money. Akerlof advised people with injured or sick birds to call (734) 761-9640.