Is habitat destruction responsible for the House Finch and American Goldfinch missing from my feeders

The House Finch and the American Goldfinch who were prominent at my feeder last spring have not been around. Where are they? 100's of acres and trees around us (within 1-2 miles) have been lost with construction development (Horizons West). Subdivisions are being built and the land is demolished of mature trees. Just next door to us abutting our subdivision, 80 acres of orange groves (Becks on Overstreet) demolished for a new subdivision,Windermere Sound. Then there was, 2014 Spring tree trimming by County in a subdivision directly across the street from the demolished orange groves, and now we are scheduled to have our neighborhood get a County spring tree trimming. Not only that, it's for the second consecutive year in a row they opted to trim our trees in the spring. I wonder if this is why I am not seeing the birds I did last season? Has their habitat been destroyed? Have they been forced to move out? Are they competing too fiercely for the remaining trees and space? Have many of their nests been destroyed with all the spring tree trimming? It seems the wildlife and birds are struggling with all this and this is reflected in my prior posts. A doe on a front porch, and another in my bushline during fires, fish wiped out in our pond after a chemical application (see 4/15/13 and 4/15/13 posts), and now massive elective spring tree trimming by County and birds who were highly visible at my feeders in 2013 are nowhere to be found. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

What can we do? We need more thought and oversight put into the TIMING of elective tree trimming done in subdivisions by the County. It should be done in the late fall and early winter-not spring/summer. Elective trimming in the spring is just irresponsible and a blatant disregard to the nesting and breeding season. We need more education, and preservation of habitat during construction too. We have ordinances in place for tree protection during construction but we need to double check we are living by the conservation environmental measures we thoughtfully put in place with enforcement. Homeowners need to be educated about seasonal tree trimming, the federal and state laws regarding nest destruction, how to look for nests prior to removing or trimming trees, and the importance of preserving trees and wildlife habitat. I hope to help with educating neighbors, but, I can't stop the County from performing elective spring tree trimming. I can ask (and I did), but I can't stop it. I also contacted Florida Fish and Wildlife too and I'm told they can't stop the actions of County either, they can only recommend not trimming during breeding and nesting season, and provide education, which they did. See my prior post - 4/18/2014 -

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Migratory Bird Nest Guidances

Tree trimming code:

http://library.municode.com/HTML/10182/level3/PTIIORCOCO_CH15ENCO_ARTVIIITRPRRE.html

http://216.157.37.6/environmental/permitting/trees/Orange.pdf

Documenting Habitat Destruction

This is the land (Ashlin Park) where in 2013 you could see Sandhill Cranes and their babies under this oak tree. A safe area inside double fences of a farm with pastures.

Not anymore now it is being developed

. Now adult Sandhill Cranes have been seen eating here in the grassy median of a 4 lane CR535 or wandering in our subdivision roads eating acorns off the street (see my 1/23/14 post).  It won't be long before one gets hit considering how they like to mosey across streets on foot instead flying.  

I remember this land, now Enclave at Windermere to be a pine tree forest. Bob cats were seen in this area, and all kinds of birds, and wildlife. Gone now. All withing a 1-2 miles of our subdivision.

And this new development, Windermere Gardens is taking over the golf putting range where our Sandhill Cranes loved to hang, and where on my walks, I would see more butterflies than anywhere, all within 1 mile from our development. Now you see this...

This is Windermere Sound the construction site that abuts our subdivision where 80 acres of orange groves existed. Home to deer (see my previous post on 10/15/14 of a fawn, picture Bambi on a front porch when the fires and demolition started), coyote (I have encountered them myself while walking Overstreet in front of the orange groves), boar, alligators, all kinds of birds including the Sandhill Cranes, turkeys, butterflies, and wildlife.

Now this is the picture.

And if all this destruction of our animals habitats in Windermere, Florida isn't enough going on all at the same time within 1-2 mile radius, the County does elective tree trimming of the subdivision, Lakes of Windermere during migratory bird breeding and nesting season, and now has planned to do our subdivision on 4/21/2014, for the second consecutive year in a row. Our tree trimming was just electively done in the Spring of 2013. Senseless, thoughtless, poor planning done by man results in destruction of wildlife habitat including disturbing, harassing, and maybe even worse, breeding and nesting birds.

Below a few pics depicting the recent springtime Lakes of Windermere trimming by County. I walked a loop in this neighborhood for 5 years and enjoyed the maturity of the trees and abundance of  passerines, perching birds,songbirds, hawks, woodpeckers, and other water birds. I would imagine how pretty our neighborhood could become when the birds returned as our trees matured.

See missing lower branches most these birds commonly nest in, which were trimmed during migratory breeding and nesting season. I wonder how many active nests were destroyed with this senseless elective trim?