Warnings.....

[mdehners]

Last week, on one of my Gardening communities a gentleman mentioned that his songbird population(esp this Fall) has pretty much disappeared. Other than a few Cardinals, all he's seen this yr has been Crows and Hawks.
This led to a number of folks responding in kind. Including Me.As we shared the last couple of days we compiled a list of missing or markedly dropped populations of(mostly E of the Mississippi):
Most Songbirds(here too)
Grasshoppers(same)
Dragonflies(still here but less than the last 4 yrs)
Mosquitoes(no bites this yr and I live next to stagnant water and have mult saucers under containers)
Toads(same)
Butterflies(markedly less and only noticed because of 3 caterpillars)
The Bee population for me is stable but mine are mostly Bumbles and Native Bees.
Troth,
Pat

Comments

[weofodthignen]

Not so marked here, but mostly similar, especially dragonflies, and bees and wasps are down for me too. Important to note though that there may have been more songbirds and crickets this summer than I was aware of because of my hearing loss, and that our mosquito season is just starting (and I picked up 2 nasty bites yesterday, though I don't think they're mosquitoes). I'd been thinking the decline in birds was due to the cats; and there are fewer crows and almost no parrots, I fear due to human action. OTOH there seem to be more squirrels than ever (people have been feeding them in the park), and they've probably been raiding nests.

[mdehners]

Humans, The Other White Meat;>! I'm definitely blaming them. They're certainly not Innocent....
The one I can't Believe I didn't mention was Hummingbirds. Until this yr the feeders were busy all day. This yr my brother noticed occasionally 2 hummers using the 4 he has outside his office window. I usually see one at a time on my flowers(esp the Salvias!) at least daily. I saw a single Hummer TWICE this Summer.
Good thing I'm old and decrepit. I wouldn't want to live in a world without Hummingbirds, Songbirds and Butterflies.
Love,
Pat

[weofodthignen]

I was including hummers in my assessment; their numbers may be down here, but if so it's only slightly. I think fewer people feed them (or hang those tiny nesting boxes), but I saw them all summer, including a couple of close encounters at head level :-) And I can hear their angry chittering, so occasionally I'd hear one first and then see him. I'd guess they're down less than the mockingbirds, mourning doves, robins, and small songbirds. Unless of course other birds have just learnt to avoid our yard as feral cat ground zero ...