Animals Disappearing
 

Hello

I've seen strange animal behavior both domestic and wild from reading articles and watching videos. This year alone there has been countless animal deaths around the world. Some speculate that these deaths occur from chemicals in the air and pollution and radioactive waste under water. There have been reports of missing animals around communities where people would usually take the time to feed these wild animals outside their homes. Is this occurring around your area? When I was younger I would always hang out in my yard and explore nature and I would always hear pigeons from the roof and see bees pollinating flowers. There would be fireflies at night glowing in the dark, and bats flying around eating mosquitoes. Now, I don't see any of these animals in my area. Spring has arrived around mid-April and I haven't seen any bees or butterflies. I would check my neighbor with lots of flowers in the garden, nothing. Are animals disappearing? Or, did they migrate? Winter has been pretty long here, but the weather has finally warmed up and should be a good time to see animal activity around here. I'll wait and see.

Lepus

I miss the Glow-Worms which used to always be in the verges of my lane when I went for a walk at night. They haven't been there for many years now.
In my area, I always heard the Cuckoo in the Spring -sometimes March, April, or even late February on one occasion. Now I don't hear that any more.
The only frogs I find are rarely seen and always roadkill. The dew ponds don't have spawn in them any more in February. They don't have spawn, full stop.
I have noticed quite a few different wild bee varieties which is a good thing. I have seen Common Newts a lot, and Slow Worms many times -so they all seem to be okay. I think there are still Grass snakes, but the last one I saw was 2011. However it is quite rare to see one even under normal conditions as they are so shy. I was bitten by an Adder once! But haven't seen any for ages. Hope they are still around.
But....no Hedgehogs any more.
Many people where I live either don't care or haven't seen.

Animals have been disappearing over the course of many years for one reason or another.

Domestic honey bees have been suffering sudden colony collapse. Native wild bees have always had a tough time. I think both are recovering. You can buy 'houses' for native wild bees to build in. In a birdbath, you can place flattish rocks in it for the bees. We also have rainbarrels and I put in little blocks of wood for any insect that gets in there by mistake.

Frogs are an indicator species which means they're most sensitive to changes in their environment and it usually involves chemicals. I live in a no spray zone and our frogs are happily singing away again.

Other factors is destruction of their habitat for city expansion, etc.

Sparrows have died in large numbers due to dirty bird feeders and a very large population. We used to have sparrows in the hundreds but due to their overpopulation, they started dieing off. We never fed them and their numbers are slowly coming up.

Butterflies need weeds for their larvae and with spraying for bugs and weeds I wouldn't be surprised that caused a decline in their numbers.

To attract butterflies and bees, plant flowers that they like and certain weeds. For example, monarch butterfly larvae need milkweed thistle which you might be able to plant in your yard if you have those butterflies around. In a time of drought, I turned on a gentle water sprinkler for the grass and butterflies came and drank. They need to get minerals out of the ground and can't do that if the ground is dry for too long.

You can get bat houses too and be careful where you place it. Not too hot and not too cold. It should come with instructions for the ideal place for it.

Dragonflies come and go. It all depends on the weather. If the condition is right and you get lots of mosquitoes, be prepared for lots of dragonflies. This doesn't really happen in a city because of spraying for mosquitoes. We get hundreds of dragonflies. They stay and work an area. When most of the mosquitoes get eaten, they move on.

Our spring has been wet and cold so I expect lots of mosquitoes and dragonflies.

If you like toads, you can put a clay pot on it's side in a shady undisturbed part of your yard and see if you attract one.

Well, that's it for my rambling.

Become active..
 

The overwhelming majority of species are in decline, and the cause is not very complicated and it is easy to observe.. nearly always it is the same cause; a limited number of other species (human, domestic cat, domestic cow, pig, chicken) are overpopulating the world in their many billions. We also build more and more settlements, roads, and use up more and more resources.. We destroy forests for products we don't really need for our survival, like beef and palm oil..

But there are things we can all do...

Decisions that you can do that will hopefully make a positive change are changing you diet (beef and fish are most notorious), supporting organic farmers, no travel by plane or less travel (long holidays instead of weekend city trips), getting solar panels, not using pesticides and herbicides in your gardens, supporting green NGOs, becoming politically active, etc.

Help make a better world.. don't wait for 'God', or some other external creature to do it.. Change is here, with us.. Don't believe, act! :smile:

Hello,

@Tobi
I live in the suburbs where most of the homes are close to proximity with each other. I prefer to live in an open space with lots of greenery around my home. I recall seeing dragonflies in local parks even some at my yard; that's because my next door neighbor had a giant swimming pool in the yard attracting mosquitoes and dragonflies. Unfortunately, the pool was taken down and so the dragonflies left. There's plenty of sparrows around here including robins during spring. I've noticed wild rabbits are increasing around my area. I would spot them near my window during evening or midnight. Red cardinals can be heard but hard to spot. Squirrels are always around. I've seen frogs but not anywhere near my home. I would need to visit a different town to see them. I would visit parks with large bodies of water where frogs reside. Spotted a heron once. Glow-worms have completely vanished in my area. I don't remember the last time I've seen one. Honey bees are rare in my location and butterflies; well, I don't recall any last year, same with pigeons. Bats are gone, maybe migrated to a different destination to seek shelter.

You were bitten by an adder? Those snakes are venomous. :icon_eek:

@Chrysalis
Spring might be here but plants haven't sprouted fully, yet. It's been a week or two that the temperature has finally warmed up. Will be getting warmer though, which is a great time for planting flowers. My neighbor always buys potted plants to bury in the yard.

There are specific animals around here that I'm used to seeing. I don't think I would come across a frog or toad in my yard. There's no pond or any water for that matter to attract frogs or toads. Monarch butterflies are rare in my area, pehaps I should plant milkweeds. I heard milkweed is bad for your pets, is that true? I read about habitat destruction down in Mexico where monarch butterflies migrate during winter.

I don't use any chemicals in my yard, especially with the recent reports that herbicide causes cancer.

Bats might have migrated somewhere else where there is a large pool of water and a cavern to live. Dragonflies only stick around where mosquitoes lay their eggs on water. Seen some at a forest preserve.

Thanks for sharing!

@Altair
I completely agree. :smile:

Lepus

Lepus,

I don't know if milkweed is poisonous or not. We're not in an area where Monarchs migrate to. We do have rhubarb and the leaves are poisonous but our cats never bite them. I suppose animals know what they can and can't eat.

Chrysalis

Give them time to hatch out.

Hello,


The only thing 'poisonous' in my yard would be the bittersweet nightshade. By the way, milkweed is poisonous.

Lepus

Hello,


Yes, I'm starting to see some animal activity in my area. Temperature will warm up this week expected to be in the 70's.

Lepus

Hello

I've started to see bumblebees and butterflies in my yard including fireflies. Glad to see there numbers are increasing. I also noticed different kinds of butterflies appearing in my area - we usually see cabbage white and red admiral butterflies but I noticed some black swallowtail and viceroy butterflies emerging. Sat in my yard last week watching bees and butterflies pollinating flowers. I then realized every single creature has a role to play on this Earth.

Lepus