More info about the birds and bugs disappearing around the world.

I found a few articles/emails/notes referencing how in some places around the world there seems to be an absence of bugs and of course bug eating birds. In the past we have had a few threads from individuals saying basically the same thing on how the past few years they have seen a decrease in these critters... Anyone else see a change ?
rense.com...
Just one example from the many at the link

From Steve
San Gabriel Valley, East Of LA
7-7-18

I've lived here since the early 1980s and have watched as local wildlife populations declined sharply. Mind that there has been essentially no new development here, or in our surrounding mountains, that might account for the drastic changes.

In years past, Spring would bring swarms of June bugs to darken our windows and screen door at night, but now I haven't seen a single one in years. Same for large black beetles, almost thumb sized, that used to roam our sidewalks at night. Ditto for everything from caterpillars and moths to snails. And we used to have Argentine ants swarming constantly around trash cans, along driveways and in the garden. All gone... every.... last... one!

The bird populations that are mainly bug eaters have consequently plummeted as well. While we still see seed eating birds like finches, mocking birds have had their numbers greatly reduced. They used to sing day and night, now there's just a few. Even after we had that wet winter the year before, there was no noticeable upward spike in our bug population afterwards.

Not sure of the cause, but I see it as a 'canary in the coal mine' for sure.

rense.com...

Bad News From Ireland

From Von Moss
7-8-18

Hi Jeff - I live in Wexford, Ireland in a very rural area. We usually have hoards of swallows and house martins all round the house. This year, i have counted 8 pairs.The car windscreen is usually covered in bugs, but again, this year, I have hardly had to clean it. Also there are no bats.

From Kurt Ruppert
June 21, 2018

I just want to pass this to Jeff. I’m living in a suburb of Atlanta, Ga. The insect population is way down. The light bulb over my front door attracts the same number of bugs that we use to see in the WINTER timer. The lake by my house once attracted a large population of bats, now, there are none. We have a year round population of ducks and geese on the lake. So far this year, we have had two female ducks produce at total of 5 babies between them. None of the geese have had any of their eggs hatch. There is a mother goose who always makes a nest in my yard. She actually buried her egg in the ground. I’ve never seen that. Also, we have wasps, yellow jackets, half sized bumble bees but absolutely no honey bees.
I bring up this subject with people and they look at me like I’ve grown another head.

Kurt Ruppert Marietta, Ga.

From: Paul
Date: August 5, 2016 at 8:21:29 AM PDT
To:
Subject: Bug Report

Hi Jeff… I live in Oklahoma City, and this summer we have had ample rain. Everything is green and leafy, so there should be an abundance of bugs. Even in drier years there can be plenty of them. But this summer, the bug count is well below what it has been in the past.

On the property of the house where I live, we have 2 large night lights mounted on power poles. In summers past, there would be a cloud of bugs around them...as well as the porch light at the front door…you would have to fight the bugs to get in the door. Not the case this year. There are a few...but just a few. Even last year, there were more than now and many more 2-3 years ago.

I just played a show done by Josh Tolley and he said in Wisconsin he would walk thru the grasses and the grasshoppers would be jumping out of the grass…but he hasn't seen one in 3 or 4 years.

Thank you for all the years of information. Long time listener, going back to the mid-90s.
Paul

We still have normal populations of the things here. Plenty of bugs and bug eating birds.

originally posted by: ketsuko
We still have normal populations of the things here. Plenty of bugs and bug eating birds.

Ditto here in North Yorkshire. Flying ant day over the weekend, the birds thought it was heaven!

a reply to: 727Sky

I live in a somewhat rural state, it ranks 37th for population density and has a population of about 600,000 people. I don't notice a decrease in bird or bug wildlife, however the variety of birds/bugs seems to be less.

I feel like I see more invasive species than I did years prior as well.

a reply to: FamCore

That doesn't mean I don't think there are areas with problems, but I think this may be a regional thing.

a reply to: ketsuko

Absolutely. And even then, possibly just moving to other areas? For example, wetland bugs relocating when the swamp / marsh land is drained for building / farming, etc.

northern ontario canada;
Bugs a plenty and lots of birds crapping on cars.

Actually it's just the opposite in a few ways where I am in PA. We have had these massive invasions of may-flies that seem to congregate at the large river (about 1 mile wide). These flies are attracted to lights and the street lights on the bridges and roads surrounding the river the flies black out the light either by landing on it or just by swarming it. And when I say massive, I mean this. These bugs are about .25 - 1.25" long and only live 24-48 hours and they have a 1-3 week birthing window where they just appear and swarm. They have been so thick that they use snow plows and shovels to remove them from the bridge, roads and sidewalks along the river. I've heard reports of them being over 12" deep in some places that hadn't been cleared in days. I think the lights across the bridge and along the road attract them at night where most of them die and they just build up a thick layer. I don't know what they do with them, I think they just dump them in the river and let the fish feast.

There have been a lot of other bugs that I've never seen before that swarm the lights at night, these are small almost gnat like bugs. About 10 years or more ago, we had an invasion of a new bug we called a stink bug, which was native to Asia (China..). It had little to no natural enemies and flourished here and they seemed to be everywhere - it was horrible! Opening a window you could find them hiding under in the window jam and there could have been 100 in there! They just seemed to find their way in everywhere and normal control methods just didn't work. They seem to have decreased drastically and there are now some birds that will eat them (I was going to say enjoy eating them, but IDK if that is the case, we are just lucky they eat them!!) and some people have come up with some traps which attract these bugs and kill them (YAAAAAA!).

On another note, the small game has changed a lot since I was a kid. We have a lot of land surrounded by farm land for most part, and we used to have LOTS of rabbits. When in 1-10th grade while walking around for 20-30 mins I might see 6-12 of them but now I'm lucky to see any all season. We do have tons of ground hogs which we try to keep in check and also squirrels, lots of them.

From what I have seen things just go in cycles, maybe the area is especially hospitable to one species for a period of time and you see them flourish and prosper (like the rabbits), then we had some foxes move in and I think that is why there are so few rabbit. This is just how nature works from what I have seen.

I do remember times when I was young to even when I started driving that bugs would cover the windshield and headlights after driving at night, this was a good reason to have wipers on head lights, b/c they would actually cover them thick. Now that seems to rarely happen and I suspect it has to do with the pesticides being used in crops or even GMO crops that the bugs can't eat. IDK if that is a good or bad thing, it is good that we don't have to deal with them, but maybe bad that there is less food for those that eat them.

a reply to: 727Sky

It's not too late to edit the title to bugs instead of bigs for about another hour. Just hit edit on your opening post. It will let you edit your title too

originally posted by: Sillyolme
a reply to: 727Sky

It's not too late to edit the title to bugs instead of bigs for about another hour. Just hit edit on your opening post. It will let you edit your title too

My only excuse is after eating I washed my hands and can't do a darn thing with them... Thanks and is corrected

On another note I wish there were fewer mosquitos but this is where they come for vacation I swear. And I don't see any shortage of birds. Robins, wrens and martins are the big bug eaters. I live on the sea shore so I have seagulls, and terns, and pelicans and osprey too and I live near a major river so we have fishers and cranes and all manner of water fowl, ducks geese and loons.
And I see bees ever day. Someone near me has hives but I see wild carpenter bees and plenty of wasps too.

a reply to: 727Sky

Lol. I'll have to remember that line.

a reply to: 727Sky

Plenty of bugs and birds here in northern indiana.

Things have changed over the past 10 years though.
We have loads of stink bugs now, fricken things are impossible to get rid of.
And turkeys are all over now.

a reply to: 727Sky

I love mocking birds. They are kind of rare here but I hear one every summer. I think they only migrate through here. I saw a lot on long island.
I have cardinals that nest in my yard every year and Jay birds and doves because I have a lot of bushes and small trees for cover and I have a small artificial pond for fresh water. I put out seed for them.
I guess I'm in an area that has not been effected.

a reply to: Bluntone22

Too bad wild turkeys are so bony. I keep saying I'm gonna poach a goose for Christmas dinner. I spent 75.00 bucks on one goose two or three years ago for a Christmas party with a Dickens theme . It was yummy. I had to buy a roasting pan to hold it too. Lol

Motels aren't going to run out of bugs anytime soon.

a reply to: Sillyolme

I don't hunt them myself but I hear they are not worth eating.
Eat the breast and throw the rest away is the norm.

New Orleans has bugs to spare, we can lend you some if you like.

I just spent a month in VA, and they don't seem to be short on bugs either.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: 727Sky

Plenty of bugs and birds here in northern indiana.

Things have changed over the past 10 years though.
We have loads of stink bugs now, fricken things are impossible to get rid of.
And turkeys are all over now.

I've had more turkeys in my yard this year than ever before...and they're big!

A subject close to my heart i the reduction of farmland birds in the UK. The cause is the use of pesticides and herbicides that have greatly reduced insects. In France a recent study has shown populations of birds have crashed.

The use of pesticides is the top. Other reasons are changing farming practices, monoculture and intensity. Our fellow Europeans shooting and trapping migrating birds plus climate change are other reasons.

Hopefully Brexit will mean the UK can stop being a part of the environmentally destructive Common Agricultural Policy so that UK farming can be less (er) destructive.