Another possible example of the decrease in insects that we have noticed is we
have not seen bats near our house at dusk for the past two summers as we had in
the past.
In addition to Dale and Elva’s hypothesis about smoke affecting insect numbers,
we would like to suggest 1) that widespread insecticide use is decreasing
insect numbers, and 2) that climate change is affecting the timing of insect
life cycles which results in peak insect populations not coinciding with when
nesting birds need to feed their young.
Jeannie and Bob
On Jul 3, 2019, at 4:32 PM, Elva Paulson <epaulson007@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Dale and I have been photographing insects for the past several years. We
notice when there is a lot of wildfire smoke, the insect are not nearly as
visible. Now, this year, with no smoke as yet, we feel numbers of insects in
general are low. Where they knocked down during the heavy smoke years???
Yellowjackets are usually low at the beginning of summer. It takes a while
for their nests to build up to larger population.
Just food for thought .
Elva Paulson
On Jul 3, 2019, at 3:40 PM, Janice Reid <jeoreid@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Wow, Liz! That is horrible. Come to think of it, mosquitos and yellow
jackets are low but the little biting flies seem to be plentiful and I never
noticed them before. I am referring to our house property on North Bank Rd.
I forgot bluebirds had babies too this year.
Janice
On Wed, Jul 3, 2019, 3:12 PM Anya Shortridge <ashortridge@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
We had our first tree swallow nestbox this year, with 5 chicks successfully
hatched. So fun to watch! We hadn't seen the parents, usually very doting
and attentive, in maybe a couple of days... So we checked the box today.
Sadly, all 5 chicks were deceased, cold, still without eyes opened. Trying
to figure out what happened. There are no wounds, and there is no sign of
the parents or any of the other swallows that were around here...
Anya
On 7/3/2019 2:03 PM, Gayner, Elizabeth (Redacted sender egayner for DMARC)
wrote:
I have been banding birds at the same site for 20 years on Canyon Mountain.
The last couple of years have had low numbers of birds with virtually no
young of the year. This year so far has been super low... lowest yet.
Adult birds not even in breeding condition and low on fat reserves (based
on general observation). We too have noticed the lack of insects... silk
moth caterpillars especially used to fill the trees. It dawned on us today
while out there... we haven't seen the caterpillars the last couple of
years. And we are not even getting eaten up by mosquitoes and no-seeums
like we used to... which, though we are not complaining about it in terms
of their being a nuisance, but it is a concern in terms of food sources for
the birds.
Liz
Elizabeth I. Gayner
Lead Wildlife Biologist - Swiftwater Field Office
OR/WA BLM Peregrine Falcon Technical Coordinator
Bureau of Land Management - Roseburg District Office
Phone: (541) 464-3381; egayner@xxxxxxx
On Wed, Jul 3, 2019 at 1:33 PM Mary Anne Brown <majbrown54@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Our cliff swallow's nest have been falling this year & the insect/food
supply is weak, over the last 10 years the small moths are virtually gone.
This years crop is not promising...anyone else experiencing that?
Mary Anne
