Something is Wrong

@akalinus (43196)
United States
April 10, 2020 10:53am CST
Yesterday, I saw a little turtle on the road. I wrote a post about it. It got me thinking about the tortoises that live around here. They scoop out burrows in the ground and feed various plants and berries. I have not seen many in the past couple of years. The bunnies have disappeared. The Sandhill Cranes don't visit us anymore. They used to arrive a couple of times a year. The curlews and ibises don't fly in here much either. Someone said that there aren't snakes here anymore. She is right. We had rattlesnakes, coral snakes, and a variety of others that we had to watch out for. Now they are all gone. I don't miss them but it is just another indication that something is wrong. What do you think is happening around here. Where are our animal kingdom friends? How is the wildlife in your part of the world?
10 people like this
8 responses
Raj
@Butterfingers (66583)
• India
10 Apr 20
Due to lockdown there were news when peacock, deer and other animals were seen at busy places so nature is healing itself
2 people like this
Jo Ann
@akalinus (43196)
• United States
10 Apr 20
I saw a news photo of deer running down the street downtown in Rochester, NY where I am from. There wasn't anyone else around, just the deer running down the deserted street.
1 person likes this
Anna
@LadyDuck (471500)
• Switzerland
10 Apr 20
I still see all the animals that we used to see in the past, included the fireflies, I like to see them during the summer nights.
1 person likes this
Jo Ann
@akalinus (43196)
• United States
10 Apr 20
That is another thing. I don't see fireflies here at all. My kids used to catch them in NY and put them in jars for lamps. They had to let them go later.
1 person likes this
Anna
@LadyDuck (471500)
• Switzerland
11 Apr 20
@akalinus We have foxes here, wild ferrets, cranes, ducks and swans. I have never seen bunnies.
1 person likes this
Jo Ann
@akalinus (43196)
• United States
16 Apr 20
@LadyDuck It is strange that there are no bunnies. Maybe the foxes eat them. I have never seen swans close up. They are very pretty. I have seen weasels before. Are they the same as ferrets?
1 person likes this
ElusiveButterfly
@ElusiveButterfly (45940)
• United States
10 Apr 20
The only thing I am aware of is the bat population is dwindling due to a disease that spread and killed quite a few.
1 person likes this
Jo Ann
@akalinus (43196)
• United States
16 Apr 20
Yes, I think I heard something about that. Something about some kind of rot. Bats eat tons of mosquitoes every night. I hope they can survive.
1 person likes this
ElusiveButterfly
@ElusiveButterfly (45940)
• United States
19 Apr 20
@akalinus I hope so too. Still don't see as many as we did about 10 years ago. We would go fishing at night and they would come out in numbers to eat the skeeters. I would get a little freaked because they were so close. Now I long to see them again.
1 person likes this
Jo Ann
@akalinus (43196)
• United States
20 Apr 20
@ElusiveButterfly I want them around to eat 'skeeters.' It is miserable being outside when those buzzers are around. They carry diseases too. I hope they don't make the bats sick.
1 person likes this
Judy Evans
@JudyEv (339930)
• Rockingham, Australia
11 Apr 20
I don't think things are any worse here really. Some of the smaller little animals have been missing for decades.
1 person likes this
Jo Ann
@akalinus (43196)
• United States
16 Apr 20
Are you talking about small mammals or things like reptiles?
1 person likes this
Jo Ann
@akalinus (43196)
• United States
21 Apr 20
@JudyEv Didn't you always have foxes? If not, how did they get there, who brought them?
1 person likes this
Judy Evans
@JudyEv (339930)
• Rockingham, Australia
17 Apr 20
@akalinus We've had a lot of small mammals disappear. Once, they didn't have any predators but then foxes and cats were introduced.
jaishankar
@Shivram59 (35468)
• India
2 May 20
@akalinus Our country has been completely locked down for last 40 days. Long lockdown has created many troubles for us,.But it has also a very positive effect on our atmosphere.Due to a drastic fall in air and water pollution wild birds and animals have started entering the urban areas.The other day I saw a group of monkeys piercing atop on a temple.A fox was seen in my friend's backyard.And in a metro city in western India a panther was captured in CCTV .
1 person likes this
Jo Ann
@akalinus (43196)
• United States
2 May 20
That is so interesting. The wildlife is starting to come back. The news showed some deers running through downtown where my kids live. They never would have before. As I write this, I am hearing birds singing, always a cheerful sound.
1 person likes this
Jo Ann
@akalinus (43196)
• United States
3 May 20
@Shivram59 I think I read that there were bands of monkeys running around in India in places they never had monkeys before.
1 person likes this
jaishankar
@Shivram59 (35468)
• India
2 May 20
@akalinus The credit goes to lockdown.Mother Nature is breathing easy.Just 10 minutes back a friend called me from Noida - a metro city and a flourishing industrial hub.He told me that he saw a group of deer running along the streets.Here I saw many wild parrots landing on the branches of the "neem" tree in front of my house.
1 person likes this
CarolDM
@CarolDM (203422)
• Nashville, Tennessee
10 Apr 20
That is a shame. I don't see as many hawks. But I see bunnies.
1 person likes this
Jo Ann
@akalinus (43196)
• United States
16 Apr 20
I do see hawks here. I remember two birds chasing a hawk from near their nest. There was a lot of squawking in the sky. Those birds were really angry.
1 person likes this
much2say
@much2say (55601)
• Los Angeles, California
10 Apr 20
When I was a kid, there were hairy caterpillars, frogs (or were they toads), and some other critters around. My parents still live in the same house and we are relatively in the same area - but these critters are all gone. It's not as rural as it was years ago . . . people have definitely invaded nature's space . . . and yah, maybe they have all left knowing something we don't (yet).
much2say
@much2say (55601)
• Los Angeles, California
17 Apr 20
@akalinus Oh wow - toxic caterpillars ! I know ours were not - a bunch of us would pick them up and let them walk on our fingers. I hear frogs/toads croaking when there is water in our dinky creeks when we hike, but I never seen them.
Jo Ann
@akalinus (43196)
• United States
21 Apr 20
@much2say Maybe we have some of those here, I just don't remember. I try not to touch things like that because I don't know what is safe anymore.
1 person likes this
Jo Ann
@akalinus (43196)
• United States
16 Apr 20
We have hairy caterpillars here. They are called asps and touching their fur can send you to the hospital. The frogs and toads are in a decline.
1 person likes this
Jeff Moffitt
@moffittjc (121582)
• Gainesville, Florida
21 Apr 20
Is there some kind of toxic waste dump near where you live? haha I'm not that far from you, and we are having just the opposite effect. We're seeing more wildlife than ever before. Record numbers of alligators, snakes, birds, deer, and even bear now too. Maybe they all left you and came here to Gainesville!
Jo Ann
@akalinus (43196)
• United States
21 Apr 20
I don't know what is going on. Once I wrote a discussion called 'the zoo outside my door.' That was two or three years ago. There were all sorts of animals around but I just don't see many any more.
1 person likes this
Jo Ann
@akalinus (43196)
• United States
21 Apr 20
@moffittjc I don't know. I live in a park. We used to have an orange grove on one side of the park but some kind of blight wiped it out. I don't see the racehorses grazing any more. I seldom hear the mooing cows or the braying donkey. I don't hear the weird noises that the Sandhill cranes make. Maybe I need a hearing test or something.
1 person likes this
Jeff Moffitt
@moffittjc (121582)
• Gainesville, Florida
21 Apr 20
@akalinus Is development and growth destroying animal habitat where you live? That could be one possibility.