Martyn Stewart wrote:
> Seems strange Walt that crows are ok but songbirds are not! I would have
> thought pesticides would affect all? All this government needs is an
> excuse to drain swamps, bogs like this, same as thinning of trees
> because of the fire risks!!!!
> Have you noticed from the start of the year the lack of songbirds or
> just recently?
The crows don't go into the towns, at least I think that's the reason.
Since all the area crows come in when I mow to get the insects I stir
up, I get a good look at them. My "front yard" is 7 acres, and I mow it
with my tractor. And normally only when it's gotten real high. The
numbers following me around have not changed in years, and they all look
very healthy.
Songbirds started dropping in early summer, just about the time I first
saw the spray trucks in Monroe. I also did see dying birds in Monroe
itself after a spraying. So far the county has not done any spraying.
They are so strapped for money they even have backed off a lot of their
weedkiller spraying along roads, and are mowing along roads a lot less
as well.
Our early spring was pretty normal. Had the usual number of bluebird
nests in the boxes and so on. Plenty of birds around. While it's fairly
normal to see and hear birds less as the summer progresses, over the
past several months the dropoff has been far more drastic than normal.
And this is a very good year for wildlife, good rain, lots to eat, etc.
At first I was not much of a believer, I'm 6 miles out, or maybe 5 from
the nearest spraying. But it's a awful big coincidence, so I think it's
having a effect even this far out. The drop in calling is really
noticeable. Really not much other than insects. And the crows and other
larger birds. The hawks that nest in our back woods have produced some
more young for us to be amused at. They learn hunting and flying and so
on mostly right on our place. The Owls did their usual calling from the
woods, and I still hear them.
It's really not the government doing in wetlands, it's private
individuals, developers and land speculators. It started to really go
when the courts decided that the feds could only protect wetlands that
had a permanent stream flowing through them, which is the minority of
wetlands. Thus destroying the wetlands protection. After that decision
there was a rush to fill, which attracted some interest from those that
like wetlands. The West Nile came along as a convenient excuse, which
they use now if questioned. They are trying to fill or drain absolutely
everything before any new law can replace the one struck down.
Of course the party in power in the federal government is the one that
does not care and helps business. So, they have made no effort to do
anything about it. The expectation is that at least 50% of the US
wetlands will go or already have. And that's of what remained when the
court decided. It's a huge disaster for anything dependent on wetlands.
Walt
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