I don't know what's happening. It didn't start until the cicadas arrived. I have been hearing the weirdest bird sounds like in a jungle movie. You know when they're trekking through the jungle and all you can hear mostly are the sounds of the birds. Do you think they followed the cicadas here? It's kind of scary 'cause I don't know what they are going to do when I'm out in the yard. There's one bird that was always by the living room window either in the evergreen tree or the honeysuckle tree and it just was so irritating that I went outside and sprayed both of trees hoping it would go away. It must have worked.
Sounds odd, Von. Maybe they are migrating and just stoppin' by Ohio for a few days on their way south.
We are seeing much fewer bird species than we had. Even the wrens are small in numbers now, no blue birds at all, couple Blue Jays, and the cute little doves we used to see have vanished. Most native plants have been disappearing last 15 years. No more panthers, fox or coyotes in last decade. Panthers not seen or heard in at least 12 years.
We had a few days of really warm weather (for the season) though now things are really chilly. But the tail end of that warm spell caught the bird migration. I heard chirps and titters and song I haven't heard since last Spring. Spied a few colorful commuters as well.
Things are changing, maybe it is urban sprawl, and they are running out of habitat here? although that shouldn't affect the plant disappearances. We had wild plums, Maypops, dogwoods, crab apple, Poke salet and others that are no longer here. We didn't do anything so it has to be in the environment. Still have muscadines but they are not as productive as before. Plus there are too many and they are invasive more so than before and kill all other Plants around them.
Wow, I loved the sounds of NW Alabama, including Cicadas! I'd never heard anything like it, and saw my first tornado there. Also, I sware it seemed like everything smelled like a Magnolia tree! Gorgeous, I live in Killen, worked in Florence. My hearing is getting worse, need some decent hearing-aids, but I love it when I do get to hear some wildlife, oh, and I miss the lightning bugs too!
I managed to get this pic through the blinds in my patio door this afternoon: There were several more of them, but they're pretty skittish. Hardly a jungle, but I'm not lacking for critters here.
Yup. They come right up to my deck. This is more obviously a turkey: I took this pic from the window of my car, arriving home from work when I first moved here. Some number of them had already made their way into the woods:
That's how I felt about that whippoorwill I had earlier this summer. The daggone thing never shut up. I wanted to put him on he endangered list.
We used to have a woodpecker that was mentally ill. He was always "drilling" on the metal downspout to our gutters. Sounded like a machine gun in our bedroom. I had to spray him with the water hose a couple of times so he'd get outta here. And speaking of chattering birds... I think we have another snake in the palm tree in the back yard. I was out there yesterday and a bunch of birds were chattering and swooping into the tree. Not sure if there's a nest up there but it seems like a weird time of year for eggs. I don't know what they were freaking out about but I "assumed" it was a snake.
I don't get turkeys often, but sometimes Spring and Fall late at night I'll see a flock of them "bedded down" in a driveway off the main road. Maybe 40 of them. The driveway is long and very black, maybe almost 100% asphalt. I assume the daytime sun heats it up and the turkeys like that warmth.
In Idaho, and also eastern Washington, we have wild turkeys now, and they seem to thrive out there. Back when I was a kid and lived there, no wild turkeys existed, but sometime in the 80’s (I think), the government brought in wild turkeys from somewhere, and now they are all over. I had a friend who lived on a ranch, and the turkey were always getting into his barn and sleeping in the rafters, and leaving big turkey droppings on his winter hay, which the horses did not appreciate at all. One day he shot one and gave it to me to cook. It was worse than any stewing hen I have ever cooked, it took hours and hours before it was anywhere near tender enough to eat, and the flavor was not that great once we could eat it. They probably tasted good to the pioneers though, back when that was the only kind of turkey you would find to eat. Other than squirrels and birds, we do not have much wildlife here in town, and the adopted feral cats seem to be scaring away the squirrels, which is a good thing, and eating any birds that they catch, which is fine, too. Between the birds and the squirrels, we barely get any fruit from any of the blueberries or figs, so fewer critters is good.