We have a few hummers here in Lake Elmo but I’m much more struck by a near-total absence of monarch butterflies. I successfully raised and released 16 monarchs in June/early July but since then I’ve only found one caterpillar and seen one adult. I suspect the relentlessly rainy weather was hard on them. What are others’ thought? Jeffrey Saffle Sent from my iPhone
> On Jul 19, 2024, at 11:27 AM, Jason Frank <jmfran...@gmail.com> wrote: > > I'm in Ortonville, and haven't seen a single hummingbird all summer long. I > only saw a few in the spring. > > There are no Japanese Beetles this far west yet, so no one around here is > spraying for them. Plenty of people are spraying for everything else, > though. Ortonville is governed by the type of 20th Century idiocy that > employs a municipal mosquito spray truck which circles the town once a week > to kill every flying insect in its path (can't have all dem golfers and > lakeshore dwellers gettin all itchy, don't ya know). There are plenty of > flowers around town, and good nesting habitat in the parks and ravines. I > too am noticing low numbers of Barn and Tree Swallows... and I haven't seen > a Kestrel since April. At this point, it could be a whole cumulative effect > of climate, over-spraying and insect population collapse, and bird flu, > which I'd imagine could spread to hummers if their feeders are in close > proximity to seed and suet feeders. All those storms and heavy rain during > nesting season probably didn't help, either. > > Jason Frank > >> On Thu, Jul 18, 2024 at 8:36 PM Nancy Steinhauser <nancyhu...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> >> Wondering if anyone else has seen the numbers go down this summer. From a >> great start (over 30 birds arrived at the feeders.....and who knows the >> ones I didn't see) in mid-May, the numbers now have dwindled to less than a >> dozen, and that's up from 3 or 4 because the little ones have fledged. >> Neighbors and co-workers (the north shore and inland above Two Harbors) >> have reported the same "drop" in birds. Bewildered. They started to >> disappear early to mid-June and have not returned. Wondering about bird >> flu. >> We have had a huge mosquito population this summer because of all the >> rain. But that hasn't dropped hummingbird numbers coming to feeders in >> previous wet summers. >> Any ideas/experiences? The numbers here have been steadily going up for >> over >> 25 years. Many feeders out. Such a shock to have so few birds. >> Thanks in advance. >> Nancy in Superior Highlands >> >> ---- >> General information and guidelines for posting: >> https://moumn.org/listservice.html >> Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html >> >> During the pandemic, the MOU encourages you to stay safe, practice social >> distancing, and continue to bird responsibly. >> > > ---- > General information and guidelines for posting: > https://moumn.org/listservice.html > Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html > > During the pandemic, the MOU encourages you to stay safe, practice social > distancing, and continue to bird responsibly. ---- General information and guidelines for posting: https://moumn.org/listservice.html Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html During the pandemic, the MOU encourages you to stay safe, practice social distancing, and continue to bird responsibly.
