An Early Autumn, a Summer Without Insects

Something's wrong. Since the first day of August the temperature has not risen out of the seventies. The days are cool, the nights crisp, so you need a blanket, sometimes two, to be comfortable. The high school and college football players are loving it. But it's not natural.
Each year we have had fewer insects until now it is approaching the zero level. Since the weather warmed up in April, Jackie has seen three houseflies. I've seen one. The moths and millers that used to gather on the balcony at night, drawn to the window next to my reading lamp, have been gone for years. We no longer really need window screens.
The bank swallows people call nighthawks always put in an appearance an hour or so before dark. Watching them fly their erratic patterns in search of insects was interesting, especially from a sixth floor balcony. But when the insects vanished several years ago, so did the nighthawks.
What happened? This is an industrial area. You have to drive miles to find a farm so pesticides can't be blamed. Industrial emmisions aren't at fault. Even though we have many factories, some large and others small, emissions are nothing compared to those of the past.
Somehow it has to be tied to global warming just as the melting of the arctic ice cap has brought the country heavy snows in the winter months. What's next? Will the songbirds disappear? Will we soon have silent springs?
Humans have managed to mess up the planet. What will the future be like for the children and grandchildren? It may be a little late to start thinking about that.

Dear Dick,
All those bugs heard that I was trying to grow some organic vegetables down here in Florida. Maybe they should be referred to as 'snowbugs'.

There's no need to fear!
All the bugs are here!

Where is that Underdog when you need him?

Love,
Betty

Dick,
strange things are happening everywhere. Mother nature is the first to tell us that all is not well. Crops are being affected and we know what that means. For those who still think that the school is still out on global warming, their wake-up call is not far away.

The grasshoppers are gone from here and it has been years since we saw a praying mantis. Butterflies are close to being extinct around here. In June we seldom see a lightening bug and they used to be everywhere. Things are changing dramatically.

So far, things here are normal. Flies everywhere, especiallyo the cows. Hornets, bees, wasps, moths and butterflies fill the air. The birds are a joy to watch, and I have seen several types not common to the area. Perhaps they are on summer vacation in the N.W. U.S.?

Dear Dick,
I know that there is a virus that is killing honey bees. My neighbors hives became infected and they all died. I do not think the cause of this virus is known. The bees are very important to us all.

Love,
Betty

Betty,
yes, the bees are important and they are being threatened. Much is gauged in our area by the birds and the bees. When they thrive it is a good indication that the surrounding environment is healthy. Insecticides are responsible for much of the harm being done. We need those busy pollinators.

There are plenty of bugs here -- black flies, a few mosquitos, cicada's humming their power line hum, and june bugs, loads of spiders...you name it, they're around here. That and a couple of really odd ball algae blooms...

Betty I heard earlier this summer that the honey bees are being ravaged by a mite (teeny tiny bug) that is very hard to get rid of. We lost something like 10,000 hives last winter as a result of this mite in this area. Bad news.

I was driving out in the country on the weekend, and noticed something that just seems far too early...a couple of maple trees with very distinctive red patches. The leaves they are a-changin'!

Our Norhwoods habitat is about normal for bugs, birds, etc. Someone told me today, however, that there is a disease affecting bats in southern Wisconsin. Those bats eat the mosquitoes, which is good. Up north my husband put mothballs in our eaves, because bats in the eaves, and then sneaking in the house is not a good thing. So we put up a bat house, and indeed it is full of bats, that eat the mosquitoes.

All the other critters are pretty normally represented: hummers who dive on me if their feeders aren't filled, except for one little guy who loves to just sit on my dried grapevine over my porch.

The chipmunks, three kinds of squirrels are all invading my bird feeders, and the woodpeckers have put millions of holes in various trees along the driveway.

But the river down further south is green with algae, and ever since the floods earlier this spring, has had kind of a brown look to it.

Carol

I certainly could have done without the bugs that treated me like a banquet!

sorry about the double entry must be a bug in the system

We have one honey bee that comes around to visit Jackie's flowers every day. That's it. No wasps, no hornets, nothing.

Sometimes we watch that lone bee and Jackie even points out larger flowers that he seems to have missed. He goes right to them as if he understands every word she says. Now and then he stops to wash up, which he does exactly the way hamsters do it. We have become attached to our lonely little bee.

Seeing it's your birthday, I found a buddy for your bee:

Very good, but I'm not sure he's going to like having company when it has been his exclusive territory.

You mean he might have a bee in his bonnet?