Missing critters

[pitw]

 Quite a spring here as it was horribly dry.  Now we are missing critters like coyotes and birds.  Hardly any Raptors around and crows/Ravens have about disappeared.  Gold finch's by the bucket load is the one exception.  I believe the bird flu is responsible for many missing birds but that don't really explain the low number of coyotes. Gophers by the millions too.
Just an observation.

[1snafu]

Coyote pop in my hunt area (North central plains). Which involves 3 counties. I have noticed over the last decade or so. Each Winter their pop has diminished more & more each yr. Not because of hunting/trapping pressure nor prey base. Something else is in play here. I hunt hard every season. Last Winter I seen 3 coyotes. After driving many hundreds of miles of county roads. Only place I found heavy coyote sign was on/along the frozen river bottom.  Typically I see mid 20's to mid 40's this last decade. Early-mid 80's, I would see 60-80+ on average.

[pitw]

I still see some coyotes but I hear far fewer than in the past.  Have not seen a buzzard this year and the bush down the road that owls have nested in forever is a ghost town.  Mice appear to be doing quite well as our chickens are catching some.  Robins are fewer and I think I've lost 2 nests of magpies in the yard.  Still have one nest and the one parent isn't afraid of me as it should be.

[Okanagan]

Pitw, that is really strange, very concerning as to what is going on.  Only people close to the land notice things like that. 

Ditto for the decline in coyote population in Snafu's area.

Wonder what's the cause in each place?

[FinsnFur]

Weather patterns? I feel like, last year especially, we had two or three springs. Trees budding in February, etc. Then bitter cold sub zero temps for days.
This year wasnt much different, winter didnt want to let go once it came. Then we had record high temps a week ago. some days triple digits. Yesterday morning is was 57 degrees.

[pitw]

  I think there is many things in play here.  The coyote decline intrigues me as they shoulda had a good winter with all the deer they could catch with cwd.  I'm now wondering if they can get it.  Last year when I went out and shot a few hundred gophers there would be a minimum of 15 hawks that were lazy and grabbed some dead ones, yesterday not one hawk but I had my first ever seagull come and get a quick meal.  Damb fool bird would swoop around chasing the gophers down.

[KySongDog]

Timely topic for me. My turkey critters have all but disappeared from my little patch of earth. This past spring I didn't hear the first gobble on my property where in years past they'd sound off from most every ridge. Last year was bad but this year was terrible. No tracks, no scratchings, no nothing. I don't know if nesting predators are the blame or if disease hit them. I just know they are gone.  Opening day I heard one shot all day and it was far off. Nothing it seems for a mile or two in any direction.

The coyotes are still around as I still see their sign so I guess that is a plus maybe.

[nastygunz]

Alien abduction? Bigfoot? 

[bigben]

We got a lot of different things going in my area.  We just got back from upstate snake hunting two weekends ago and the woods are devastated from spongy "gypsy" moths.  I do not know if they killed the trees or not but they have been hit hard two years in a row.  Not good as they feed mostly on oaks. 

Round home turkey season was unusually cold and bird sightings were way down.  Call ins where the same.  We normally have a couple clutches.  Right now only one bird has a clutch or it could have been two birds combined because the only time I see little ones two hens are with them.  I heard from locals that there was only one bird that had 10 or so. 

Fawns.  We only have two fawns running around.  I haven't seen a buck in velvet yet around home but that is kinda normal.  Usually July they cruise through. 

Berry's and cherry's and foraging.  Strawberry's were very short growing year.  morels were nonexistent in the mtns.  Some guys got into them down in the valley but pretty dismal.  black raspberry bushes are loaded and the wild cherry trees actually have edible size cherrys on them. 

I dont know what any of it means.  Was last winter hard on things the littlens not around?  will this winter be bad with how good the berry crop is?  I just know it seems that things are off kilter.  I know in this area there was a lot of people out hunting the last two years as covid left people with a lot of time on their hands and nothing to do.  I wonder if the wildlife and nature is telling us it cant uphold the amount of harvesting in the area?  I know the state is trying to get the deer herd down in numbers to curb CWD.

[bambam]

chemtrails. They are poisoning us from above. Affects wildlife as well as humans.

[JohnP]

Global warming or global cooling, think climate change ice age send money to any politician and they will fix the problem and you will soon have an abundance of everything.

[nastygunz]

too bad politicians wouldn't start disappearing 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[Okanagan]

It is global warming, set off by Neanderthal technology.  They started making campfires and cooking meat, releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, creating a greenhouse effect and warming the earth.  The proof is the end of the ice age.  How many glaciers do you see anymore in Minnesota?  Now we need a time machine to go back and wipe out Neanderthals before they could start this global warming.   

[nastygunz]

Okanagan for President!

[pitw]

Had a Raven stop in the trees at the South end of the yard today.  There is a reason nonody will see it again.
Had a buddy who needed some 22 ammo pick me up for the ride, $98 got him 716 bullets.  I damb near poohed.

[Okanagan]

Okanagan for President!

Well, thank you for the endorsement but I am not running for president.  It is flattering that you think I will make a good president and an honor to be considered.  But I am merely doing all of these press releases and TV interviews for the good I can do for the country.  Our people need the wisdom and leadership I can provide from my years of distinguished public service, but I'm not running for president.  Men  (and women) of vision and strength, like me, need to step up at such a time as this.  Did I mention that I'm not running for President?

[nastygunz]

Yes, Mr. President..... 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[Okanagan]

Yes, Mr. President..... 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

I think we are in danger of hijacking this thread, when we need to be protecting the ravens in pitw's part of Alberta.

[pitw]

Run for President, my run fell a tad short.
I hate Ravens. 

[nastygunz]

My Brother has a pair of ravens at his farm that are constantly getting into mischief he is kind of fond of them although he occasionally talks about shooting them to ha ha. He said they are professional egg thieves, but he has plenty of eggs

* I got my bachelors degree at Franklin Pierce College, the Ravens!