I would love to get some input here please!
Has anyone else noticed any weather, seasonal, insect, reptile, bird, or critter changes? I’m not really talking about the change in an insect or animal itself, but more in their natural movements.
We have noticed lots of little changes over the last few years. Small things like when the Robins show up in spring (This last year they never left, and we had a very unusual winter here.). We already have seen a full size flying grasshopper, and a large number of butterflies – – they are not supposed to be here for a while yet? Usually the tiny baby browns show up first. Then the multi-colored one-inch-ers (yes that is a word in my dictionary – ha ha). But not this year, the big ones are just here – AND FLYING?!
The weather has been strange enough, but the oddities in the critters is just wacko (yep, another Rachels’ dictionary addition).
- Mega blizzards in April that did not go away in 3-days or less.
- An opossum right up in our yard just after one of those blizzards.
- Grasshoppers at least a month too soon.
- Robins that never left.
- Barn Swallows before all the leaves on the trees are out.
- No foxes or coyote’s – not a sound.
These are just a few of the strange things we have noticed.
I know that some can be blamed on the ocean current patterns, but that seems to mainly affect the weather. I also know about tectonic plate shifts. That may be why there have been (or seems to be) more volcanoes erupting. But how do you explain all the critters?
Their natural instincts are way better than mine. I just get the feeling that they are trying to tell me, or us, something and we are not listening.
So, my hope here is that some of you will have a response for me. Are you having the same issues? Have you even noticed anything different?
Ok, before you all freak out and want to have me committed, NO – I AM NOT A DOOMSDAY PREPPER! I do believe in being prepared (it’s the 4-H-er in me), but no end of the world stuff yet (Oh and we love watching The Walking Dead – the human condition side of it is awesome!). I/we do things like canning, buying in bulk on major stuff like coffee, sugar, flour, toilet paper etc. We have our own chickens for meat and eggs. A cow is in our field right now and half of it will be in our freezer by winter.
We are striving to get off the grid, just because we like to be independent. Everything takes time and money to obtain, so we just move along one step at a time. But the critters are freaking me out! Normal patterns do not seem “normal” anymore.
Please let me know that I’m not crazy (ok, just tell me gently if I am – LOL)! Do you see what I see?
HELBERG FARM STORIES 
Didn’t we have this conversation earlier? B-)
… And yes.
1. There are a LOT less bees around, loads of people on twitter have been commenting on it. (This may also be neonicotinoid (pesticide) issue related)
2. The winter just past was so mild I don’t think that autumn actually left and it just merged into spring.
3. I was cutting my grass last year in NOVEMBER… O.o
4. We finally got cold weather REALLY late and it actually paused the normal time when we should have been getting the potatoes in.
5. Over here in the UK we have a rampant weed called Cleavers, (Galium aparine) and it is already absolutely screaming along, probably because it was such a mild winter it never actually died off.
While I don’t think the amount of volcanoes going off is really all that more often, we just hear about it more now because of the 24hour news cycle. They gotta find SOMETHING to fill the empty hours!
Climate change is real and its happening all around us. It’s so bad now that you don’t even have to look for it… It’s now on your doorstep banging on your door asking if you would like to read their pamphlets!
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/99-percent-chance-2016-hottest-year-20359
I really don’t know how people *can’t* see it.
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LOL Kal – didn’t mean to hit a nerve – LOL!! Our winter was just not normal at all. Pretty sure the seasons shifted even while I was watching them (ha ha ha). And I would like to see those pamphlets please (hee hee). You would be amazed by how many people do NOT notice it – too bad, so sad. oh, and while we are talking about things we have talked about – did you check out the storms that went through here last night? Supposed to be worse by the weekend – oh happy Memorial Day!
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You sent me the pic about the hail, scary stuff. Other than that I don’t follow local US weather. It’s bad enough I have to follow ours!
Even if they don’t actually notice the changes, it’s all over the news, in the press, on facebook! How do they not see it?
And no, no pamphlets for you! *shakes fake fist of rage*
I have no idea what Memorial Day is. One sec. *looks*…. Ah, remembrance day for us. Not a cheerful day.
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I’m glad that Kal is the first commenter! Also being on the other side of the world and in a much different climate from yourself, I’m seeing biting insects way too soon, only bumble bees, and odd lawn-grass growth. My hostas are about 2 weeks behind, and the wind which should be done this time of year is still a killer of plants. And me! We don’t have a lot of wildlife to observe. I did notice the swifts that nest at work seem to have found another place – odd after three years in the same nook.
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The swifts that messed in your building are probably no longer alive. It could be that the offspring know the area though. Something will move in soon enough!
Oh… And I can talk for Britain!
Seeing as you are on the coast, I’m right that you are on the coast? Have you noticed the sea life changes? According to my stepmum-inlaw (don’t ask) the dolphins and the like she sees in Inverness, Scotland are late too.
Oh… And April Showers in May…. What’s that about? O.o
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I’m not on the coast, but am western Ireland! So we get the weather first. We also have a 1,000 ft? metre? mountain right in the way of most wind patterns – so it does swoop down upon us. Down the side, through a valley and up again to us, yay!
I’ve seen those birds come back year after year, so unless my boss was a jerk and broke the mud-nest up this time, I’m sad that this generation hasn’t come to nest. If he did, it was when I wasn’t around as he KNOWS I’ll fight him over it!
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It’s 3ft to a metre, so not something you should confuse!
Or could be that it had been successive generations coming to you, but the chain is now broken. I dunno. If the best had been damaged they would have rebuilt or repaired it, no stress
BTW… Well done picking up the Irish way of dealing with things! O.o B-)
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I was way off! 262 m, or less than 1,000 feet 🙂
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A thousand feet is still a serious climb! O.o
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Damn it… “nested”… Not messed, bloody autocorrect. This is what I get for replying on my phone!
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Gotta tell ya Kal – I just love our talks! You speak your mind, have a great sense of humor, and are not afraid to say if you screwed up (I do it all the time and am damn proud of it. My mistakes are my best learning tools.
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Look… I see it like this. Either we are going to get along or we are not. Most of the time people get my humour for the silliness is it. But when they don’t I just shrug and walk away.
I don’t bother changing what I say unless I am talking to kids, but that is different.
Adults should expect a certain level of decency. If I screw up I apologize if needed and correct myself.
Obviously sometimes there are cultural issues, sometimes religious views too. But, again… Adults.
I’m an atheist, others are not. We have to reach a compromise and be respectful… Except when you drink coffee. *shudder* some things are just wrong. >.>
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While you 2 are here – do you get hurricanes? I love Farmers Almanac and it just came out with the 2016 Hurricane forecast: http://farmersalmanac.com/weather/2016/05/23/2016-hurricane-outlook/
They are no issue for Colorado, but I have friends along the east coast that I worry about. Pretty sure the climate changes have their fingers I there too.
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No, not really Mainland Britain, and Ireland are to small for the build up of forces. When we do get them they are usually your cast-offs and nowhere near the Horror Story nightmare killing machines.
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I’ve noticed so many changes too….funny deniers refuse to look around them and see it’s true. “None so blind as those who will not see”. I’m not going to start hoarding stuff…just sit back and watch the deniers as they do…
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Not here – but I grew up on the gulf coast of Florida. A hurricane is my favourite natural disaster – because and ONLY because it gives days of warning so if you can (not all can) run inland, you have time to do so. Snow doesn’t scare me a bit. But earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes…NO!
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Thankfully we don’t get much snow over here… But we do get rain… Lots of rain… Rain, rain rain… With a side order of sogginess and a wet chaser. Not that I am bitter or anything.
Oh… And when we do get snow (Anything more than an inch) the world comes to an end, people panic buy EVERYTHING (Including toasters, which is weird) and general mayhem ensues…. All while the rest of the world looks on in barely disguised mirth, this includes countries that have never seen snow.
We do get earthquakes on occasion though!
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Kal, Thought you would like to see this since we talked about bees swarming (perfect timing Weather Channel), it was posted today:
https://weather.com/news/trending/video/why-thousand-of-bees-chase-this-car-for-days
It didn’t say where it is, but it did explain why. (not sure why those bee keepers said they have never seen anything like it? Ours see it about once every couple of years)
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This one explains it a little better.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/24/bee-swarm-clinging-to-car-boot-haverfordwest-wales
It was in Wales, UK. And it was a local park ranger that said it was strange. The bee keepers didn’t.
And, from what I read on twitter the past couple of days, it happens all the time in some rural areas and it’s common enough for bee keepers that they know how to deal with it.
Apparently the bee keepers I read from think the queen got back into the car because she had already started building a nest and had *possibly* laid some eggs. The rest of the hive were just trying their best to protect her, the young and the nest.
Over here we have just had swarming time, BTW.
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