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Bugs And Birds Gone In NW Washington State



From Kayla
8-9-22

Hello, I live in northwest Washington state. I moved here from Monterey CA about six years ago. When I moved in, there were about five bird species, dragon flies, hornets, honey bees, bumble bees, beetles, some butterflies and a few moths. I have seen one bumble bee each year since but nothing else. I can hear birds and see flocks of crows...but everything else is gone.

When I lived in Monterey, CA, I happened to move back to a neighborhood I once lived in 20 years before. The lizards and salamanders were gone, so were the honey bees, beetles, and lots of other insects I don't know the name or species of. It was as if all the spraying they had done around the condo complex had succeeded but it also wiped out everything on the paths around the park next door and the golf course (they probably sprayed as well).

There were silent mornings unlike the noisy ones that I used to cuss because so many birds wanted to talk at sunrise. I miss them. I miss the bugs, too. The whole 'circle of life' is gone...and in biology, we used to discuss what happens when it stops being a circle. The circle of life is also gone (of course) where all the fires have destroyed so many trees, plants, bugs, birds, mammals (large and small). Here is a visual of fires and acres burned in the past 30 years.

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/30-years-of-wildfires-in-america/