Birds are gone

[MuseRider]

31. Same here in Kansas.

I have been watching this for years.

We still have a few rabbits, this year the deer population is almost gone after last year when I had fawn and mamas all over the place. I have 0 birds on my big pond, O. No ducks or geese. I am usually here with my bird count book out and getting filled with marks of birds both in and out of the water.Not one flock since spring and they were here and gone. I have not even had any mice or rats in the barns. No coyotes....I could go on. It is so quiet out here.

I was looking at some older photos, not THAT old but within the last 10 years. I have not heard or seen a quail in probably 3 years. There have not been any birds really. My trees used to be full. No blue birds or robins or anything. The eagles still come for a short time but they do not come back and forth like they used to from the big lake in Lawrence. The Osprey were here for a very short time but there were not many. My trees are empty.

I could go on but it is so sad. It makes the reason I bought this place and built on it look silly. It was full of all kinds of critters...oh yeah I forgot. Where in the heck are the turtles? No snakes in my barns, none.

I am so glad I am getting old enough to not feel like I will miss much when I go. My life was filled with all the wonders we now never see or hear...not a peep out my windows. Only the sound of a truck on gravel as it rolls by, that is one scarce sound I do not mind being infrequent,