Animals failing to adapt to speed of climate crisis, study finds

[littlemissmartypants]

3. Very troubling.

I've had a noticeable decline in the numbers of insects, frogs, turtles, lizards, skinks and birds on the property. I used to have chimney swallows but they haven't nested in two years. My bluebird house is empty this year for the first time ever. The bats in the barn are down to less than a dozen. Watching them come out in the early evening was one of my favorite pastimes. There used to be so many of them it was truly special.

The silence of the birds is the worst. I miss hearing them in the morning and evening. Both the owl and the hawk in residence, I found dead a couple of months apart, which broke my heart.

I did see my first butterfly of the summer today, a yellow common grass.



Yellow butterflies are supposed to be a sign of hope. I'll hitch my wagon to that notion, for now.