Posted on 07/24/2015 12:01:00 AM PDT by nickcarraway
A massive swarm of grasshoppers and beetles is making its way toward Oklahoma.
Park rangers from Copper Breaks State Park in Quanah, Texas say the mob is so huge that its movement is being picked up on radar.
They are reportedly headed northeast towards Oklahoma.
We don’t know if they will reach us, but they are making impressive time.
The National Weather Service says it is not unusual for the bugs to travel like this during the summer, but it is pretty incredible to watch it on radar.
“It doesn’t take a whole lot of bugs to cause that on radar,” Jonathan Kurtz, a meteorologist at the Norman Forecast Office, said. “It’s not like biblical proportions. There was just enough out there that the radar picked it up.”
Yikes! Wonder what it will do to the cattle industry and grazing. Lots of great rolling pastures out there in that frontier!
Anybody else notice a conspicuous lack of Grackles, Starlings and Red Wing Blackbirds this year?
I have seen very few of the first three species and none of the last.
Did someone in the midwest mass poison them again and this is related?
two, not three.
Yeesh.
Birds tend to fluctuate from year to year everywhere I’ve been. Grackles are pretty numerous here (east Texas) I see them picking bugs from the grilles of cars in a lot of parking lots.
We don’t seem to have many Starlings, good riddance. They were imported from Europe many years ago and have forced native birds out of their native habitat, became a nuisance in short order because they have no natural enemies here. Same as European House Sparrow.
Some bozo in New York in the 1700’s decided all of the birds in Shakespeare’s plays needed to be in New York and imported Starlings and European House Sparrows. In 20 years New York was paying people to kill the sparrows they were such a nuisance, by 75 years later they had spread as far as Texas, Florida and Oklahoma.
Very few Red Wing Blackbirds here to begin with. I saw loads in north Louisiana, they migrate there in winter every year by the thousands. Here, 5 hours southwest of there, I’ve always seen very few in 20 years. Neither has any natural enemies here, except house cats, and both force native birds out of their natural habitat.
Other birds do the same though, one year I’ll see dozens of Goldfinches here in winter, next year only 3 or 4. This last winter I only saw maybe a half dozen. This summer I’m seeing more Orchard Orioles than last year, and fewer Summer Tanagers. Plenty Indigo Buntings, not many Yellow Breasted Chats.
It’s not just birds though. My garden did nothing this year, my neighbors are telling me the same. I’m a photographer - birds, wildlife and, flowers and insects. I’m seeing far fewer wildflowers this year and insects too.
Last spring we had patches of Indian Paintbrushes that were good size sections of roadsides pure red, this year just a few here and there. Same for everything. No huge yellow patches of Brown Eyed Susans all over the place, just a few small stands.
If you’re interested, I’ll plug my photography
http://www.flickr.com/paleopete
Might have somthin’ to do with E. Texas being waterlogged for the first 6 months this year. ;-)
Bush or global warming?
Beautiful pictures
I didn’t see any domestic bees on the flowers this summer and I only saw a handful of butterflies. There were a scattering of fireflies, but nothing compared to how many there were five or six years ago.
Thanks
Same here, I’m not seeing the number of insects I did last year, plenty Honey Bees, but very few Carpenter Bees (related to Bumble Bees). Seem to be a decent number of butterflies, but I’ve only seen a couple of Robber Flies, usually see those almost daily.
Uglybiker - I’ve been wondering about that. We got more rain here than any time in the past 30 years, which was actually a good thing, our shallow water well was giving us trouble because the overall water table had dropped a lot. Brought the water table back to normal, Lake Sam Rayburn, 100 yards away, was higher 2 weeks ago than anyone I know has ever seen it. Fortunately no flooding here, we’re high enough above the lake it would have to rise another 8 feet or more to flood us.
Did have one drawback though, snakes have been moving to higher ground, which means my back yard...No, you won’t see any pictures. I shoot them with something different...
I’ve been into photography for over 30 years, starting with film, got into nature photography in no time, been at it ever since. And I’m in a good place for it, pout in the boonies, big lake nearby, a couple of wilderness areas not far away I’ve been wanting to check out, some good nature trails...
But I wonder about one thing...why do I come way out here to view the wildlife when all the animals live in town??
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.