What bugs/diseases/critters have ya'll seen that weren't around 30-40 years ago?

[Dftodd]

I do the same. Extremely fragrant when in bloom, and the patches are full of insects...monarchs, hummingbird moths, all sorts of bees. Last year bears seem to have discovered it, one morning the whole patch had been trampled. Speaking of bears, they seem to be more plentiful in recent years. We've always had them, but not to the extent we do now.

Bats have largely disappeared around here over the last 20 or so years, though we did see some a few evenings ago. Hopefully, they'll recover...the mosquito population has boomed in their absence.

Last year we had an extremely good crop of dragonflies.

I was pulling out of my driveway in the early morning and the cow pasture across the street was sparkling..... a lot!!!

After watching for a couple minutes, I realized that the sparkles all over the field was the sun glinting off from dragonfly wings.

There were thousands of them just having a feeding frenzy.

Sure kept the mosquitos down

 

[Jstpssng]

Last year we had an extremely good crop of dragonflies.

I was pulling out of my driveway in the early morning and the cow pasture across the street was sparkling..... a lot!!!

After watching for a couple minutes, I realized that the sparkles all over the field was the sun glinting off from dragonfly wings.

There were thousands of them just having a feeding frenzy.

Sure kept the mosquitos down

Years ago I was putting in my garden and was ready to quit because the blackflies were so bad. Just as I was ready to go a flock(?) of dragonflies showed up, and the blackflies disappeared.

For a while you could buy an electronic device which imitated the sound of dragonflies, allegedly to drive them off.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

We've got Sand Cranes (just saw one today).
More eagles (I have an eagle's nest atop the hill on my lake house).
Less loons (the eagles pick the babies off of the lake).
We have Turkey Vultures (we never had those when i was a kid).

And for some reason, tick bites now start to itch (I never member ticks making an itchy bit when I was a kid)

 

[drumminj]

And for some reason, tick bites now start to itch (I never member ticks making an itchy bit when I was a kid)

And they take forever to heal! Seems like they take a month or so for me here.

 

[Dftodd]

We've got Sand Cranes (just saw one today).
More eagles (I have an eagle's nest atop the hill on my lake house).
Less loons (the eagles pick the babies off of the lake).
We have Turkey Vultures (we never had those when i was a kid).

And for some reason, tick bites now start to itch (I never member ticks making an itchy bit when I was a kid)

My grandson had a tick latch onto his junk

He was an iching fool for about a week after.

Benadryl creme works wonders!!!

 

[ponytug]

I do the same. Extremely fragrant when in bloom, and the patches are full of insects...monarchs, hummingbird moths, all sorts of bees. Last year bears seem to have discovered it, one morning the whole patch had been trampled. Speaking of bears, they seem to be more plentiful in recent years. We've always had them, but not to the extent we do now.

Bats have largely disappeared around here over the last 20 or so years, though we did see some a few evenings ago. Hopefully, they'll recover...the mosquito population has boomed in their absence.

You could build a few bat boxes. I think that they are much easier to build than bird boxes, though our bats move around a bit depending on the weather, going from sunnier (warmer) boxes to shaded (cooler) boxes as the weather warms, so having a few scattered around facing various directions helps.

We've got Sand Cranes (just saw one today).
More eagles (I have an eagle's nest atop the hill on my lake house).
Less loons (the eagles pick the babies off of the lake).
We have Turkey Vultures (we never had those when i was a kid).

And for some reason, tick bites now start to itch (I never member ticks making an itchy bit when I was a kid)

I would guess that he itching is probably a result of prior bites that you've become allergic to. Which is why Benadryl or OTC steroid cream helps.

All the best,

Peter

 

[drumminj]

You could build a few bat boxes. I think that they are much easier to build than bird boxes, though our bats move around a bit depending on the weather, going from sunnier (warmer) boxes to shaded (cooler) boxes as the weather warms, so having a few scattered around facing various directions helps.

We have bats around here, I assume living in some of our dead trees that I need to take down soon. Been meaning to build bat boxes and have a pile of cedar logs I intend to use as posts for them.

I assume you've built some -- can you share where/how you've placed them, as I understand they should be away from other trees?

 

[dodge man]

Along with Russian Olive, Honeysuckle is even worse around here.

 

[Oaktree]

Not bug, critter or disease, but Russian olive bushes are another extremely invasive species around NW MO. The leaves are kind of pretty and they smell like bubble gum, but horrible plants. They would take over the yard in a couple of years if I didn't cut and spray to keep them out.

Never heard of that, but we have this low bush sumac that'll take over if you let it. Has white blossoms as opposed to the usual red, very fragrant. Half the yard was over-run with it when we moved here, even now it pops up every spring.
We did leave a section of it along the property line as sort of a hedge.

 

[CliffordK]

I think a lot of species were over hunted in the past. So wolves, for example, were almost entirely wiped out, and then were reintroduced 10 or 20 years ago. I really haven't seen much of them. Reports seem to indicate the cougar population is slowly rebounding. I've on occasion encountered black bears when hiking and camping without problems, but they become more problematic in high traffic areas. And the grizzly bears have been reintroduced to regions where they were previously wiped out (including some of my cherished camping areas in Idaho).

The Cinnabar Moth was introduced about 30 years ago to fight Tansy Ragweed, and it has done wonders in control of the invasive plant.

Off and on there seem to be infestations of pine beetles. But, it may be part of the natural cycle of things, but made worse with tree farming practices.

Eastern Filbert Blight hit the Oregon Hazelnut/Filbert farming a couple of years ago. But they have introduced new disease resistant trees.