West Nile?�

2004-05-14

I didn't realize that I was going to miss the bees. None of my flowers are setting seed. If I want any pumpkins this year I'm going to have to hand pollinate. There are fewer hummingbirds, and the goldfinches have disappeared. And those are just the things I noticed in my yard.

This little girl is not gravid, which I would expect her to be at this time of the season.

Cripes. I�ve watched the hummingbirds in my yard for so many years that I think I can tell when a 3 gram bird is pregnant! Not only is she not gravid, she seems lonely. She sat for several of these pictures, watching me watch her.

There are no hummingbird territorial battles going on in my yard this year, despite the fact that I have three species of salvia and a very large honeysuckle vine. Sad. The Silent Spring has never seemed nearer.

I guess after the controversial and ultimately futile spraying for med flies I shouldn't be too surprised. The only statements I've heard concerning mosquito control all say that the government is 'taking control measures.' There's no mention of spraying at all. I also found this, which scares the heck out of me. I'm not sure that they're spraying in my area, but we do have two parks with artificial lakes and I have heard planes flying low over the area early in the morning this spring. One of the fun things about getting up at 5 am every day. The sound seemed so low and so close that I kept waiting to hear the crash.

Insect control using poison is counterproductive at best and an ecological disaster at worst. Insects develop a resistance to poisons wayfaster than humans or animals. Birds die. Fish die. Bees die (won't the farmers be pissed about that.) People get sick. There have been a few hundred deaths from the West Nile virus. I'm betting that deaths from spraying outnumber that by a large margin. They haven't been spraying, I've only heard the planes a couple of times, but it still seems to have a big affect on a large number of lives in the area. Maybe not human lives, but lives just the same.

I could be wrong. I just don�t think so

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