I camped up on the plateau last night. First time camping in maybe 8 years and haven’t camped up there in closer to 40. It was weird though. No crickets. No tree frogs. That iconic wall of noise at night. Gone.

The only sounds were intermittent motorcycles, trucks, trains, barges and planes. Everything you don’t want to hear and none of the things you do.

It was depressing. It’s been bothering me all day and we had them last year. Is it just my area or is this the new norm?

  • toast@retrolemmy.com
    6·
    12 hours ago

    You have crickets this time of year where you are? We don’t see them in my area until July or August (they come after the fireflies, which we’ll get in a couple of weeks).

    Still, I agree with you. Fewer insects all around.

    • jay2@beehaw.orgOPEnglish
      4·
      11 hours ago

      I’m just west of Pittsburgh, PA. I sure do hope that’s all it is. I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed it until I did not hear it last night. Honestly, I remember having crickets before school would let out for the summer. We’d usually do a camp out before school ended and everyone went on vacation.

      Been seeing a lot of birds. Lot of spiders. Tons of ants. and a metric ton of chipmonks. (They ate my catnip, by the way). Insects in general are down, but not gone. Scorpion flies just came out. I did see a male and a female within the last week just chilling out on some American Jumpseed.