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

[Jstpssng]

^^^
A woman I spent time with last year said she has never heard an owl. I can't imagine living 60 years in Maine and not hearing one.

 

[ponytug]

^^^
A woman I spent time with last year said she has never heard an owl. I can't imagine living 60 years in Maine and not hearing one.

I can't imagine either!

 

[jyoutz]

We have a barred owl that lives on our property. I'll see him quite often sitting on a fence post at the end of our driveway hunting a water hole in the cow pasture.

Every now and then I'll accidently spot light him in our yard and tick him off. He gets awful mouthy when you disturb his hunt

He and his pals will get really chatty some nights and really make a racket as well.

I have great horned owls that will sit on my roof, barn roof and on fence posts. There are lots of them and they are why I can’t keep barn cats.

 

[Dftodd]

^^^
A woman I spent time with last year said she has never heard an owl. I can't imagine living 60 years in Maine and not hearing one.

I heard the all the time growing up in vermont.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Here in SE TN armadillos are a new occurrence over the last 5 or so years. Now I see them everywhere.

 

[Runner]

I found a dead barred owl in our yard in 2016. No visible damage, so I assume he must have been hit by a car, although he was a couple of hundred feet from the street. Absolutely beautiful creature.

 

[Gem99ultra]

When I was growing up around here we never saw skunks, coyotes, ground hawgs, armadillo, fire ants, even deer. In the mid 70's the state released I think it was 75 dakota whitetails in our area. First one I saw about 76 laying dead in the road, evidently they forgot to tell the deer cars would be around...

Fire ants, never saw them until 2000 ish.

Skunks started seeing them dead in nearby areas about 10 yrs go.

Ground hawgs started showing up about 30 yrs ago.

Coyotes maybe 20 yrs ago.

Armadillo's grandson saw the first one about 2 yrs or so ago.

Wildlife folks say these critters have migrated here. Seems mighty strange to me that as many years as has been around , they never "migrated" here before. I practically lived in the woods growing up. I read tracks, looked for sign, did some trapping, notta...

Fire ant debacle came from potted plants imported in.

Ain't gonna mention all the yankees that have been self importing in.

Has this happened in your area?

I'd have to say you've lived a sheltered life Growing up in East Texas, every one of those you listed, except for ground hawgs, were common place. You may be right, they probably migrated up to NC over the years.

 

[CH4Ohio]

1. Stink bugs have been mentioned a couple times. I don't think I ever even heard of a stink bug when I was a kid. Now they're in every box in the garage, behind everything you move or pick up. You find them in your closed vehicles. They seem to be able to hide anywhere to survive the winter. What a nasty critter.

Amish guy I was talking to had a theory. He thinks the farmers have been so successful with pesticides over the years that they've wiped out some insect that used to keep the stinkbug population in check. Makes sense, but I don't know . . .

2. Coyotes are seen often and heard more often. We lived way out in the sticks in KY when I was a kid, and we NEVER saw or heard coyotes. Foxes yes. No coyotes. At night, every night, you'd hear nothing but whip-poor-wills and owls. Now they're a real nuisance and a worry for anyone with pets or small animals.

3. That reminded me, I haven't heard a whip-poor-will since about 1980. Don't know if they're still common in KY or not.

4. The orange lady bugs. Asian Lady Beetles I think they're called. We usually call them Halloween Beetles. Never saw those 30+ years ago. Now they're everywhere in the fall. During the few weeks when they're really active, I'd swear they can walk right through glass. Don't know how they get in and how their numbers increase like they do.

 

[Sigarms]

When I was growing up around here we never saw skunks, coyotes, ground hawgs, armadillo, fire ants, even deer. In the mid 70's the state released I think it was 75 dakota whitetails in our area. First one I saw about 76 laying dead in the road, evidently they forgot to tell the deer cars would be around...

Fire ants, never saw them until 2000 ish.

Skunks started seeing them dead in nearby areas about 10 yrs go.

Ground hawgs started showing up about 30 yrs ago.

Coyotes maybe 20 yrs ago.

Armadillo's grandson saw the first one about 2 yrs or so ago.

Wildlife folks say these critters have migrated here. Seems mighty strange to me that as many years as has been around , they never "migrated" here before. I practically lived in the woods growing up. I read tracks, looked for sign, did some trapping, notta...

Fire ant debacle came from potted plants imported in.

Ain't gonna mention all the yankees that have been self importing in.

Has this happened in your area?

We'll, I've been a damn yankee for over 24 years now.

Skunks and ground hogs along have been on the east coast (and native to NC) since boats came to the eastern shores in the 1600's and they didn't migrate here recently to NC

Never saw an Armadillo in NC to be honest, but did see a alligator on the eastern side of the state. Wouldn't know what a fire ant looks like.

Coyotes came in about 40 years ago from Tenn.

From what I remember Dakota white tail are generally a larger breed of deer. Generally, NC is over populated with white tail and they are a lot smaller than most deer you'll find up north. Honestly, guys hunting deer in NC will shoot anything on 4 legs for the most part from my experience.

I'm guessing your on the east side of NC?

 

[Sigarms]

I had forgotten about wild turkeys. THose weren't around here when I was young there was a relocation effort of those too in the 80's and 90's.

You do realize that Ben Franklin (pretty famous American) had wrote a letter comparing the eagle to the wild turkey? Mr. Franklin was alive in the 1700's?

PLEASE don't tell me that wild turkey's are damn yankees as well

Generally speaking, animal species in certain areas decline when the human population increases.