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

[Larry Caldwell]

Turkey vultures are an everyday sighting here. Too many deer hit by cars, because too many deer.

See lots of that garlic mustard, started showing up 2 years ago.

Our vultures migrate. They have all moved south for the winter.

 

[JeepHead]

Our vultures migrate. They have all moved south for the winter.

That's wild! Here in Indiana, the vultures stay year around.

 

[WinterDeere]

That's wild! Here in Indiana, the vultures stay year around.

Same here, I think... but now Larry's going to have me watching the skies all winter, this year!

I watch the Canada geese migrate, and many other smaller birds quietly disappear, only to re-appear in spring. But I'll have to admit I never noticed what our giant and numerous turkey buzzards do, all winter. Having never specifically noticed them being gone, I suspect they probably hang around, like @JeepHead's.

 

[kenmbz]

The vultures are here all winter, we see them all the time.
Some of the Canada geese now stay too due to finding fields with running fountains perfect for them.
What a nuisance.

 

[WinterDeere]

What a nuisance.

I'll take Canada Geese over vultures or buzzards! I used to spend most weekends sailing at Nockamixon, and the turkey buzzards would just love to perch on top of sailing masts, which created two problems:

1. Those birds are effing huge, like a Beagle with wings, and they'd actually break wind vanes and other mast heads, due to their weight and hard landings.

2. They'd crap all over your boat, while perched on the mast. And this isn't the nice lilly-white crap of a Blue Jay, it'd be big bloody dog turds, all over your boat deck or cover every Saturday morning!

The geese do tend to leave huge minefield swaths of their turds on the lake shores, probably worse at Galena than Nockamixon, but at least that's not coming at you from above! And they're not covered with or filled with blood, like the buzzards.

Speaking of vultures and sailboats, I remember seeing a deer get hit on Mountain View Drive (Rt. 563) on my way to a sailing race one morning, freshly killed around 9am. By the time I passed it on my way home around 2pm, it was a stripped-clean skeleton on the shoulder of the road! Those birds work fast.

 

[ponytug]

@WinterDeere Yea, the recycling program is pretty quick around here, too. Between the coyotes and the turkey vultures, carcasses turn into skeletons very quickly. Then the yellow jackets take over and two days later it is hard to see even a trace of muscle or fat left.

I'd forgotten what the buzzards used to do sailboats, but, yes, I remember some of the vile messes left behind. I love what the do for nature, but like hyenas, I have a hard time warming up o them as close friends.

All the best, Peter

 

[Engineer42]

Probably been mentioned, but stink bugs!

 

[lman]

That's wild! Here in Indiana, the vultures stay year around.

Not in northern Indiana. The eagles take over as scavengers after the buzzards migrate.

 

[Jstpssng]

probably hang around, like atJeepHead's

This isn't the way you meant it, yet it does read that way.