I like your idea of leaving the insects as they are and to let nature follow its course. The truth about most insects and many other creatures.. amphibians, fish, reptiles, birds, is that only a small percentage ever make it to maturity. I think the Wood frog eggs back in the creek here at the farm won't make it after the freak snowstorm that we had on Sunday. If the water had been deeper, they might have been alright, but they were in a shallow place which iced over badly. I'm just watching the egg mass for signs of life, but I'm quite sure there will be no survivors. These days, many turtles are killed as they try to cross roads to get to their nesting areas. Migrating frogs also suffer a similar fate. A couple of organizations up in this area have been doing things like putting up turtle crossing signs to alert motorists of the areas to keep watch for turtles. Over the past 2 - 3 years, I've also noticed more people stopping to move turtles off of the highway when it is likely they will be hit. I did this quite a few times last year and on a couple of occasions, moved very large snapping turtles (15-20 pound ones) -- Would have been a terrible shame for them to be killed. Unfortunately, a lot of times when you stop, the turtles have been injured... I stopped to move a beautiful Blandings turtle last June, but it was too late... the shell was all smashed in. Anyhow, the thing is, that very few creatures of any kind make it to maturity, but even if they don't, you are right.. each animal has a place in the food chain.
Well, things are greening up around here and the temperature is going back up again after being down around freezing for about a week. I'm hoping to put the canoe in the river this weekend.. something I have been looking forward to for longer than you can imagine. |
