So far the most notable change I’ve seen is an uptick of observations and IDs on iNat ;)
Town still seems the same as before. Minus Tim Horton’s not being packed, and no one sharing the sidewalk.
Where I am. I’ve been trying to stick to the country and walk trails and marshes and things, which was working. Then after the whole stay at home thing. More and more people are showing up at these places to the point where it’s packed full of people and cars are parked everywhere and I can’t go 5 mins without passing a crowd of people on the trails.
Which means I pretty much sit in my vehicle now and take pictures from my vehicle. It’s almost like being told to stay home had the opposite effect on people but it drove them outta town and into the country, which sucks because us folks who live in the country choose to do so to be away from crowds of people.
Also, with more people in the country i’m seeing more garbage in the country and then because garbage collections have been halted and nobody wants to touch anything, lots of illegal dumping is going on, garbage receptacles at parks and trails are overflowing and people just leave bags of trash next to it that sit for weeks because nobody wants to empty the receptacles.
I definitely feel that. There were definitely unintended consequences by shutting down major parks. All the quiet little places people go to get away now have increased traffic, and the ones designed with footpaths for humans in mind are empty.
I’ve noticed footprints near my maple bucket that weren’t mine a couple weeks ago, and I don’t think I had seen any evidence of humans in those woods the year before.
Not as isolated outside as I would expect lately.
Yes, I saw an article that in Delaware (where I usually reside), because the state parks are still open (facilities closed), more people are visiting. That would probably drive me out of the parks. Or, at least make me look for tiny, less traveled ones. Here there’s a lot of open country, and my iNatting spots seem OK so far. I do wonder about the state park nearby. I’m hoping to visit soon–if it looks like there are a lot of people, I’ll leave. But, so far, rural is still rural here.
(PS I’m back in my rural hometown, so I’m not technically an interloper. )
NS lol. Luckily I’m just testing out my setup and figuring out some mental math on how much flow to expect per bucket, how often to check it etc.
I’d be more worried if I made my living like this haha. Just a science experiment I spent no more than 15 dollars on.
Unfortunately, even if we are now witnessing a decrease in emissions and pollution, as well as in the anthropogenic press on nature, as soon as this hysteria is over, mankind will take up pollution with renewed vigor in order to recover what has been lost. And most importantly, there will be a great argument against the defenders of nature, ‘we are rebuilding the economy’.
In addition, many tourist destinations are now experiencing the collapse of tourism-based ecosystems. All those animals that feed on waste and tourists start to starve.
I can’t see the nature, it’s illegal now to go outside without emergency needs, and going out for seeing nature is not one of them, but before the law people cared not much enough, many old people were doing dumb things as walking by others, not saying about those with diagnosis who decided to go out! Nature had more pressure last week with warm weather, this one is with lower temperatures, and hopefully with fewer ppl outside. We live near the forest, so hard to say about air and such, it never was that bad as in the middle of the city.
What can I say? Downtown, rooks, jackdaws and crows are feeling more free than usual. And rats, too. Meanwhile nature trails are suffering from human overpopulation. That is why I am going now to most uninviting places: swamps, alder stands, small inpenetrable forest fragments. On the other hand, they are more rewarding. Here, in Lithuania, forest areas in ca. 50 km around larger cities are definitely suffering bigger human invasion.
You lucky to still be able to go out. We may not go out at all besides for essential stuff. They have imposed strict fines here in South Africa for offenders.
Gasoline usage must be way down! Prices here are at about a 15 year low. I save points to get gas discounts. So I paid $0.17 a gallon yesterday, $2.25 for the fill up!
When I was a young adult, we wouldn’t buy gas till it fell to 28 cents (US) a gallon. I kid you not. (I did not, however, have to walk to school in a snowstorm)
Just read this article about additional animal harassment because people are venturing to parks and outdoor locations as a result of social distancing:
Here in California they had to finally close down all the parks and national parks due to overcrowding. The trails where I usually go are mostly closed so I’ve had to get creative looking for new areas to explore. The beach is really interesting as when I drive by there is no one on it. I’m wondering what animals are thinking. For some scavengers like crows, gulls and even coyotes, there may be less food but perhaps for others there’s more freedom to move around.
I also heard that people were so intent on hiking into Joshua Tree before they just prohibited vehicles that some people were trespassing onto private homes and property to find parking and camping. So bad behavior still was occurring. Now they don’t even let hikers in although it’s so vast I’m sure there are areas where people can get in.
It would be nice to think that people will change their behavior when things return to normal but I have little faith in that.
On the plus side it has made me look even more closely for small signs of life in small areas of nature. I hope to discover more interesting creatures.
)