My Wrens have disappeared too.
I'm worried.
There has been a massive reduction in the number of insects out here.
It's a world wide phenomenon.
It is so noticeable because I did multiple trips to Hamilton for work during the school terms last summer and frequently did not have to clean my windscreen on my vehicle.
Previous years you could not get out of town without insects striking the windscreen.
My Wrens are gone
Pewits are gone
Haven't seen or heard a willy wagtail. If you don't see them you can't avoid hearing them call on a full moon and they are gone.
The number of magpies has decreased dramatically
There is another little insect eating bird that I don't see at all now
I also haven't seen as many bee eaters.
The whistling kites disappeared last summer
Have been hearing one lately but haven't seen it yet
The whistling kites are realitivly recent arrivals
When I moved to Coleraine twenty years ago there were no whistling kites
There were black shouldered kites
Haven't seen one of them for years now
We have another new arrival
A finch I still haven't identified but an annoying call.
One moved into a hole in the wall of my house about three years ago while I was visiting friends and family in Adelaide
It soon packed up with the missus and left.
It didn't like all the extra work of sounding the alarm every time I walked in and out of my house
But there's plenty of them in town and they are very annoying
They like holes in houses to nest and probably hollows in trees
I also haven't seen any bats
The insect decline will have a major impact on the insect eating inhabitants here and then it goes up the food chain
I noticed that I have heaps less drop tail skinks in my yard and a lot less blue tongue lizards
We are definitely heading towards a mass extinction event