HU bunch of numbers, I am having a hard time understanding why you signed up only to post this misspelled and hard to read diatribe on a thread that has had no activity for 3 years! First oaks.......and many other tree species........are wind pollinated. The presence, or lack, of acorns has nothing to do with any perceived decline in insects! And there is no lack of birds in my garden and the surrounding woods - finches, woodpeckers and sapsuckers, robins, chickadees, hummingbirds, blue jays, flocks of starlings, crows, eagles....even owls. The beach is only a block away and at low tide the flats and sandbars are covered with herons, gulls and cormorants. Local parks are plagued by Canadian geese. Pigeons perch on phone wires and businesses put up defensive measures to keep them from roosting in the eaves and soiling walks and entryways. Birds........and their food sources........are everywhere. Let's not get too carried away!!

Don't do the dog thing, especially letting them run free, unless you have 100+ acres! My neighbor, rest his soul, always kept big dogs that barked all night, on his 25+ acres. Consider the broad range affect on your neighbors! The barking keeps other people awake, a free ranging dog destroys things on your neighbors property including their garden! He said he kept them to run away the deer. The deer came, they ate his garden. But my sprinklers kept them out of my garden! And his dogs kept me awake all night even though they were over 300 foot away! He would let them run free for a few hours every day. When he would let them out for their exercise...... Where did they go? Straight to my garden, to dig, make "deposits" and run over my plants! The trash can was fair game too! Don't get me wrong, we were good friends, always helping each other. He was just stubborn on the dog thing! I think that the deer were used to the constant barking, but the sudden noise from the sprinklers ran them away! The deer don't mess with my tomatoes, they eat anything else that is young and tender. They also prefer legumes, I plant a lot of beans and peas so that is what they go after first. After my neighbor died I asked his widow if she would mind moveing the dog pen to the other side of her house, with me doing all of the labor so that I could sleep. I gave her husband the same offer...... She said "I'll do one better than that, I'm giving them to my brother because I want some sleep too!" After the dogs were gone she asked me to help her take down the 40 X 20 chain link pen and haul it off. I was so happy! I took it down by myself, very carefully, so it could be reused and I also found her a buyer. She smiled really big when the buyer was laying the greenbacks in her hand. I supply her, her kids, and her grands with fresh veggies now, which isn't new...... When the deer ate their garden, with the dogs barking to run the deer away. I always gave them some of mine. I know that this has turned in to a rant, sorry! But people need to keep their animals in control!

Shooting is not an option on the table here. From the town: Thank you very much for the information you provided to the coyote reporting system. All reports are recorded in a GIS database with relevant details so we can use the overall data to determine if there is any highly unusual activity that may require further action. The reporting system is one of the pieces of a comprehensive strategy to help deal with coyotes in the town. Wildlife falls under a “grey” area of responsibility and while it has generally been the province (through Ministry of Natural Resources) who has dealt with many of these issues, this is no longer the case and the town has taken measures to address coyotes to the extent possible. The Humane Society doesn’t generally deal with wildlife unless the animal is sick/injured or in distress. Coyotes have emerged as a highly urbanized animal and have been living in cities/towns across North America for many decades, including our town. They are not necessarily nocturnal (so seeing them during the day is not unusual) and they live well on just about any type of food, including garbage, bird seed and fruit although their preferred diet is small rodents and they play a key role in keeping these populations under control. They prefer to keep to themselves but are highly adaptable and have adjusted to being in close contact with human settlements. Urban and suburban areas provide great spaces for them to live due to the abundance of food sources such as garbage and rodents. While they prefer wooded areas, they can find hiding spaces almost anywhere. Fortunately, contrary to popular belief coyotes have a very high safety profile with people and this is backed up by extensive statistics and research. In our town, we have only had one relatively minor incident with a coyote nipping a girl (2012), otherwise there have been no reported issues in Halton Health’s records (if a bite or scratch is received by an animal, doctors are required by law to report). In the few cases where individual coyotes come into conflict with people and start displaying aggressive behavior, they are almost always linked back to feeding issues. When people feed coyotes (either on purpose or inadvertently), they become accustomed to seeing people as a food source and will come closer and start approaching to access food. Part of our strategy involves using coyote reports to track behavior and look at where clusters of problem behavior are occurring. We can then do targeted investigations to determine if feeding is an issue, and if so to do outreach and if necessary employ fines (through the Parks By-law and/or Property Standards By-law) to ensure feeding of the coyote is stopped. In the few cases where this has occurred, this approach has been successful and the problem coyote behavior has gone down. Some coyotes in this area have become fairly accustomed to human activity, particularly if they associate food with people and do not encounter any negative reinforcement from human interaction. However, even if they appear unconcerned, they are very skittish and will run at the first sign of any troubling activity such as yelling, shouting – things they aren’t used to. In the case of a coyote that is very used to human activity, it may even require running towards them – again, something they aren’t used to. “Hazing” coyotes when they become too comfortable in an area is a recommended way to discourage them from an area. When the coyote is spotted, this involves moving aggressively towards the animal, spraying them with a hose (if in your yard), throwing things towards (not directly at) them and making loud noises and doing this until they run away. Unlike other canines, coyotes are instinctively programmed to run if they are uncertain of something and this teaches them not to approach people. We have used this technique with good success and research supports this approach. While coyotes do not generally pose a risk to people/children, we strongly encourage pet owners not to let their dogs off leash as per town by-laws and the signage in the trails and parks. Smaller pets (both cats and dogs) are perceived as food by coyotes and larger dogs may be seen as potential threats – picking your dog up while a coyote is present is a good approach as this significantly reduces the potential risk to the dog. Although coyotes will back away from conflict, during the spring and early summer they become much more defensive as they are raising their pups. Dens are usually well hidden and set back from human activity but if other animals approach, they’ll go after them to protect their young. If the dogs are off-leash this can cause significant conflict situations which is why we stress the importance of keeping pets safe when out in natural areas and not leaving pets unattended in yards. Sometimes, especially when people are walking their pets, they will notice that a coyote seems to be following them. This “shadowing” is normal behaviour but can be disconcerting. It does not mean the coyote is planning to attack, it’s simply the coyote’s way of keeping an eye on its territory. It’s important to note that in addition to the legislative, ethical and environmental reasons eliminating or moving coyotes is not possible, extensive research has shown that where there is suitable habitat it is impossible to keep coyotes out. Experience has shown that if coyotes are killed off/removed from an area, reproduction rates increase rapidly and more will move in creating unstable and more aggressive coyotes fighting for territories. Except in serious cases where an individual coyote is demonstrating aggressive/risky behavior, removing it is not an option.

About that Diatomaceous Earth seasoning Dan, there is no need for concern for humans. DE is a nutritional supplement for humans, as well as a supplement in livestock feed. It is claimed to be a great "colon cleaner" and in food grade is consumed by some health conscious as a nutritional supplement, and consumed by everyone who eats grains as it is mixed in silos and other places grain is stored. Francoise, I'm glad you liked the post :-) Are you in the South of France. If so, I was reading about the Spiked Stink Bug (Picromerus bidens) which has thorny pronotum epaulettes, is that the big nasty one? It is an interesting case! Predatory when caterpillars and other insect pests are attacking your tomatoes, but when it can't find other bugs to eat, then it goes for the tomatoes :-( Better that bug than the other ones until they get too hungry, I used to be squeamish about smashing the stink bugs but now I just grab a few quickly with my fingers and quickly crush them. Here's the problem you have observed, and you are right about the "learning" in the sense they communicate. Stink Bugs (Shield Bugs in general), contain alarm pheromones in their ejected fluid, which can be up to 10% their whole body weight. Once the pheromone is in the air, others become alarmed and go into hide-and-seek and flight mode. When grabbing them I work from bottom up and that is somewhat helpful. If doing the chore of removal, I quickly grab with one hand's fingers and kill on a flat stone with my foot *downwind* before they squirt. rgreen, believe me when I say I am sympathetic to your situation. It sounds very much like mine. Luckily the Maromated Brown ones aren't here this season as they have been before, there is something about them that I find more disgusting than the other ones. Maybe it is because their legs have bigger flairs on them. I follow the vegetarian thinking, but am not a vegetarian myself, I just can't give up the convenience as a protein source, nor the smell of steak and ribs, though I am a minimalist when it comes to animal food in the last few years. My food expenses have really dropped and my health has improved. But I think eating stink bugs shouldn't have such a taboo or gross-factor. Stink Bugs here are pure fed on tomatoes. They make me ripping mad when I harvest and have to eat their spittle in every single tomato they've damaged, but are a much safer (re: human pathogens) than larger animal meats. Then I think about how many vegetarians like honey, which is a regurgitated product (multiple times) by bees as they add their saliva and use their honey stomachs to completely break down the starches they collect into simple sugars. I'm not sure what makes that any more appetizing than another bug that eats pure tomatoes. I need to be a little more adventurous though and actually do what I'm thinking sometime. If we knew how many insect parts we were eating on a regular basis, I think many people would loose their inhibitions. In the future I see stink bug farming. Of those that eat molluscs , I just keep thinking ... some French guys must have be the first to say Escargot, Voila!, and oysters ... who was the first one to stick one of those in the mouths :-) :-) Cheers PC