Saturday Photo: Where are the Nighthawks and the Ducks?

This photo was taken a couple of years ago at a pond in Parc Beaubien, a rather civilized neighborhood park near us.  For several years ducks had been nesting at this pond or in another a short flight away, and one of our summer pleasures was to watch the ducklings.

However, this year the only ducks to show up were three males.  Don't know what happened to the females, but it looks like the guys were checking out the place where they were born. Unfortunately work on the ponds-which originally were natural but which have been tamed--emptied them in early spring this year and last, so there was no place for nests.

Similarly, for the three decades that we've lived in this house, one of the delightful summer sounds was that of nighthawks hunting in the early evening and morning.  I'd heard from friends a few years ago that nighthawk numbers were crashing, but until now the plague hadn't hit here.  No sounds of the hunters this spring and summer, although the swallows have been swooping around a bit.

Yes, here were are at the Sixth Extinction.