As a kid I vividly remember flocks of birds, this time of year, that went horizon to horizon and seemed to take half an hour to pass over. These last few years they seem pathetically thin, no noisy gangs filling every inch of the elm tree in the back yard. The summer birds seem ok, so maybe they've gone somewhere else. At any rate...in the time it took you to read this, at least two lifeforms (probably more) have left the planet....gone....no redemption....no do overs....gone. Not soapboxing....just observing.