Grasshoppers or the lack of them in the Pacific NW

It seems to me that we had a lot fewer grasshoppers in both western and
eastern oregon/washington than previous years. I have always had a
great deal of the little guys in my garden and this year I only saw a
few. Anybody else notice the reduction in the population?

Chris

"Padishar Creel" wrote in message
oups.com...
It seems to me that we had a lot fewer grasshoppers in both western and
eastern oregon/washington than previous years. I have always had a
great deal of the little guys in my garden and this year I only saw a
few. Anybody else notice the reduction in the population?

Chris

I would agree and thought about it a little while fishing throughout the
summer months. Generally when walking along the river side roads and trails
there are dozens of grasshoppers jumping/flying out of the way. This season
there seemed to be very few.

Anyone have an idea why?

JT

Jeff Taylor wrote:
"Padishar Creel" wrote

It seems to me that we had a lot fewer grasshoppers in both western and
eastern oregon/washington than previous years.....

I would agree .......
.....
Anyone have an idea why?

Well, we didn't have these problems in the Clinton years.

In article , says...
This season
there seemed to be very few.

Anyone have an idea why?


Did you have a lot of rain in the spring and early summer? Their
eggs usually hatch more successfully in dry weather. That happened
here in ND -- we had several very dry summers in a row, with grasshopper
populations approaching biblical plague levels, and the last two
summers were very cool and wet, and the hopper populations are way
down.

Interestingly enough, when we have really wet years, we have amphibian
population booms. This last summer there were toads everywhere, but in
years past it was chorus frogs and tiger salamanders. I don't know if
they are enough to make a significant difference in the amount of
grasshoppers, but I'm sure that they contribute. Frogs are pretty
impressive predators. The kids have kept them in aquaria occasionally
and fed them hoppers and crickets and such. Lemme tell ya, if frogs
were the size of wolves, you wouldn't dare go wading in the stream.

Kevin

"Kevin Vang" wrote in message
t...
In article , says...
This season
there seemed to be very few.

Anyone have an idea why?


Did you have a lot of rain in the spring and early summer?

Yes, we did had a wet spring and early summer. That would probably explain
the lower population. Summer was slow to start this year, however once it
got going was great.

Thanks,
JT

"Jeff Taylor" wrote in message
...

"Kevin Vang" wrote in message
t...
In article , says...
This season
there seemed to be very few.

Anyone have an idea why?


Did you have a lot of rain in the spring and early summer?


Interesting article:
http://nigec.ucdavis.edu/publication.../project8.html
-tom

Yes Chris but my grandson caught a huge all light tan hopper with body 3
1/2 inches long in early September in SW Washington. Out here big Fall
hoppers usually are normally brown with yellow body and about 2 inches long.

FWIW we had a lot of leaf green colored tree frogs this summer. Leaf Green
Texas Bullfrogs was the go to fly for the teen aged boys in SW Washington.
It caught LM bass, SM bass, trout, bluegill and even catfish!

Maybe next year hoppers will be back in although the boys caught bass, trout
and bluegill on them but not the cats.

Good luck.
John


"Padishar Creel" wrote in message
oups.com...
It seems to me that we had a lot fewer grasshoppers in both western and
eastern oregon/washington than previous years. I have always had a
great deal of the little guys in my garden and this year I only saw a
few. Anybody else notice the reduction in the population?

Chris