Egocentric as we are, Homo sapiens find it hard to imagine a future on Earth without us being in it. Though we know our bodies will die, we proceed as though human beings will persevere on planet Earth no matter what.
Earthrise, taken from lunar orbit by astronaut William Anders on December 24, 1968, during the USA Apollo 8 mission.
I believe this sweet old world will whirl in her orbit around her star with her dear moon pulling the tides, long after human beings have extinguished our species and many others. The soup will be different, and out of it some life forms will emerge, much like after the last extinction event 66 million years ago, when most dinosaurs died, but birds survived.
Birds are a group of “theropod dinosaurs” originating ~252 million years ago.
The past two winters, dune land between our condo and the beach were dry. Heavy rainstorms this winter have transformed the meadow to marshes with swelling ponds once again. When we left last week, there were about six Mallard pairs, and one Canada goose pair plying the waters. They give me hope I will see duckling and goslings this spring.
As a citizen scientist associated with the Cornel Lab of Ornithology for over 12 years, I am saddened to learn that nearly 3 billion birds are gone. “A new study finds steep long-term losses across virtually all groups of birds in the U.S. and Canada.” Providing habitat and food for birds is simple and inexpensive. February 14-17, is “The Great Backyard Bird Count.” To learn more and get involved click the link to Cornell Labs.
https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/bring-birds-back/
https://lagottocattleya.wordpress.com/2020/02/08/lens-artists-photo-challenge-83-future/
Lindy Low LeCoq 
Thank you for this insightful post. I have no idea so many have gone. I do cherish the sound of birds in the morning. After the long drought here
In Queensland they have returned in small numbers to greet the day.
Well, Lindy, this is undoubtedly the sad truth. Our similar counting was two weeks ago, and never have we had so few birds, and so few species. No snow and hardly any frost this year, so partly for this reason they are fewer. But…in my garden counting they were only a third of last year’s count. And here we started counting many decades ago. I guess it is the same all over the world. Except in Bhutan…and maybe some more places. Thank you for a beautifully photographed and well written post. Many of us do our best to feed and keep our gardens full of interesting spots and plants for them – and work in local groups for keeping up biodiversity in our world.
I feel such sadness that so many birds have gone. They are such beautiful creatures who remind us that singing is so joyful. Thanks for your reminder of our earth’s fragility and your link to the project. It’s great that you’re involved.