If we get strong north winds, we benefit from what is called a “fall out “ when they tire of flying and stop to rest.

With tailwinds, they just fly on by to more wooded areas inland.

GMO crops are designed to withstand high doses of pesticides and herbicides, more so than non GMO crops.

My guess is that high amounts of posion in the environment have affected birds who eat seeds and insects.

... feral cats, not so much. They are filling the niche that we opened up when we killed of bobcats, weasels, and the rest of the small predators. Those ferals get a lot of mice and tree rats (who become attic rats - be careful what you lean against your house - I learned the hard way), grubs ( my feral cats love those protein balls), snakes, etc.

I sold an MG midget to a friend who had no indoor storage. Mice will eat English wiring with gusto, so I suggested mouse poison. He said absolutely not. I asked why not and he said, "It'll poison the owls when they get a poisoned but still alive mouse."

I believe in managed feral colonies. Nature abhors a vacuum. Our ferals are healthy, fixed and fed. I had one who would catch a very occasional dove, but the other species were too fast for her. We feed the birds, too.

I really, really miss the butterflies, especially the Monarchs that used to come thru here every year until they didn't any more five or so years before Covid. Every two or three years, I'll see one or two lightening bugs. When I lived near the reservation in Nebraska, where the white farmers tilled: no lightening bugs. On the res - MILLIONS of lightening bugs like how it was in Cleveland as a child in the fifties, before we started treating our lawns as a field of crops.

We are losing a lot of what made life so sweet decades ago.

Like all ocean coasts and great lakes shorelines

I live in Denver proper and since I have been in my house (2014) we have seen an increase in species richness and abundance at my house. Broad-tailed hummers and Spotted towhee are now regulars, when they weren't here when we moved in. We also have had Cooper's hawks here for the last few years. I attribute this to a few factors.
1. Less feral cats as we get coyote and foxes in the neighborhood now. Also, people generally keep their cats indoors here.
2. Regular water and food. As surrounding areas become drier, urban vegetation and water sources are more dependable. We have many flowers and feeders.
3. Liberal neighborhood with many houses not using pesticides, increasing insect abundance.

I realize urban areas won't help many species that are habitat specialists and this is just one sample of a neighborhood over a limited number of years.

Walls of pesticides. And no one reads the labels.

I used to work in a plant nursery, and people would come in telling me that they’ve been spraying insecticide all over plants they were trying to treat for fungus or mildew. It never worked, what a surprise.