The Cellar - Wildlife, living next to nature

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This morning I read a piece extoling these people and their hunting preserves, for saving today's parks and green-spaces from being built on. :rolleyes:

Anyway, Kenya was a wild and beautiful place, until those long-haired-hippie-type-pinko-fags*, dodging the draft, joined the Peace Corps.
*Charlie Daniels

Quote:

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce (Post 961296)

those long-haired-hippie-type-pinko-fags*,...
*Charlie Daniels

Uneasy Rider ref - 50 points.:)

Oh sure, feed those pigeons, take bread to the ducks, mix sugar water for the hummers, buy seed for the robins, a friend to our feathered friends, eh. Just wait till they turn on you and leave you for the buzzards. :yesnod:

♫If you go down to the plain today
You're sure of a big surprise.
If you go down to the woods today
You'd better go in disguise!

♫For every vulture that ever there was
Will gather there for certain,
Because today's the day the
Vultures have their picnic.

Watch for the shadow about 1:15

I really enjoyed that. Thanks, Bruce.

In this corner of SE England the Red Kite has been re-introduced in recent years having been persecuted almost to extinction by Victorian game keepers.
With a wing span approaching six feet, it's an impressive bird even if it does lack the gravitas of the vulture.
They are so distinctive that people leave out food for them in the hope of getting a closer view.
Unfortunately, this has caused the occasional problem as experienced at a children's picnic. Read on...

Quote:

A toddler got head injuries when a greedy bird of prey tried to steal a cupcake.

You’d think you could eat a cupcake and have a moment of peace.

That you could eat it at a birthday party without being hassled by worries or stresses. That the universe would allow that. Right?

But sometimes, something comes out of the blue and hits you right in the head.

It might not be right – or even usual – but sometimes that thing is a bird of prey.

That’s what happened to Ava Edgar-Francis, who was just trying to mind her own business and eat her party food when the red kite swooped and sank its talons in, leaving her with head injuries.

The three-year-old has been left terrified of birds after the predator swooped down on the picnic at Watlington Park, near Stokenchurch.

Parents quickly took their children home, ending the party early, as they feared another attack, with more red kites circling above.

Ava’s mum Debbie Francis, of Slade Road, said: ‘She was completely hysterical. It was such a shock and she is now petrified every time she sees a big bird in the sky.’

Ms Francis said: “There is a lot of talk on Facebook about it, and many suspect that other people are feeding them because they like seeing them come down.

The birds were saved from national extinction by one of the world’s longest running protection programmes, and has now been successfully re-introduced to England and Scotland.

However, bird charity the RSPB are now discouraging people from feeding the birds of prey as they continue to thrive across Bucks.

‘We discourage people from feeding the red kites in their gardens and public places,’ a spokesman said. ‘The kites are thriving in their natural environment, eating their natural diet throughout the year.’

Metro

Impressive, to say the least.

Attachment 56934

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carruthers (Post 961938)

In this corner of SE England the has been re-introduced in recent years having been persecuted almost to extinction by Victorian game keepers.
With a wing span approaching six feet, it's an impressive bird even if it does lack the gravitas of the vulture.

Gravitas? Vultures? :haha: Look at the video, 60 Fagins.
Ill mannered, noisy, squabbling, garbagemen. Useful, even valuable, part of natures balance, but they ain't got no stinkin' gravitas. :headshake

Quote:

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce (Post 961939)

Yes, you make a valid point!
Perhaps 'avoir du pois' might have been more fitting!

Even if it is French. ;)

For me, the word Vulture prompts many more mental images than any other bird, none soaring gracefully, and some of them a quite disgusting. :haha:

You don't see the gracefulness of a soaring vulture?:eyebrow:

I said that isn't an image that comes to mind when I hear the word vulture.
I use to do a lot of freshwater fishing in southern Delaware where there are tons of chicken farms. The only things I saw every damn time was vultures and Frank Purdue's trucks. Soaring they looked birdy, but on the ground they look ominous.
If you make them move when they are fine dining on roadkill, they don't fly away, they waddle to the edge pavement, not even onto the shoulder, then turn around and glare at you. Since their head is about window high to a car they look you in the eye and you can almost hear the curses.
Or when there's no roadkill... yet, they'll perch on something by the road and licking their beaks, watch you like a Warner Brothers cartoon.

Did I mention on hot sunny days they shit on their own legs and feet for the cooling effect? :drool:
They're the swamp buggy of birds, all about function, no frills.

Found a feather in the yard, obviously a wing feather. It's a medium brown. 13½" long, about 2¼" wide, has a bow of about 1", and the quill at the fat spot is 5/16". The two notches don't look like damage, but normal for this feather.

http://cellar.org/2016/feather.jpg

As you can see the barbs thin out near the tip. What isn't as obvious, is the lighter shade along the trailing edge curves up toward you about 3/8". At first I thought it was the curve causing the light to make it look a lighter shade but it's not. Holding it up to the light, the barbs, or rather the barbules, are less dense than closer to the shaft. The lighter shade is the paper reflecting light through it.
I tried sticking in my cap, but the tomato sauce ran right off. ;)

Bat of Prussia, my l'il brown bat who lives in the space between the porch roof and the wall, has returned for 2016.

Or a new one has taken its place. It looks like a slightly different bat...

Shitting up the porch as usual! That's the part I don't like.

I have yet to get a good 2016 picture.

A little microcomposting for your banzai?