h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

WARNING! The grackles have arrived in New Mexico and are Heading Your Way.

The grackles have been here all winter!!!! But thanks for the heads up. I kind of like the grackles--at least they have personality. It's the starlings I have a problem with. (They've been here all winter too.)

Minerva brought me a dead goldfinch.

Minuerva is now officially on my s***list. She needs to stick to snakes.

Last night Birdie brought in a mouse within several minutes of my opening the cat door. Ever since I found the dead mouse in my vacuum cleaner attachment, I've been paranoid about what she fetches home.

Aren't s delightful. My daughter and her family have a little black tom who knows what it means when S-I-L gets out the rifle. He walks with S-I-L and retrieves whatever gets shot. He brought a full grown rabbit in out of the wheat field the other day. It was almost bigger than he is. He caught it on his own too.

Tartaronne... I remember hearing that if you feed the birds in winter, they won't migrate, but will stick around and continue to munch from the feeder. If you only feed them in summer, it's a healthier behavior for them.

I want a bird feeder of mine own. Even if the squirrel gorges on it, it'll still be backyard entertainment. I hear they're quite clever at getting to the feeder - I'd like to set up a Rube Goldberg obstacle course complete with tightrope and wheel, just to see if he figures it out.

I like grackles because they remind me of ravens, which are truly cool.

We have plenty of ravens. The limestone hills in our valley have weathered into lots of nooks and cavelets which they find ideal for nesting. It's a sort of emblematic image as I drive around, to see a lone raven sitting on a fence post in the middle of some beautiful nowhere prairie.

I think I posted on another thread about the squirrel who had his head stuck in one of the bird feeders. By the time I got out there to help him, he had freed himself. Hubby says it's probably a good thing too. The squirrel would have bitten me for sure!

Lentilla, keep us posted about your obstacle course.

Most of the birds who winter here do so naturally. The orioles, brown thrashers, and robins migrate. We had a bad freeze about 10 years ago that really decimated our purple martin population. I still don't see many of those around here.

I do love seeing the ravens, although I have to look away from what they're eating...

Since we're on the prairie, a red-tailed hawk is a pretty common sight, even on the highway. They love to perch on the telephone poles and light poles and watch for prey. De gustibus non disputandum and all that, but I have to worry about what kind of chemicals they're getting along with the rodents.

>>I remember hearing that if you feed the birds in winter, they won't migrate, but will stick around and continue to munch from the feeder. If you only feed them in summer, it's a healthier behavior for them<<

Now I have to investigate. There must be some nature or bird organisation that knows what is legend and what is lore. (I've learned that expression from an entry about lime (and my dictionary of course)).

I'd never have guessed 'lore' was fact/science.

No migrating bird in their right mind stick around here. They've migrated long before I start feeding. I do it when the natural resources (fruit, seeds insects) seem to be non-existant, or we have frost or snow covering the ground. If we have frost for a long spell of time the little birds have more difficulty in finding water than food - I've read in a book about birds. A bit of oil in a bowl of water gives them a chance to have a drink before it freezes.

The only species about which that appears to be true is Canadian geese, so far as I know.

Do you have lots of Canadians? We have flocks and flocks of them out here. They love the area around the Arkansas River in Wichita. They also love the milo fields. Some of the urban folk are complaining about the geese. A local Sonic Drive In has a pair of Mallard ducks hanging out. They love tater tots!

I heard about the bird-feeding from my pop, who used to be the local Audobon chapter prez - of course, this was in Orange, Texas, and they basically took turns every year. Personally I'd love to feed the birds.

I'd like to put up a martin house so I'll have something to eat the skeeters... Or maybe I should put up a bat house - they aren't as pretty, but more common.

I love tater tots too - isn't the grease a problem for the geese?

I love Canadian geese. We have a large flock of them that winter near a pond about 5 miles from me. And my house is on their flight path, so I see them and hear them a lot. I'm always sad when they go back north in the spring. I've always thought one reason I love fall so much is because I hear the geese again.

Lentilla, there is a fabulous waterfowl preserve on the coast near Corpus Christi. If you haven't visited it, it might be worth weekend getaway for you.

I have no idea about whether or not the grease is bad for geese. The mallards at Sonic seem to be thriving on it. I mostly throw them pieces of bread though.
The ducks and geese at the zoo love popcorn! So do I. Buy a bag of popcorn at the zoo, sit at a picnic table near one of the ponds and you will have all the ducks and geese you want at your feet begging......
Hyp, the Canadians stay in Wichita year round. There is an area around Riverside that has flocks of them. The locals complain........

We had to hang a plastic bag over our compost pile to chase out the starlings. They were making a mess over there. And they are noisy--obnoxiously noisy.

The canadian geese used to winter here, but now they inhabit year round. I wouldn't mind, except that the flocks are huge and the droppings are so bad that schools can't use their sports fields because of the mess. It's actually illegal to feed the geese in this area.

That's sad. Isn't it funny how the eco systems change? We used to only see Canadians in the fall and winter. Now we have them all year. We are considered a rural area. There is a lot of farmland around here and more farm ponds than before, so the water fowl like the area a lot better. I can see why the people in Wichita complain about them, but they are fun to watch.

I like living out of the city. It's quiet here and no gang activity! Wonderful.

It makes me wonder if our geese stay during the summer these days. I haven't seen any. But I haven't looked for them, either.