...tuppence a bag

Eagles were used in Europe at one time to hunt down wolves. (Was it docgipe that posted a link about it???)
I am on my way out the door to work so I'll have to try and hunt down the video about it tonight.

Life and Death Drama,
Sometimes we get a bird that flies into our glass doors. Usually they are just stunned and will recover and fly away in a few minutes. Saturday when our GS JR was here there was a flurry of birds and a thud. We looked out and there was this poor Sparrow laying on it's side. He looked pretty stunned and I was thinking I'm not sure this one will get up and fly away. I also noticed that sitting in the butterfly bush right next to the feeders was a some kind of falcon or small hawk. I didn't get a real good look at it. It had it's back turned to me and hopped down behind the holly hedge. Although not real big it was bigger than any of the regular visitors to the feeders, but also smaller than most of the hawks that we see.
JR kept a close watch on the sparrow that we let lay and I warned him that it might be hurt too much to get up. But he soon informed me that the sparrow was no longer laying on his side up sitting up. About that time JR's parents showed up. By this time the sparrow had been laying out there for quite a long time and it was fridge out there. They decided to bring the bird inside where it was warmer thinking it might recover better out of the cold. So we put him in a small clear plastic box with a screen top.

I still wasn't too sure about the sparrows chances. Although it was now sitting up and not laying on it's side it still looked pretty stunned and it had been awhile since the accident had happened. Then about 5 min later we noticed that the sparrow was hopping around. So we took the box outside and opened it up. Boy did that sparrow take off. Later when we saw some sparrows hopping around on the patio eating seeds JR pointed out one of them and informed me that it was his saved sparrow. I asked how he knew that was the right one and he said "I can just tell". LOL

I love a story with a happy ending (for a moment, I thought it was only the hawk who was going to be happy).

"I can just tell."

LOL!

I'd say he'd done his good deed for the day. (Love the BSA uniform, too... lots of Eagle Scouts in our family.)

AWESOME!

Saturday was the Pinewood Derby. The scout and his family make a small wood car to race. Although you get a lot of different designs each car starts out from a kit so every scout has the same wood and wheels and they must all be the same length and not more than a certain weight. One of the cars was a police car painted black and white with a red plastic bubble light on top, one was a shark car painted gray with a tail fin. The winner of the best design is a bit hard to describe but it was a dragon tank, it ran pretty good for a bulky design. Some of the cars were pretty fancy and some where just that block of wood painted but everyone had a real good time and were proud of their cars. They gave out trophies for 1st,2nd,3rd place, best design and then the turtle trophy to the scout that had the slowest car. Yep you guessed it JR came home with the turtle trophy. LOL He is so proud of his trophy and I don't think he gets what the turtle trophy is. Although his car never was the fastest it would always go father down the track than the other cars. So every time he would pick it up he said I won because it went the farthest. All he knows is he came home with a trophy and is happy as a clam. LOL
BWT, the carved neckerchief slide was carved by Ric for our son Jamie, JR's Dad.

Critter, I did take the opportunity to do the Hawks have to eat, too. talk. I don't want him to always think of Hawks as the villains but it is a hard sell as they have lost several of their young chickens to hawks and they aren't JR's favorite birds.

nice WHite throated Sparrow, I'm pretty sure. I like those. If it were an English sparrow I wouldn't have felt kind.
Our picture window and one lower window get that action at certain times of year.
We have had a few young robins get caught in fencing, and after a rest and of course Photo Ops session, gather their wits and fly.

For suet I usually go the butcher in the grocery store and ask them for beef fat discard. It is very inexpensive .75 the lb or less depending which grocery store or the butcher . I stuff the suet feeder with the beef fat and the birds love it including the Robins that are all over the place and starving. I had a lots of woodpeckers, nuthatch, chicadees , Carolina wrens and of course the starlings . The suet last a long time and the birds are so much fun to watch.

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This message was edited Feb 1, 2010 10:01 AM

I have been thinking about raising meal worms. I had been told that they were pretty easy to raise in a couple of buckets. So I was reading up on them and now I'm not so sure. Really they aren't hard to raise but it does sound as though they might take up a bit more space and time than I thought. I'm still thinking about it but really the idea was that they would be a nice extra for the chickies and bird feeders in the winter. Also I could put them in suet if I made my own. Now that we are headed towards seed starting season and then spring and summer after that I'm thinking more like starting them next summer for the fall.

Congrats to JR!!!

I've thought about raising mealworms also, but that thought just kinda creeps me out. I have visions of them getting out in the house and crawling all over me. I'm shivering as I type this. ICK!!! Sure would love to see bluebirds in the yard, though.

There are folks on the bird forum who purchase mealworms for "their" bluebirds, but they aren't hard to raise (and they don't want to go out of their container where the yummy food is). I wouldn't bother putting them in suet, though.. I'm not sure they're that much more nutritious than just the suet would be.

I'm seeing more English sparrows here this winter... we had just one pair for the longest time... guess I missed a nest last year. If I want to put out bluebird houses, I may have to use the HOSP traps, so I'm undecided about dealing with that.

Hawks do have to eat, too, and I love hawks... but it can be hard to watch Nature in Action sometimes. I'm sorry JR has lost chickens... they're just such an easy & tempting meal.

Holly, I think it is wonderful that you are spending so much time giving JR a love of nature. Sure beats more Nintendo.

Three of my four children have a real love of nature. We all as a family promote that for the young-ins. Jamie lives almost next door to a State Park and quite often takes JR and there are a lot of trips over to Unk Josh's river place. Besides the power boats we have several canoes and kayaks and JR loves to go along sitting on top of Unc Josh's or his fathers Kayak. The things you can see gliding silently down the creeks and river. My oldest daughter isn't really interested in nature unless we are talking sunning yourself at the beach. LOL But I remember her going fishing with her Grandfather in his canoe and have the picture to prove it.

orchid--good tip on the beef fat--I always read about rendering it but in the really cold weather it seems not necessary.
Dirty Jobs had a mealworm segment last week-- This gal and her adult son raise them by the millions, in hundreds of large plastic bins. A sawdust bed and meals of potatos, I think it was. A huge sifter to sort out at times the various size worms, and you have to let them become beetles for more eggs... Sounds pretty foolproof

I have to draw the line somewhere. I can do suet , but I cannot do mealworms . My uncle used to raise them to go fishing , no thank you. Just remembering seeing them in the bucket give's me the chills....

Holly--wonderful story. I might have left the sparrow for dead, not knowing the extent of injury that could be suffered from ramming into a glass door. Ouch!! But they're obviously tougher than we know.

Worms are easy to make with compost. Just make a pile of decomposed leaves under a shady tree. It will in time be full of worms. We did that at our old house and the guy who lived next door would come over and ask to get worms for fishing. The birds would help themselves.

They're used as a cheap source of protein in some countries... yes, for people to eat. I imagine they'd go crunch, pop, squish -- no thank you! Now I've got the "I think I'll eat worms" song running through my head. Thanks a lot. LOL

I can handle earthworms just fine and encourage their existence in my garden. Just something about the mealworms.
Gotta go get me some worms........yum

I caught a White-breasted Nuthatches taking peanuts today. It's not a very good picture but you can make out the peanut.

We purchase a Stokes mix for our feeders... has hulled sunflower seed and peanuts in it. The birds are crazy for the peanuts! I did this series last week of a Titmouse trying to find a peanut and spitting out anything he found that wasn't! Evil little bird!

"Let's see.... loooking for the peanut.... looking for the peanut...."

"Going in...."

"Got one... is it a peanut???" *looking down his beak*

"Nope... not a peanut!"

"PPTTTHHHOOOOOEEYY!!!!!"

And after doing this repeatedly, he finally comes up with the prize... and eats it!

**evil grin**

LOL, That is just too funny. Thanks for the laught I could use one today. LOL Holly

mgarr, I thought that was a pretty good photo.

VWR, just loved that series, especially that evil grin!!

Rose==so cute!

Really enjoyed the series of pictures, he is a cute little guy. Birds can be so picky.

Here's a bird shot that I took this weekend on a frozen part of the Chesapeake.

I found these holes in the ice near where the birds were congregating. I was trying to figure out if the birds had made them looking for food.

VWR--RoTFLMAO!!!! Those impish button eyes of the picky bird got me. You really caught the little pompous character on candid camera!!

mgarr--that's a lovely picture!! The bird looks a midnight blue color!! Lovely!

Stormyla.... I wonder if they were making holes for water to drink?
I don't know but it is interesting!

Maybe they could see fish swimming under there and they were going for them.

The birds were really chowing down all afternoon. The cardinal queue must have been about 8 males at least. We have a very distinctive male, he's almost black on the backs of his wings and back, from the rear he doesn't even look like a cardinal. Ric

This is him on the left, sorry it's not better, the light was fading and I was hand shooting for indoors.

I got to the store today and got some 'dove mix' and striped sunflower. The dove mix seemed to get a lot of interest--but maybe they were just ready to eat.
I had a whole lot of cardinals the other day too, during the big snow. Some looked slightly slimmer than some other, I wondered of they were "yearlings" Did I say that already? I've been watching Daily Pics in the Bird forum and made some comments there too.

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Hoards of Blackbirds have trashed and devoured anything in my feeder and below it. I really hate these birds!
The smaller ones never get a chance when the "bandits" descend in a black "cloud".
I will stand close to my big LR window and wave an arm--and they all scatter to the trees. As soon as they are gone--the smaller birds, Doves and Cardinals appear to try and get their share.

This can go on and on--and I get tired standing there banging on the window--so--all my seed is eaten.
I have plenty more--but it is in my shed--and I cannot get to my shed through over 2 feet of snow and even deeper drifts that surround it.

Called out from work again today! Not worth risking my life! I did go in yesterday--and there were non-stop calls on the phones--all asking the same questions. Do you have any: Snowblowes?--Snow shovels?--Salt? My head was throbbing from non stop saying the same thing.....and I am sure my BP was getting way up there!

To give you an idea of the frenzy going on--at 1PM we got in a shipment of 800 Snow Shovels. By 3PM they were all gone! I just don't understand why so many folks never "think ahead".........They all live in a state of panic when something like this happens. Same as all the stuff with the Milk and the Bread and the Toilet paper......GEEZ!!!!

Another example: The Belair Store had gotten in 15 Snow Blowers--and, because people were standing around waiting for them--they were all sold out in FIVE minutes!!!!

I am hunkering down today. Won't even set foot outside! Gita
Might cook some Meat Stock.......cooking always makes ME feel fulfilled......

Birds are still hunkering down here.