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Post by pooka on Mar 21, 2020 2:18:36 GMT -5
On the lighter side, I hear the sandhill crane migration is in full swing.
Sandhill Crane Watch states; Every year from late February to early April, over 600,000 Sandhill Cranes migrate on the Platte River valley in order to ‘fuel up’ before resuming their northward migration. Here's Audubon's Rowe Sanctuary Crane Camera Live Stream
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Post by nana on Mar 21, 2020 8:56:13 GMT -5
Nice! I've seen them wintering down in Florida but never more than a few at a time. They are great looking birds! If you're looking for another birdwatching fix, here's a link to a barred owl nest cam. I've been checking it on and off for a couple years now. Mama is currently sitting on three eggs I think. After they hatch it's fun to check in and see them eating a vole or just moving around. www.wbu.com/owl-cam/
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Post by vaporvac on Mar 21, 2020 12:33:05 GMT -5
we have a barred owl out back. It's so funny to hear the babies in spring. Last year one fell out and died. It was so sad.
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Post by mach12 on Mar 21, 2020 13:00:56 GMT -5
I don't know a barred owl from a tabled owl but I sure like the ones we have around here. They're excellent mousers. When I mow the pastures they act like it's party time and half the night they're down there hunting. Here's a picture of one of them in a Douglas Fir in the front yard. Pretty rare to see them but we hear them constantly. Maybe someone knows what type of an owl it is?
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Post by pooka on Mar 22, 2020 0:15:40 GMT -5
I think that's the controversial Spotted Owl that was feared on the brink of extinction a few decades ago, but don't quote me. I just compared some pics.
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Post by mach12 on Mar 22, 2020 13:18:23 GMT -5
That makes sense. Totally changed the logging industry here and put thousands of people out of work because of the initial overreaction but it was the boneheads in the state ecology department, not the owls. Logging here is a form of farming and the trees are grown like corn in a cornfield so that they can be harvested but people don't understand that. After the big hullabaloo the government environmental people started getting inundated with calls like the Kmart crew that wanted to know whether they could change the bulbs in the store's Kmart sign because there was a spotted owl nest in it and the way the law was written it appeared they faced a felony charge if they did anything within a certain distance of the nest. I don't think there's anyone around here that doesn't like these owls and want to protect them but the approach needs to be balanced. Now they study an area before logging it and have a method where they leave a certain number of trees per acre (something like a tree every 100 feet or something like that) and that not only makes a healthy and more fire resistant forest but opens up the forest floor for new growth that provides feed for the critters and food for the owls. Too bad they didn't study it before they reacted.
That's a pretty cool site with the crane cam. A few years ago they bought the land where the Nisqually river flows into Puget Sound and returned it to its natural state (it had been diked and used as dairy pasture) and they say it's really bringing back a lot of life. I haven't been down there recently but it seems to be a Mecca for the wildlife photographers.
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Post by chipperhiker on Apr 16, 2020 16:50:43 GMT -5
Pretty sure your owl is a Barred Owl, mach12. They are very similar, though, and are in the same genus. the Barred owl has long striping down the breast and abdomen feathers. Spotted owls are very similar (same genus), but the breast feathers are darker and tipped in white. They result is that Spotted Owls can appear the have horizontal stripes on their breast and abdomens. They are also quite reclusive, whereas Barred Owls are downright fearless. I’ve had them follow me in the woods on multiple hikes.
Barred Owls have been steadily expanding their territories, even into Spotted Owl habitat, while Spotted Owls are losing ground. It’s sad. 😕
Hope all that didn’t bore you. Total bird nerd here. 🤓
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Post by mach12 on Apr 16, 2020 22:31:40 GMT -5
Pretty sure your owl is a Barred Owl, mach12. They are very similar, though, and are in the same genus. the Barred owl has long striping down the breast and abdomen feathers. Spotted owls are very similar (same genus), but the breast feathers are darker and tipped in white. They result is that Spotted Owls can appear the have horizontal stripes on their breast and abdomens. They are also quite reclusive, whereas Barred Owls are downright fearless. I’ve had them follow me in the woods on multiple hikes. Barred Owls have been steadily expanding their territories, even into Spotted Owl habitat, while Spotted Owls are losing ground. It’s sad. 😕 Hope all that didn’t bore you. Total bird nerd here. 🤓 Great info. I did a couple of searches and found a lot of info on the threat of the Barred Owl expansion. Looks like I'll be digging into that this evening!
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Post by pooka on Apr 17, 2020 2:02:08 GMT -5
Years ago, we used to have lots of rabbits in my neighborhood, then the owls moved in. Now you hardly ever see the rabbits. Either the rabbits are better at hiding, or the owls have been targeting them & thinned their numbers. We see a fair share of raccoons, & the occasional ground hog & lots of squirrels.
I'm just a few blocks from a good sized creek that's been rehabilitated in recent years. It used to be a common dumping ground by people of low repute. Now it's hemmed in by a levy for flood control. Along it's length, there's scattered wooded strips that harbor wildlife. I've heard heroins have been spotted fishing in the shallows. I'm sure the are some big snapping turtles. Deer aren't uncommon along with assorted creeping & crawling things. I've see a few owls, even during the day, but they're pretty stealthy. I've see red tailed hawks too, but you mainly see them on fence posts or telephone poles along the highways watching for small prey crossing the roads. They're not above taking road kill too.
The one thing I didn't mention is they put a green-way trail along the creek that starts at the end of my street. It's paved with asphalt & runs all the way down to the riverfront. There's an old disused railroad bridge right at the mouth of the creek where it empty's into the Ohio just west of downtown.
Despite it being mere blocks away, I've never walked more than a short stretch of it. The cops used to patrol it on bikes, but I got a surprise yesterday when I went out to the car to get something. I heard a clop clop clop coming down the street, & to my surprise, when I looked, it was a pair of mounted police headed up from the end of the street where the trail starts. I didn't even know we had mounted police. They must start out at the river & ride the whole length, then circle back through Garvin Park & past Bosse Field the old baseball venue. It's the second oldest in the nation behind Wrigley Field. I'll bet they ride up Main street
They just finished a total revamp of it that seemed like it would never end. There were huge craters & trenches where they where replacing all the gas water & sewer lines. Maybe put electric lines under gound too. I'm not sure. A lot of it was the originals from a century ago. I've only driven on it a few times since the opened it back up. Everything from building to building is new. New style street signs, LED street light, & new side walks & pavement. There's even a separate bike lane protected by a medium. It's a not so great neighborhood, but has it's bright spots. The strip club & the adult book store don't help, but they've been there for many years. Our Main Street ends at the fountain at the entrance of Garvin Park next to Bosse Field. There's a small unassuming band stand there that's the oldest in the city. It's from the teen around the same time as the ball field. There's a fancier one down on the river, but this is the oldest. Plus it can still be used. The one down town has been enclosed, & turned into the tourist information center next to the museum.
Well I guess cabin fever is getting to me to rattle on so. I think I'm in my third week of this shut down. I'm losing count. Today was my Monday, & they've extended the closing one hour later, & we're busy all night. It's surreal going to work. There's more traffic than I'd expect, but still not near the norm. But when I get there, & there's that big parking lot behind us for the shopping center that's mostly empty. All the restaurants that can do carry out are open, even the ones that didn't used to. I thought the McDonalds next door was closed, but I'm told they close at five.
Last I heard, we'd had two fatalities from the virus locally. The first on the seventh I found out was a regular customer where I work, if that ain't unnerving. The second was on the fifteenth. The hot spot in Indiana is Indianapolis, & a couple of surrounding counties The rest of the state has single, & occasional double digit numbers. The one other hot spot is the county right next to Chicago. But there stats aren't quite at high as Indy.
Locally, we're limping along as far as I know. I don't seek out too much news regaling the blow by blow. What I do see makes me want to shake my head in disbelief. I guess fools will be fools, & the ignorant will do stupid stuff no matter what. There will always be the idiot fringe. And for goodeness sake, save me from the pious who think their right to assemble is more important than spreading a deadly virus to the friend & neighbors. I've already read at least three minister who proclaimed their god was bigger than any virus. They're all dead now from it. They turned their churches into petri dishes to spread this thing around liberally to their community.
I better stop there, or I might say something I'll regret.
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Post by nana on Apr 17, 2020 7:35:35 GMT -5
Despite Fearless Leader's assurances to the contrary, there is not enough testing capability to really know for sure how many cases there are. And without being sure, you need to assume that everyone you see is potentially infected. My county only had a handful of confirmed cases, but they also had only enough testing to do first responders and health care workers. Then they got a batch of tests last week to do some limited community testing (only by order of a doctor, if you were showing severe symptoms) and the number of cases jumped to just under 100. And as a long time reader of our local newspaper, I notice there is routinely a full page, and often two pages, of obituaries every day, instead of the half page there usually is. People are dying without ever having been tested. So be careful. Don't let a lack of official information make you complacent!
But life does go on. You can never hold back Spring, as the song goes. Eventually through time, a vaccine, development of new medicines, maybe even a mutation in the virus to be less contagious, and we will come out the other side of this. Hopefully wiser and with a will to fix the systemic problems in our healthcare and political systems that this virus has so efficiently laid bare.
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Post by mach12 on Apr 17, 2020 12:55:34 GMT -5
Nana, you're right on the money about testing. My son manages the HIV/AIDS program for a county health department and for the most part those were the specialists they grabbed first since they have the most in-depth training and experience with viruses. He says the goal is to get the testing out to locations other than the hot spots and that capability is crucial to getting our economy rolling again. From what I've seen our State and local governments here have done an excellent job and the Federal government support has also been excellent. Not perfect, but still excellent under the circumstances. I don't care for our governor for a number of reasons but won't hesitate to give him credit for his management of this crises here. He has surrounded himself with good, knowledgeable people and has listened to them and that's good management. It's the first thing I've seen him do that wasn't just an excuse to tax us more. He was also lucky to be surrounded by billionaires like Bill Gates who have resources and money that they were willing to commit to this, not to mention some of the best medical resources in the world. It hasn't been handled perfectly but nothing like this ever is. Like they say, the battle plans never survive the first gunshot and battling a pandemic is no exception. The testing has been a tall order. My son had to gather data on all of the testing equipment available in his region, current status, number of trained personnel, and a bunch of other data. Every clinic, hospital, military facility (including ships) and so on. No small undertaking. Test kits have been distributed by the federal government but there was a shortage of trained personnel and a lot of the equipment needed stuff like software updates. The training was a tall order but it's proceeding better than expected. There's so much going on behind the scenes that isn't visible to the general public and I don't think people know just how much has been accomplished in so little time. In my son's case, they're set and everything is in place except, in some areas, training but that's going according to plan. They already have a lot of that finished and are ready to start opening a lot of jobs but the smaller and more remote communities are still being worked. My son has pretty much returned to his regular duties, which to me is a pretty encouraging sign.
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Post by nana on Apr 17, 2020 19:37:48 GMT -5
I feel the same about my governor. He has always struck me as the consummate politician. Like LBJ. He knows where the bodies are buried, who has skeletons in their closets and where to apply the screws and how hard. Not my favorite person. Up until now the only thing he did that I wholeheartedly approved of was changing the state rules to make it easier for craft breweries, wineries and distilleries to operate and sell as long as they used NYS farm products--a win-win for everyone But I have to admit, when this pandemic hit, he put all of his nonsense aside and I can not fault him for the job he's done. And I really believe he feels the pain of the deaths that have occurred. It's all about saving lives first, and the economy second, and as far as I can tell, not even a whiff of political grandstanding. Wish I could say the same about our national government...
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Post by pooka on Apr 18, 2020 2:05:02 GMT -5
Imagine my relief my old governor is gone. It was Mike Pence. His last debacle was the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. It caused such an uproar, he change his pubic stance of it three times in one day. It was subsequently back tracked on within days of passing. Pence seemed dumbfounded why people were so vehemently against it. He became a Hoosier embarrassment. Company's & other state governments around the country announced official boycotts of doing business with Indiana. You can read further at the Wikipedia link above if you like. It probably cost the state millions of dollar in lost business before it was more or less repealed. After that, Pence didn't stand a chance in hell to get reelected. We were hoping he would just fade away like a bad dream. Who'd of ever thought he'd graduate into nightmare & national embarrassment as VP that us Hoosiers will ever be saddled with in our state history. I mean we already had Dan Quayle famous for incorrectly correcting a child's proper spelling of potato on a visit to a grade school. But he just came across as dopey. Don't get me wrong. I don't begrudge the man his faith, but it shouldn't be used to dictate biased state laws. The current Governor has been on top of this early on. The state website gives good info, as well as the Governor himself giving frequent updates on TV. This is going to be with us for a while as we get a handle on it as best we're able. The thing that got me most concerned is this won't be the last bug to rattle our cage. There's constantly new ones popping up. I heard a piece on public radio today saying the SARS virus could have been much worse than the current virus if it had been more contagious. In other words, it was more lethal, but it was harder to catch. The next one could be a real world wide apocalyptic plague that we must be better prepared for.
I'm not a real life chicken little raving about a falling sky. I've often said, who needs fiction when I've got the news. I've been telling people at work, no matter how bad you think this is, it could be far worse. And it still can if we aren't smart about it. The experts have been great, but out politicians have been a mixed bag, then there's the idiot fringe intent on killing us all through their ignorance & stupidity. I've learned most often, you can't fix stupid. An awful lot of people aren't safe without adult supervision. I've watched a number of interviews of John Cleese of Monty Python fame recently. He mentions in most that many people haven't a clue & we're all screwed, & we should just try to be nice to those around us & make the best of it. He quotes a theory from a book by college professor that more or less says the more inept a person is at something, the more they are clueless of their abilities. Mr. Cleese is a really smart & highly educated guy & keeps an interest human behavior & many subjects on the state of the world. The man taught science, English, geography, history, and Latin at his old prep school before he went to Cambridge, to read Law. He fell into comedy by accident. Here's a couple of those interviews if you're interested.
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