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Daily Bucket: squirrel sez “your nuts or your life."

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Marin’s mellow has been harshed by squirrels. In the past weeks, eight people and one school classroom have reported squirrel attacks in Novato, a Marin County city across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. What’s up in squirrel world? Is it a lone squirrel or a squirrely gang? And what is the motive behind these stochastic strikes?

The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group.  It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Animals, weather, meteorites, climate, soil, plants, waters are all worthy additions to the Bucket.  Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment.  Include, as close as is comfortable for you, your location. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.

IAN: Tuesday, December 8, 2015: Rain Where It's Needed!

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Tuesday!  A day to celebrate rain!

Itzl Alerting
As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group gives Kossacks a safe place to check in, a daily diary where we can let people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wild fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, earthquakes, or other such things that could keep us off DKos. It also allows us to find other Kossacks nearby for in-person checks when other methods of communication fail - a buddy system. If you're not here, or anywhere else on DKos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, earthquakes etc.), we and your buddy are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care!
IAN is a great group to join, and a good place to learn to write diaries. Drop one of us a Kosmail and ask to be added to the Itzl Alert Network anytime! We all share the publishing duties, and we welcome everyone who reads IAN to write diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote or news!
We do have a diary schedule. But, when you are ready to write that diary, either post in thread or send FloridaSNMOM a Kosmail with the date. If you need someone to fill in, ditto. FloridaSNMOM is here on and off through the day usually from around 9:30 or 10 am eastern to around 11 pm eastern.

Monday: BadKitties

Tuesday: ejoanna

Wednesday: Caedy 

Thursday: art ah zen

Friday: FloridaSNMOM

Saturday: Siris

Sunday: loggersbrat


Good news, IAN people: the SF Bay Area has actually gotten some consistent rain in the last week to 10 days.  And boy, do we still need more.  I know that some areas in the country (if I may be domestically-focussed for now) are getting too much, rain, snow, wind—but we definitely need this wet weather to continue.

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Ahhh, rain. . . .

I wouldn’t call this rain the El Niño effect yet.  It remains to be seen how CA (if I may be statist for the nonce) will be affected by that weather pattern and to what extent.

I found this list and got a chuckle out of it.  I’d have to agree, except for the In-N-Out reference.  I never go there: no non-meat alternatives. . .

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Squirrel Attacks Couple North of San Fransisco

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A Navoto Couple is recovering from what is being termed a Terrifying Squirrel Attack

My thoughts… I hope for a quick recovery for the Novato couple from the wounds as well as the psychological trauma they are no doubt suffering. 

Also, I wonder about why there was a conflict in the first place. Isn’t it possible to coexist with other non human beings? Weren’t the squirrels there first? I mean it’s not the squirrels fault that it was scared and acting in a defencive manner. Reading the comments I’m reminded that Californians viciously genocided the grizzly bear from it’s home in their state. The same bear that is a trophy on the state flag like some sort of bloody talisman. Novato isn’t very far as the crow flies from the Bundy Ranch in Nevada.

The only hope long term is to give the town back to it’s natural rightful owners. 

What’s to be done by concerned moral people? Maybe start an online petition, that’ll show em.

Attacks on the Energy Grid have Tripled in recent years; Which candidate Pals with Terrorists?

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While pundits and politicians dither about the security of cell phones, the real-life truth is that maniacal attacks on our electrical systems’ grids have increased 1700% since the middle of Obama’s  first term.  

The attacks have cut power to the stock exchanges. They’ve knocked out power for thousands of people and businesses in downtown Birmingham on multiple occasions. They sabotaged a substation in Glenpool, Oklahoma just a week ago.  Here is a chart showing the staggering increases in attacks.

YearAttacks
2010

11

201119
201247
2013143
2014155
2015176

It’s terrifying enough that authorities know whose to blame and still don’t act decisively.  What’s really scary is there is plain photographic proof that a leading Presidential candidate is providing cover for these terrorists.

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One more dark secret from Trump’s past; he’s providing a hideout for these saboteurs.  Picture originally published at: funniest.site/...

(Sourced from www.cybersquirrel1.com.  I counted up the dots on the map, month by month and added them up for annual totals.  Due to the lateness in the evening when I prepared the calculations, please expect errors.)

Toosdai Critters

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The playground rules:

You know how this works, but as always, a gentle reminder:

Be nice to each other.

  • No trolling the diary.
  • If you hate pootie diaries, leave now. No harm, no foul.
  • Share any and all pootie/woozle photos or issues that you would like .
  • When it comes to problems, we may just have someone with experience who can help.
  • Whatever happens in the outer blog STAYS in the outer blog. This is a place to relax and play; please treat it accordingly.
  • There is no such thing as stealing a photo around here, but if you would like a pic from the comment threads, please ask the poster.  He/she may have a copyright to those pics.  Many thanks!

Connect! Unite! Act! Western VA, New England, NN16 C&J Dinner RSVP Info: Varietal Snakes?

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The Interactive MAP in FULL SCREEN
The orange pinpoints are the location of each organized group of Daily Kos readers. If you'd like to join a group, click on a point and a box will pop up showing contact links. If you'd like to start a group, contact navajo for instructions.

A daily series, Connect! Unite! Act! seeks to create face-to-face networks in each congressional district. Groups regularly socialize but also get out the vote, support candidates and engage in other local political actions that help our progressive movement grow and exert influence on the powers-that-be. Visit us at Daily Kos every morning at 7:30 A.M. Pacific Time to see how you can get involved. The comment thread is fun and light-hearted, but we're serious about moving the progressive political agenda forward.
 
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Wednesday Woozles, and yep, more squirrels.

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Seems I got a little criticism last week and some didn’t see the connection between squirrels and dogs. So I thought I’d try it again and maybe, again and again and again. Quite possibly I have adult oppositional disorder, though it started when I was about 2 and said "squirrel" for the first time. So we may be in for more squirrels... 

You Must Be (Demographic)!

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I started to write this as a comment in response to a comment in this diary, but realized that it was getting far too long and I didn’t want to muck up the flow of Chitown Kev’s excellent diary.

Here we go:

I’m done with seeing jagoffs try to shut down discussion by othering people.  That includes the kind of crap that Chitown Kev and others have been rightly calling out here for some time now, but it also includes bullshit like “you must be rich” or “you’re straight, aren’t you?”...and that’s exactly what is happening far too often here. 

Get outta here with that mess.  It’s gotten fucking old.  Skin color no more makes all white folks Snidley Whiplash-esque racists than it makes all Native Americans peace-loving spiritual eco-warriors or all blacks into paragons of stoic nobility.

Every damn time you equate an accident of birth to an inherited personal trait you expose your own biases, and putting women and minorities on pedestals is at least as othering as the blatant bigotry of the right.  Think about how much agency you attempt to steal from women by saying stupid shit like “women never started any wars.” Think about the burden you try to place on people of color when you counsel them not to respond with anger when cops kill their kids.


Cartoon: Trump Tweets SQUIRREL!!!!

How spy agency vets read the bombshell Trump report: WITH CAUTION.

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This story is all the rage here and elsewhere right now, but honestly it’s likely more of a benefit to Trump that this thing be out there sucking up so much oxygen while his nominees are in hearings.

Just look at the front page headlines around the web.

MSNBC: Trump tweets “are we living in Nazi Germany”

CNN is covered in crap about how he’s calling them fake news.

NBC: Trump holds press conference among firestorm of Russian allegations.

HuffPo: “Nightmare Presser: Defiant on Russia”

Big old distraction, over what?  A document that may not be worth the paper it was once printed on, but don’t take my word for it, how about some intelligence experts, everyone loves them around here these days:

But those who spent their careers in the intelligence world are reading the report with more tempered skepticism, what ex-CIA analyst Patrick Skinner describes as “interested caution.” He says he’s neither dismissing the report nor taking its claims at face value, but like other intelligence agency alums WIRED spoke to, called it “raw intelligence” that would require far more work before it can be considered useful evidence.

“I imagine a lot more will come out, and much will be nothing and perhaps some of it will be meaningful, and perhaps even devastating,” says Skinner, who now works for the Soufan Group, an intelligence consultancy. But he warns that raw intelligence—information which hasn’t been corroborated or confirmed—like this shouldn’t be released to the public, and is impossible to assess on its own. “One of the reasons why the intelligence community doesn’t release raw or even finished intelligence, to say nothing of a privately funded, untrained…source like in this case, is that people would freak out with the day-to-day drip that might not be anything once it’s placed in context and vetted with multiple sources.”

In fact in the words of one the source of this document might be a ‘bullshitting wannabe’:

Some former intelligence staffers are even more dubious. “Bluntly, it looks like an ex-field officer who’s got some interesting sources, but who has no idea how to compile raw HUMINT into usable intelligence,” says Matt Tait, a former staffer of Britain’s GCHQ intelligence agency.

“The key to usable HUMINT is distinguishing the real, highly placed sources from the bullshitting wannabes who pretend they’re highly placed sources by making shit up that fits the public facts,” says Tait. “In this case, the doc gives no indication that the company has done work to rigorously separate the two…and consequently it’s really hard to tell whether any of the info is actually true, or just a very exciting and expensively produced fan-fiction novel.”

I encourage anyone currently buying into what may potentially be a steaming pile of bullshit fabricated out of whole cloth by what may be the worlds best internet troll ever read Wired’s write-up.  Which is the source of the quotes above.

PWB Friedai: Sammie, Ruby, and the Squirrels

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You know how this works, but as always, a gentle reminder:

  • Pooties are cats; Woozles are dogs.  Goggies are dogs, too, and moggies are cats. Birds...are birds!  Peeps are people.  PWB Peeps are Pooties, Woozle, Birds People.  Neat, huh.
tricia.jpg
  • No trolling the diary.
  • If you hate pootie diaries, leave now. No harm, no foul.
  • Share any and all pootie/woozle photos or issues that you would like .
  • If you have health/behavior issues with your pootie or woozle, feel free to bring it to the community.  We just may have someone whose experience can help.
  • Whatever happens in the outer blog STAYS in the outer blog. This is a place to relax and play; please treat it accordingly.
  • There are some pics we never post:  snakes, spiders, creepy crawlies, any and all photos that depict or encourage human cruelty toward animals.  These are considered “out of bounds” and will not be tolerated.
  • There is no such thing as stealing a photo around here, but if you would like a pic from the comment threads, please ask the poster.  He/she may have a copyright to those pics.  Many thanks!
  • It should not need to be said, but ANY/ALL photos that imply or encourage human violence against an animal will be considered verboten! Whether it is “comedic” or not.

Sammie’s favorite outdoor area is the ‘T’ where the neighbor’s fence meets ours. The location of the cat tree was no accident. Sammie loves sitting on the top of the fence, lord of all he surveys, and the tree was placed there so he would have an easier path up and wouldn’t have a six foot jump down.

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Sammie on his cat tree

It has also turned out to be a great spot for surveying, sunning, and grooming.

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Sammie, Ruby, and Hoovie

This nexus of intersecting fence highways is also frequented by other critters. They obviously prefer it when there are no kitties in residence.

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coast is clear!

One day, Sammie was perched in his usual spot…

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… when something got his attention.

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That ‘something’ was a squirrel carrying a nut and using the fence as an expressway.

Sammie couldn’t believe his eyes as the squirrel kept inching closer and closer.

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Where do you think you’re going with that nut?

Something had to give, and when the squirrel got to within five feet he jumped into the low hanging tree branches and made his escape.

Later that evening, Sammie reflected on what went wrong.

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He who hesitates is lost. I’ll get that nut next time.

A few days later, while Sammie was sleeping inside… 

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Nobody will find this nut here! Probably not even me.

Ruby spotted the squirrel and stealthily made her way through the garden…

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… stalking slowly.

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The squirrel sensed trouble and took to the tree…

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… as Ruby closed the distance, crouched, and prepared to charge.

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Ruby sprinted to the tree and burst out from behind…

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… and proceeded to chase the squirrel, round and round.

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Right then*, literally from out of the blue, a pair of Turkey Vultures descended to the tree top.

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Perhaps this was a good omen for Ruby.

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soon, we shall feast

The chase went on and on, round and round, but Ruby was no closer to catching the squirrel.

Exhausted, Ruby crouched at the base of the tree and pondered her next move.

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And in what must be the strongest mix of spite and warning a cat can deliver, Ruby proceeded to…

well, a picture is worth a thousand words.

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I poop on your nuts!

And then she looked up at the squirrel, grinning with satisfaction.

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I think even the vulture was laughing.

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she who laughs last, laughs best.

* It’s possible those Turkey Vulture pictures were taken a few months before the squirrel / Ruby pictures. Who can say for sure. It was the same tree though :)

Note from yr Pootie Princess:  Many thanks to map and the furkids for supplying today’s diary.  I have been sicker’n hell all week, but no worries, I’m on meds, so hope to be back next week.  Many thanks for all the love and prayers and warm energy and hugs and….everything.  It’s gonna take more than an ebil bug to do me in!  But if anyone has seen my voice, could you please send it home?  ;-)

Much lubs tu Da Peeps.

Trump Confronts "Goddamn Squirrels" in the Oval Office

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Who thought it would be so hard to be President? Covefefe!

PWB Peeps: Sundae Evening Edition: Gone Squirrelly

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Squirrels are cute but slightly annoying animals. They live in trees, have nests, bear live young and eat nuts and seeds.

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Mamma  and baby...how sweet

even the elderly can be very sweet:

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even when they’re loudly telling you to get off their tree

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT — 

  • You know how this works, but as always, a gentle reminder:
  • Pooties are cats; Woozles are dogs.  Goggies are dogs, too, and moggies are cats. Birds...are birds!  Peeps are people.  PWB Peeps are Pooties, Woozle, Birds People.  
tricia.jpg
  • No trolling the diary.
  • If you hate pootie diaries, leave now. No harm, no foul.
  • Share any and all pootie/woozle photos or issues that you would like .
  • If you have health/behavior issues with your pootie or woozle, feel free to bring it to the community.  We just may have someone whose experience can help.
  • Whatever happens in the outer blog STAYS in the outer blog. This is a place to relax and play; please treat it accordingly.
  • There are some pics we never post:  snakes, spiders, creepy crawlies, any and all photos that depict or encourage human cruelty toward animals.  These are considered “out of bounds” and will not be tolerated.
  • There is no such thing as stealing a photo around here, but if you would like a pic from the comment threads, please ask the poster.  He/she may have a copyright to those pics.  Many thanks!

It should not need to be said, but ANY/ALL photos that imply or encourage human violence against an animal will be considered verboten! Whether it is “comedic” or no

PWB Peeps Open Thread: Squirrel!

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Sometimes it is really hard to concentrate. I just get going on… SQUIRREL!

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and then I start some other task...SQUIRREL!

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Three things going at once, humming right along...SQUIRREL!

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It’s just hopeless. The day is upside down...SQUIRREL!

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It just drives me nuts.

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So? nuts are good!  very nutritious, tasty….

PWBPeeps is a group that posts a daily diary and nightly open thread for animal lovers. We share photos, seek & give advice about pet health and behavior issues, support each other in times of sadness and stress, celebrate together when times are good, and on most days have an inordinate amount of fun.

You are welcome to join us!

Here are few not-too-onerous PWB rules

  • Do not “Troll” the Pootie Peeps Diaries. If you don’t like animal diaries, there’s no need to tell us about it. Just go find some other diary more to your liking.
  • Whatever happens in the outer blog STAYS in the outer blog. This is a place to relax and play; please treat it accordingly.
  • If you would like a pic from the comment threads, please ask the poster. He/she may have a copyright to those pics. Many thanks!
  • There are some pics we never post:  snakes, creepy crawlies, any and all photos that depict or encourage human cruelty toward animals.  These are considered “out of bounds” and will not be tolerated.
  • If you’re not sure about an issue...please ask.  Someone is always glad to help.

This is an open thread.

PWB Peeps Open Thread: The Mountain and the Squirrel

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by Ralph Waldo Emerson

The mountain and the squirrel had a quarrel;

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And the former called the latter “Little Prig”.

Bun replied, “You are doubtless very big;

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But all sorts of things and weather
Must be taken in together,

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To make up a year and a sphere.

I think it no disgrace
To occupy my place

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If I’m not so large as you,
You are not so small as I,
And not half so spry.

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I’ll not deny you make a very pretty squirrel track;
Talents differ; all is well and wisely put;
If I cannot carry forests on my back,
Neither can you crack a nut.”

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Please to remember that Pootie Diaries post twice a day!

The regular Pootie Diaries post daily at 1:45 pm Eastern (on Sundays at 3 pm Eastern)

and the evening Open Thread Pootie Diaries post at 10pm Eastern

Please to show ‘em both some lubs!

PWBPeeps is a group that posts a daily diary and nightly open thread for animal lovers. We share photos, seek & give advice about pet health and behavior issues, support each other in times of sadness and stress, celebrate together when times are good, and on most days have an inordinate amount of fun.

You are welcome to join us!

Here are few not-too-onerous PWB rules

  • Do not “Troll” the Pootie Peeps Diaries. If you don’t like animal diaries, there’s no need to tell us about it. Just go find some other diary more to your liking.
  • Whatever happens in the outer blog STAYS in the outer blog. This is a place to relax and play; please treat it accordingly.
  • If you would like a pic from the comment threads, please ask the poster. He/she may have a copyright to those pics. Many thanks!
  • There are some pics we never post:  snakes, creepy crawlies, any and all photos that depict or encourage human cruelty toward animals.  These are considered “out of bounds” and will not be tolerated.
  • If you’re not sure about an issue...please ask.  Someone is always glad to help.

This is an open thread.


PWB Peeps Open Thread: Getting Squirrely

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We’re planning our latest pranks.

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PWB Peeps Toosdai Evening: Serious Ogden Nash Poetry for Today, July 16, Illustrated!

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Welp, it is Toosdai and so the day for some srs mischiefery with a mashery of Ogden Nashery (illustrated)! Srsly. Let’s see what today is and if we have Ogden’s poetry to cover it… Googles… we do!!! But this post is an Open Thread, so please feel free to discuss and to post your favorite illustrated pomes in the Comments also too!

Tonight, we will again explore today’s holidays

Today is National Corn Fritters Day!

Line Up for Yesterday

A is for Alex
The great Alexander;
More Goose eggs he pitched
Than a popular gander.

B is for Bresnahan
Back of the plate;
The Cubs were his love,
and McGraw his hate.

C is for Cobb,
Who grew spikes and not corn,
And made all the basemen
Wish they weren't born. 

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“Meowmy, fluffy mouse gots corn, lemme out so I can tell him off!”

D is for Dean,
The grammatical Diz,
When they asked, Who's the tops?
Said correctly, I is.

E is for Evers,
His jaw in advance;
Never afraid
To Tinker with Chance.

F is for Fordham
And Frankie and Frisch;
I wish he were back
With the Giants, I wish.

G is for Gehrig,
The Pride of the Stadium;
His record pure gold,
His courage, pure radium….

Z is for Zenith
The summit of fame.
These men are up there.
These men are the game. 

For the rest of the alphabet and links to who’s who in baseball, please follow the link! 

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“Yes, I am running to the closest base!”

5 Things: Trophies, Magpies, Squirrels, Glimmers of Hope, Who's Going to Pay?

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Trophy Hunting OK With Trump

The Trump boys love murdering wild animals, so it’s hardly a surprise that the Trump administration is willing to provide cover for other wildlife killers to bring their trophies home.  I wonder if Carl shot the lion from a hidden blind or waited until his helpers herded the poor animal into range of his rifle?  

The documents show that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a permit in May for hunter, Carl Atkinson, to bring home the lion trophy which was taken from a game preserve in July or August, according to Courthouse News. The hunter's attorney, John Jackson III, is a member of the Interior Department's own International Wildlife Conservation Council, which Ryan Zinke created as Secretary of the Interior to highlight the "economic benefits that result from US citizens traveling to foreign nations to engage in hunting," as CNN reported.

"This is tragic news for lion conservation, and it suggests that the Trump administration may soon open the floodgates to trophy imports from Tanzania," said Tanya Sanerib, international legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement. "Tanzania is a lion stronghold, but it's been criticized by scientists for corruption and inadequate wildlife protections. Opening the U.S. market to these imports doesn't bode well for the lion kings of Tanzania."

Magpies Don’t Mess Around

For several weeks each year in eastern Australia, magpies ferociously defend their territory after their chicks fledge.  They also seem to remember people and attack the same individuals year after year.  The annual magpie defense of their breeding territory was made more serious this year when a 76 year old man died of injuries sustained when he crashed his bicycle during a magpie attack.

…from September to November each year in eastern Australia it is magpie madness time and few people, even children, are safe. During nesting, you barely see the black-and-white flash as the magpie turns into a flying missile, swooping down on unsuspecting humans and delivering painful and often dangerous pecks.

A Brisbane newspaper once reported that at one school a fierce magpie had cut the faces of more than a hundred children. Throngs of screaming parents at the school gate were trying to get their terrified children to run quickly across the open spaces to the main building, where a doctor was waiting to provide first aid.

Nick Cilento is familiar with the Brisbane situation and has often been victimised by magpies himself. He decided to investigate their attacks for his honours thesis at Griffith University and spent six months before, during and after an entire magpie breeding season observing their attacks on other humans. He also assisted a team undertaking a survey about magpie attacks that involved 5,000 respondents – the results showed that 96% of men and 75% of women had been victims at some time in their lives.

SQUIRREL!!!!

Lacking internet access squirrels use the “public information” broadcast by other animals to determine if it’s time to find shelter or if it’s a good time to go searching for food.

Researchers have found that a squirrel becomes incredibly vigilant when it hears the shriek of a red-tailed hawk, but it will relax and resume its food-seeking behavior more quickly if the predator's call is immediately followed by the easygoing tweets of unconcerned birds.

The findings, described in the journal PLOS One, add to a growing body of research that animals take advantage of all available "public information" when trying to assess threats in their environment.

"Lots of animals listen in on the alarm calls of other species," says Keith Tarvin, a behavioral ecologist at Oberlin College in Ohio. "This has been found in a variety of squirrels — ground squirrels, tree squirrels. It's been found in monkeys. It's been found even in lizards."

Tipping Point?

Are we approaching the tipping point where public opinion and business engagement will drive meaningful government action to address the climate crisis?  There are glimmers of hope.

Patagonia, the ever-ethically-minded outdoor gear company, has just announced it will be closing its doors on Friday, September 20 to join in the youth climate strikes. CEO Rose Marcario minces no words in her explanation on LinkedIn:

"For decades, many corporations have single-mindedly pursued profits at the expense of everything else — employees, communities and the air, land and water we all share. Now we face a dangerously hot and fast-changing climate that is exacerbating natural disasters, causing food and water shortages, and speeding us toward the biggest economic catastrophe in history. The plain truth is that capitalism needs to evolve if humanity is going to survive."

She says it's a good sign that chief executives of many major corporations, including Amazon, General Motors, and JP Morgan Chase, have acknowledged the need for greater environmental accountability, but words mean little if not supported by actions. Marcario calls on other CEOs to practice what they preach by "making investments in renewable energy sources, protecting our lands and water, and transitioning to a regenerative, organic system of agriculture."

Maybe Not

This poll has some very good news regarding the public perception of the climate crisis.  There is broad public agreement that action is necessary and many people are making individual decisions to reduce their carbon footprint.  But, when it comes to financial sacrifice, the majority of Americans are more than willing to tax the rich and corporations, but individually unwilling to pay higher energy or gas taxes to fund the transition necessary to stop global warming.

Few U.S. adults are willing to make personal sacrifices in the form of higher gas or electricity taxes in order to address climate change. Fewer than four in ten adults (37%) think that reducing the negative effects of global warming and climate change will require major sacrifices from ordinary Americans, while a plurality (48%) think it will require minor sacrifices and 14% say it won’t require much sacrifice at all…

…But when it comes to taxes that are likely to hit consumers’ pocketbooks, support is much lower. About half (51%) oppose a $2 monthly tax on U.S. residential electric bills, and seven in ten (71%) are opposed to such a tax at the $10 a month level. Similarly, majorities oppose increasing the federal gasoline tax by 10 cents or 25 cents per gallon (64% and 74%, respectively). There are partisan divisions, but even majorities of Democrats oppose a $10 monthly electricity tax (60%) and a 25-cent per gallon gasoline tax (63%).

Also posted at Just Save One.

PWB Peeps: Toosdai Evening: Serious Ogden Nash (and Other) Poetry for Today, October 1, Illustrated!

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Welp, it is Toosdai and so it is the day for some srs mischiefery with a mashery of Ogden Nashery (illustrated)! Let’s see what today is and if we have Ogden’s poetry to cover it… Googles… we do! But we start with introducing another. This post is an Open Thread, so please feel free to discuss and to post your favorite illustrated pomes in the Comments also too!

So tonight, we will again explore some of today’s holidays: 

Today is National Homemade Cookies Day

the ultimate chocolate chip cookies

by Barbara Vance

[Please click the author’s name to learn more!]

The ultimate chocolate chip cookies
Have a center that’s gooey and warm;
They are always fresh out of the oven,
With a perfectly circular form.

-snip-

And though they say sharing is nice—
And I am inclined to agree—
I must say, I like them the best
When it’s only the cookies and me. 

PuppyandCookiesreuseFlickr38849668591_274366f7e2_b.jpg
Cookies! Fur me??

Perhaps you would like this recipe for Monster Chip Cookies (Halloween is coming, after all — oh, different kind of monster!)! Or any of these recipes for Dog Cookies or other dog treats! Or any of these recipes for Cat Cookies

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Hi, my name is Sassy! And I’m not touching these cookies b/c they have chocolate, which Mom knows is bad for me, so she’s watching carefully. No fair!

My Republican Squirrel

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Not pancakes.  Seed.  Side window feeder seed.  Bastert plowed out the tiny seed in search of the black oil sunflower seed.  Fine — he didn’t know he was feeding the birds which a GOPer would not do intentionally. 

Typical GOPer — grab freebies and leave the scraps for the poors whilst being irritated that the poors got your scraps. 

Front window squirrel — Harold — actually talks to me and isn’t mean.  I think he’s an Indie leaning Dem.

This is a stupid diary which saves me from thinking about psychopaths controlling our government.  I do appreciate psychopaths like Hannibal Lecter as long as I’m not dinner.

Squirrels also don’t blather “lynching” as a white guy not subject to lynching. 

PWB Peeps Open Thread: Squirrel Story

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Oscar Schisgall

I looked up and saw a squirrel jump from one high tree to another. He appeared to be aiming for a limb so far out of reach that the leap looked like suicide.  He missed — but landed, safe and unconcerned, on a branch several feet lower.  Then he climbed to his goal, and all was well.

Squirrel in my yard eating dogwood berries

An old man sitting on the bench said, “Funny, I’ve seen hundreds of ‘em jump like that, especially when there are dogs around and they can’t come to the ground.  A lot of ‘em miss, but I’ve never seen any hurt in trying.”  Then he chuckled. “I guess they’ve got to risk it if they don’t want to spend their lives in one tree.”

UpsideDownSquirrel.jpg

I thought, “A squirrel takes a chance — have I less nerve than a squirrel?”

squirrel on dog's nose berating him

Since then, whenever I have to choose between risking a new venture or hanging back, I hear the old man on the park bench saying, “They’ve got to risk it if they don’t want to spend their lives in one tree.”

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So I’ve jumped again and again.  And in jumping I’ve learned why the squirrels so often do it: it’s fun.

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PWBPeeps is a group that posts a daily diary and nightly open thread for animal lovers. We share photos, seek & give advice about pet health and behavior issues, support each other in times of sadness and stress, celebrate together when times are good, and on most days have an inordinate amount of fun.

You are welcome to join us!

Here are few not-too-onerous PWB rules

  • Do not “Troll” the Pootie Peeps Diaries. If you don’t like animal diaries, there’s no need to tell us about it. Just go find some other diary more to your liking.
  • Whatever happens in the outer blog STAYS in the outer blog. This is a place to relax and play; please treat it accordingly.
  • If you would like a pic from the comment threads, please ask the poster. He/she may have a copyright to those pics. Many thanks!
  • There are some pics we never post:  snakes, creepy crawlies, any and all photos that depict or encourage human cruelty toward animals.  These are considered “out of bounds” and will not be tolerated.
  • If you’re not sure about an issue...please ask.  Someone is always glad to help.

This is an open thread.

PWB Peeps: Toosdai Evening: Srs Ogden Nash (and Other!) Poetry for today, December 24, Illustrated!

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Welp, it is Toosdai and so it is the day for some srs mischiefery with a mashery of Ogden Nashery (illustrated)! Let’s see what today is and if we have Ogden’s words to cover it… we do! We also chose a couple new (to me) whimsical poets! But this post is an Open Thread, so please feel free to discuss and to post your favorite illustrated pomes in the Comments also too! 

Today is, of course, Christmas Eve!

the boy who laughed at santa claus

by Ogden Nash

[We have visited this pome before, but never in so much the appropriate season. I won’t post the whole thing, but some of the most precious bits IMHO. Please feel free to click the link for the whole.] 

In Baltimore there lived a boy.
He wasn't anybody's joy.
Although his name was Jabez Dawes,
His character was full of flaws. 

-snip-

Like whooping cough, from child to child,
He sped to spread the rumor wild:
'Sure as my name is Jabez Dawes
There isn't any Santa Claus!'
Slunk like a weasel of a marten 

MartenAmericanreuseFlickr5332551768_5d977e0b1d_b.jpg
Weasel or marten? Either way, pretty slinky!

Through nursery and kindergarten,
Whispering low to every tot,
'There isn't any, no there's not!’ 

-snip-

What was beheld by Jabez Dawes?
The fireplace full of Santa Claus!
Then Jabez fell upon his knees
With cries of 'Don't,' and 'Pretty Please.'
He howled, 'I don't know where you read it,
But anyhow, I never said it!' 

DogbyFireplacereuseIHAbb-Arbanasi-Elena_8.jpeg
“Santa coming here thru dat?? I don’t fink so!!”

'Jabez' replied the angry saint,
'It isn't I, it's you that ain't.
Although there is a Santa Claus,
There isn't any Jabez Dawes!'….


PWB Peeps: Toosdai Evening: Srs Not-Srs Poetry for Today, January 21, Illustrated!

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Welcome to the odd and whimsical poetery of the Peeps related to holidaze! Let’s investigate what today is, because we need all the holidays we can celebrate, right?

Today is many holidays! So I will pick out a couple, and you can click the link above if you’re curious about the rest. Plus I need to comment about tomorrow! This is an open thread, so please feel free to add your favorite illustrated pomes for today in the Comments!

Today is National Hugging Day

National Hugging Day was started in 1986 by Kevin Zaborney, who also created National Whiner's Day. January 21st was chosen as the day since it falls halfway between the day between Christmas Day and New Year's Eve, and Valentine's Day, and is a time of year when few people are in a good mood…. Hugging has many benefits. It releases oxytocin, which is a hormone associated with happiness. Similarly, it lowers cortisol levels, which alleviates stress and helps lower the heart rate. It also stimulates the thymus gland, which regulates the production of white blood cells and helps keep you healthy. Those are all good reasons to spend the day hugging!

[They also note, be sure to ask permission, especially before hugging strangers!]

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“We not strangers, we familee!”

hug o’war

by Shel Silverstein

I will not play at tug o' war.
I'd rather play at hug o' war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins. 

[Shel Silverstein (1930-1999) is known as a "unique" writer, cartoonist and singer. His published books include Where the Sidewalk Ends and Falling Up.] 

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Who says you need arms to hug?

It's Getting Squirrely Around Here: PWB Peeps Fursday Furry Funnies

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This is just getting embarrassing. 

Things are getting more and more squirrely around here in Peepsville.

If this story has posted, it means that the usual diarist is missing. What’s happening? 

Life gets in the way. Something fell through the cracks. Our intrepid strawbale, the backbone of the Evening Peeps Open Thread, has been doing double and triple duty lately and even filling in during the day. She’s keeping things afloat here, so we don’t expect that she is in danger of going up a tree or getting squirrely on us, but she probably could use the break. 

So, until we can entice a few more Peeps to try their hands at creating a short diary, here is a quick pictorial diary for us to enjoy. Just a motley crew of random images I liked, found amusing, and pulled together into a sort-of storyline. Emphasis on “sort of”— hey,  don’t judge. This will give strawbale a well-deserved night off. Which is only fair as she uploaded many of these images in the first place. But they are still fun a second time around!

BTW, Evening Peeps Diarists Needed. 

I’m not sure if daytime diarists are needed as well. Contact TheMarti for the daytime Peeps schedule and strawbale if you are interested in doing an evening diary. And if one diary a week seems like too much of a commitment, perhaps two or three, or even four folks banded together and share an evening. So your commitment would be just two or even one per month. One-offs are also welcome. Think about it.

The Rulz

Before we get too squirrely, we must pause with a brief message from the Management with the Peeps rulz:

  • Do not “Troll” the Pootie Peeps Diaries. If you don’t like animal diaries, there’s no need to tell us about it. Just go find some other diary more to your liking.
  • Whatever happens in the outer blog STAYS in the outer blog. This is a place to relax and play; please treat it accordingly. So, no pie fights please.
  • If you would like a pic from the comment threads, please ask the poster. He/she may have a copyright to those pics. Many thanks!
  • There are some pics we never post:  1) snakes and creepy crawlies (some folks have phobias). 2) Any and all photos that depict or encourage human cruelty toward animals, even in jest, are considered “out of bounds” and will not be tolerated.
  • If you’re not sure about an issue...please ask.  Someone is always glad to help.
  • Links to the Community Needs List or other fundraising diaries are always welcome here. Just links with a short explanation, please, and not the entire fundraising request, per the management.

PWBPeeps posts two diaries a day for animal lovers: a daytime diary at 1:45 pm Eastern and a nightly open thread at 10 pm Eastern. We concoct silly stories, share photos, seek & give advice about pet health and behavior issues, support each other in times of sadness and stress, celebrate together when times are good, and on most days have an inordinate amount of fun.

You are welcome to join us! Be kind to one another, we’re all in this together.

This is an open thread. The hi-jinx ensue below the fold…

The Daily Bucket--Did Feng Shui Save the Fledglings?

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My prodigal son and his advanced science teaching degree came home awhile ago.  While schools are closed, He’d been hiking in the Rockies.  His discoveries included a pocket full of cool sparkly rocks and crystals, and some Eastern philosophy.

“Hang up these chimes here, “he said when we were out bonding with some herb in the back yard, “the wood and metal match the wrought iron and grape vines.  The Chimes will block bad energy and lure good energy.”  He reached up high and fastened the chimes on the metal trellis, surrounded by grape vines.  Then he left.

Yeh, yeh, yeh Feng whatever. 

the chimes were very pretty, even if the “science” is bunk.

And then the robins nested in the same grape vine thicket, on top of the trellis.

  

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Note how the robin incorporated thick living vines into the nest.

But as some of us know, robin eggs and fledglings are among the Cheese Puffs of the world, with crows, snakes, and many other birds and small mammals anxious for a taste.

I tried to spend more time in the yard, hoping my mere presence would help protect the robins.  One windless morning, I was replanting ground cover in the Frog Mitigation Area,  when I heard crazy banging and ringing chimes.

I walked quickly over to see what caused the commotion.

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The invasive squirrel had tried a backdoor attack on the robin’s nest, but their leap onto the grapevines set off the chimes and the robins flocked to attack the squirrel (not shown, laughed too hard to take pictures, yet again). 
Several dogs have texted, begging for pictures of squirrels getting their comeuppance.

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The attack was thwarted, and least two fledglings have survived, thanks in part to Feng Shui and the chimes.

I’ve taken down the empty nest now, pausing to admire its elegant and powerful construction. Impossibly strong on the outside, with tightly coiled grape vines, then mudded tight, and finally lined with soft grass. Calcium depleted Mom robin probably ate all the eggshells.

I see the new Robin family of four, now at dusk. They hunt worms in their allotted Parcel, under the Rhodies, where I water, and the worms rise. They rustle the leaves when I approach. I hear their wings whisper. 

The American Robin (Turdus migratorius) typically has a 12-14 day incubation period, and a 13 day nesting period (Cornell).  I observed  a 14 day incubation period and a 10 day nesting period before fledging.

With the nest gone, I trim the rampant grape, wash away the robin marks, and bless the site with some roses. 

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The robinless trellis with a hair cut. I still won’t risk the good cushions.

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Blessing the nest site with the last roses of the season.

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Grape vines coiled around the nest.

Thanks for reading the Daily Bucket.

Phenology is how we take earth’s pulse.

We discuss what we see in each Bucket.

We value all observations, as we ponder the cycle of life.  Please comment  about your own natural area, and include photos if possible.  We love photos!

To have the Daily Bucket in your Activity Stream, visit Backyard Science’s profile page and click on Follow, and join to write a Bucket of your own observations.

SPOTLIGHT ON GREEN NEWS & VIEWS" IS POSTED EVERY SATURDAY AT 3:00 PM PACIFIC TIME ON THE DAILY KOS FRONT PAGE. IT'S A GREAT WAY TO CATCH UP ON DIARIES YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED. BE SURE TO RECOMMEND AND COMMENT IN THE DIARY.

Now it’s your turn!  What have you noted in your area or travels? Any pretty birds in your yard? Please post your observations and general location in your comments. I’ll check back later.

/s/ Redwoodman

PWB Peeps Open Thread: National Grab Some Nuts Day

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(honestly, who comes up with these things?)

Every day is grab some nuts day for some of the furfolk.

Squirrely-chipmunk-or-squirrel-with-cheek-full-of-nut-attb-icanhascheezburger.jpg

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and even some feathery folk

Crow

bird eats a little of a ground squirrel's nut

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Hey, we can all be a little nuts sometimes!

PWBPeeps is a group that posts a daily diary and nightly open thread for animal lovers. We share photos, seek & give advice about pet health and behavior issues, support each other in times of sadness and stress, celebrate together when times are good, and on most days have an inordinate amount of fun.

You are welcome to join us!

Here are few not-too-onerous PWB rules

  • Do not “Troll” the Pootie Peeps Diaries. If you don’t like animal diaries, there’s no need to tell us about it. Just go find some other diary more to your liking.
  • Whatever happens in the outer blog STAYS in the outer blog. This is a place to relax and play; please treat it accordingly.
  • If you would like a pic from the comment threads, please ask the poster. He/she may have a copyright to those pics. Many thanks!
  • There are some pics we never post:  snakes, creepy crawlies, any and all photos that depict or encourage human cruelty toward animals.  These are considered “out of bounds” and will not be tolerated.
  • If you’re not sure about an issue...please ask.  Someone is always glad to help.

This is an open thread.

The Daily Bucket--Frog Court Confidential

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I’m Red Woodman, Senior Investigator for what we call the “Frog Court.”  If I can just get through today, I can retire with a pension.  But a whole bunch of new cases just hit my in-basket and I came to work to find a guy sobbing over a couple of baby robins. 

“Erm, please don’t cry on the paperwork.” I asked him.  He lifted his head from my desk.

I handed him a portfolio of known raptors, whom might have cleaned out his back yard robins. He quickly handed a picture back.

aaaacooper.jpg
“That’s it, officer!! I’ll remember that speckled breast anywhere!” he sobbed.

“Look buddy, I’m sure the robins were cute and all, but look at the kind of reports that have come in the last few days,” I said bluntly, picking up the wet paperwork. “Plus they weren’t frogs.  This is FROG Court,” I reminded him.  In truth, we kept intelligence files on all known raptors in the vicinity, most of whom “enjoyed” a frog now and then.

“I’ve got a lot of attacks to investigate.” I began reading.  “This one’s removing a squirrel from the carbon cycle.”

I pushed a picture towards him.

Hawksquirrel.jpeg
Two lb. of squirrel attached.

“You mean kill.”

“I mean feed it to its babies.”

I quoted from another report of hawks preying. 

“We have some in Rock Creek. They love to dine on juvenile Scrub Jays.”

redtail.jpg
Wow, that picture came out much better. I am downloading photos from the local Neighbor to Neighbor web site,

Another:

”Looks like the ones that has been snatching birds off feeder in our back yard.”

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Double trouble.

Again:

“We are birders....sharp shinned hawks prey on song birds and doves.  We've had several doves killed by a sharp shinned.  We hate to see it...but everything must eat...”

I’m reciting direct quotations from the Neighbor to Neighbor blog for Washington County, Oregon during the last couple of weeks.

The blog thread started with a picture of a hawk, asking what is this.  Fifty comments later, the neighborhood was trading photos and comments and experiences. 

Unfortunately the blog photos usually reproduce very small.   

Four of my neighbors witnessed attacks on song birds, as did I.

Most relished the hawks’ visits.

Hawk4.jpeg
A tiny pic of a hawk, from the ntn blog.

“This one comes around our place sometimes.”

“Beautiful bird!”

“Beautiful hawk .... we just had a young one in my garden too .. so pretty.”

hawk5.jpeg
Pretty bird.

I found the neighborhood’s interest almost as fascinating as the hawks themselves.   Several folks took high-grade photos of their hawk visits. No one complained about the edible songbirds. Several took up the Sharpie vs. Cooper vs. Red Tail argument, I stuck to discussions about how many hummingbirds can land on the head of a pin. 

Wetlands and forests and big trees and open space under power lines and over gas pipeline rights of way, thread through and nearby my suburb.  As new housing paves over habitat elsewhere, we may see more hawks crowding into my suburbs’ 60-year-canopy of mature redwoods, firs, and pines that provide welcome shade during these globally-warmed summers.  

Here’s a link to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Raptor page. 

myodfw.com/…

Once, Washington County, west of Portland, boasted of square miles of forests of massive, hundreds of year old trees, mostly cedars, but fir and pine and hardwoods too.  The fast-growing evergreens overshadowed and overtook most of the original oaks.

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A big pine.

The Native American tribe Atfalati  had several riverside settlements before white mans’ diseases reduced their ranks to 600. 

One-hundred-sixty years ago, the lumber mills opened in places now called  Cedar Mill or Cedar Hills or Beaverton.  There are few fragments left of those cedar forests.  We tried to protect the largest block of trees by referendum,  but the real estate developers on the County Board simply poached money from the bike lane fund and rammed a road through the forest.

So the raptors of Washington County lost habitat talon over talon.  Doubtlessly, some farmers also relished shooting the hawks that plucked away their chickens.

The Bonneville Power Administration constructed dozens of miles of redtail hawk perching habitat; that is power lines and poles.  The BPA cut down every tree for a hundred feet from the lines, and kept its right of ways mowed close, which made a good place to hunt rodents, even while clearing away thousands of trees in our Greenway.

Besides the Red tail, Cooper’s, and sharp-shinned hawks, the Oregon DFW identifies several other local raptors, but those with similar colors all seem to be living east of the Cascade Mountains, a hundred miles or distant, for instance the goshawk and ferruginous hawk, and the rough-legged. 

I can see more skittish raptors like kingfishers or harriers down at the Greenway, which is a 10-mile-trail under the BPA power lines and over a natural gas and gasoline pipeline, and next to a mile-wide wetlands of braided creeks and small pools and the occasional live or dead tree. 

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Kestral?

The hawks are reliably there.  But the red-winged Greenway blackbirds want nothing more than a piece of a hawk and will dive bomb them without a break during nesting season.

Now the informers were calling in with wild stories.

“I can’t give my name. But the robins’ nest massacre … it was a hit.  And the car that hit Gimpy the Squirrel, that was no accident.”

“Wait a second, give me some details!”

“Check it out.  The car that hit Gimpy was a self driving Tesla. It’s been torched.  But one of the witnesses, one Bridey Mae, says she saw a robin flying away from the fire.  Then Gimpy’s posse tipped off the Red Tail Hawk where the robin’s nest was, for revenge.”  The phone clicked dead.

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It was true the hit-and-run vehicle was destroyed.  I resolved to check emergency Nature Centers for an admissions with scorched feathers.

Suddenly it all made sense.  I knew the Eastern Fox and the Eastern Grey Squirrel Mafia families had sent some thugs out West, to take over the birdfeeder and fruit tree rackets.  

Rumor has it they had lured Doug the Douglas Squirrel, former Don of this terrain, to inspect a midden, an inspection from which he never returned. 

I tried to retrieve my old photo of Doug, but it was stricken from my 2015 Bucket.  Who had the power to do that? I must be going up against some powerful forces, trying to cancel Doug from history.

The two Squirrel Mobs had agreed to share what had been Doug’s turf, but they wanted more than middens. The songbirds resisted their encroachments on their nests.  But they took their shot at the King, and failed  to kill the now-recovered Gimpy. So now the storm.

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Did Gimpy ally with the hawks, seeking vengeance against the robins for their botched hit? 

With the robins gone, now the squirrels were stripping my pear tree, and half eaten pears were piling up in the squirrels’ redoubt.

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Jiggy won’t even finish this pear; he took it, and others,  just to show he could.

But the Hawks were both taking, and assisting the squirrels!  Do they have a squeeze play in mind; lure the pear-fattened, slowed squirrels into relaxing their guard?

Why did this happen on my last day on the job?

The last Squirrel War, when Gimpy rose to power, wrought untoward destruction.

IMG_0577.JPG
Please, think of the fledglings.  This benefited no one.

Thanks for reading the Daily Bucket.

Phenology is how we take earth’s pulse.

We discuss what we see in each Bucket.

We value all observations, as we ponder life’s cycles.  Please comment  about your own natural area, and include photos if possible.  We love photos!

To have the Daily Bucket in your Activity Stream, visit Backyard Science’s profile page and click on Follow, and join to write a Bucket of your own observations.

SPOTLIGHT ON GREEN NEWS & VIEWS" IS POSTED EVERY SATURDAY AT 3:00 PM PACIFIC TIME ON THE DAILY KOS FRONT PAGE. IT'S A GREAT WAY TO CATCH UP ON DIARIES YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED. BE SURE TO RECOMMEND AND COMMENT IN THE DIARY.

Now it’s your turn!  What have you noted in your area or travels? Any pretty birds in your yard? Please post your observations and general location in your comments. I’ll check back later.

/s/ Redwoodman

PWB Peeps Open Thread: Is Work of Moose and Squirrel

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Remember those old cartoons?  Real moose and squirrels are less politically motivated but just as active and mischievous.

Moose Crossing

squirrel01.JPG

unusual

A white moose.

squirrelearhair.jpg

friendly

moose_kiss.jpg

Squirrely-pair-arm-in-arm-attb-icanhascheezburger.jpg

secretive

funny-moose1.jpg

brave.

squirrel on dog's nose berating him

heroic

squirrelsuperherolandings.jpg

Partners who act as one?

funny_moose_pictures_1.jpg

PWBPeeps is a group that posts a daily diary and nightly open thread for animal lovers. We share photos, seek & give advice about pet health and behavior issues, support each other in times of sadness and stress, celebrate together when times are good, and on most days have an inordinate amount of fun.

You are welcome to join us!

Here are few not-too-onerous PWB rules

  • Do not “Troll” the Pootie Peeps Diaries. If you don’t like animal diaries, there’s no need to tell us about it. Just go find some other diary more to your liking.
  • Whatever happens in the outer blog STAYS in the outer blog. This is a place to relax and play; please treat it accordingly.
  • If you would like a pic from the comment threads, please ask the poster. He/she may have a copyright to those pics. Many thanks!
  • There are some pics we never post:  snakes, creepy crawlies, any and all photos that depict or encourage human cruelty toward animals.  These are considered “out of bounds” and will not be tolerated.
  • If you’re not sure about an issue...please ask.  Someone is always glad to help.

This is an open thread.

New Day Cafe: Sunday Morning

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Good morning, Cafe!  Hope life is treating you even better than you deserve.

And you deserve...fresh coffee and nummy noms!

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fruit-cream-cheese-breakfast-pastries.jpg

All are welcome to join the fun, the silliness, the conversations. If you don’t know...just ask! Some things really do require a bit of explanation.

There will be a few surprises along the way, all good ones, we hope.

We are here to keep building the Daily Kos Community.

We post Mon-Sun at 10:30 a.m. Eastern.

Pie fights will be met with outrageous ridicule and insults. Trolls will be incinerated and served at the next group BBQ.  As briquettes.

Or….

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I’m sure this will lure glescagal out of hiding..just to give me grief over “powdered tea in bags.”  heh

Among the things I missed this past week…

x

Heed the park warnings!

x

Not doin’ nuthin’...just sniffin’ this here flower…..

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I see your...point!

Some squirrels are smarter than others, according to Exeter University study.

Hey! 

Quit crowdin’ the door!!

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Coffee?  What is this “coffee” of which you speak??

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The service around here is really...sloooooowwww.

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But the coffee is so very worth it!

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New Day Cafe is an open thread, against a background of mutli coloured threads.

What’s on your mind this morning?


Your Third Grade Writing Assignment: SQUIRRELS!

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As some of you may know, I am working in a third-grade class as a student-teacher candidate. I have been giving the students writing assignments, and this is one that you might like to do yourself and put in the comments.  

Don’t forget to watch the video below too. The students liked it.

This is your writing assignment. ✏️

This is an assignment of imagination! ✍🏽

You are to write AT LEAST three sentences about this topic.

Your topic starts with a fantasy.  You wake up one morning and you are a SQUIRREL.  🐿🐿🐿

You know, a squirrel. 🐿🐿🐿  

The little rodents with the bushy tails that live in trees or in burrows and run around fast. 🐿🐿🐿

Your assignment is to write AT LEAST THREE SENTENCES about what you will do as a squirrel. 🐿🐿🐿

You may either write a REALISTIC or FANTASY story about you as a squirrel.  🦄

Realistic would be you writing what you as a real squirrel would really be able to do.

REALISTIC EXAMPLE: 🐿 "I would run around and eat nuts. I would play in the sunshine. I would sleep in my tree."

The fantasy would be you as a magic squirrel and doing things a real squirrel can not do.

FANTASY EXAMPLE: 🤡 "I would fly up to the clouds on my flying beaver. I would sing squirrel songs to the clouds who would be so impressed they would cry raindrops of happiness.  I would tell Mr. Green to plant more carrots in his garden."🥕🥕🥕

👁 BONUS: If you want to make a drawing of a squirrel and If you know how to post your squirrel drawings on this assignment, go ahead and do so, but that is extra and would impress Mister Green, and your fellow scholars.

GO NUTS! 🥜🥜🥜

🦁 #MisterGreen

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PWB Peeps Open Thread: A Little Squirrelly

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Life can get dramatic at times

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Especially with kids

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We need to help each other out

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Love each other

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And remember to chill and have fun

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PWBPeeps is a group that posts a daily diary and nightly open thread for animal lovers. We share photos, seek & give advice about pet health and behavior issues, support each other in times of sadness and stress, celebrate together when times are good, and on most days have an inordinate amount of fun.

You are welcome to join us!

Here are few not-too-onerous PWB rules

  • Do not “Troll” the Pootie Peeps Diaries. If you don’t like animal diaries, there’s no need to tell us about it. Just go find some other diary more to your liking.
  • Whatever happens in the outer blog STAYS in the outer blog. This is a place to relax and play; please treat it accordingly.
  • If you would like a pic from the comment threads, please ask the poster. He/she may have a copyright to those pics. Many thanks!
  • There are some pics we never post:  snakes, creepy crawlies, any and all photos that depict or encourage human cruelty toward animals.  These are considered “out of bounds” and will not be tolerated.
  • If you’re not sure about an issue...please ask.  Someone is always glad to help.

The Daily Bucket: Squirrels are damaging the natural environment

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(Not only attics.....!)

The invasion of the grey squirrel in the United Kingdom can be classified as a Disease Mediated Invasion (DMI)

Poxvirus

In addition to competition for resources, the spread of the squirrel poxvirus from grey squirrels to reds is thought to be a major factor in the decline of red squirrel populations.[6] Grey squirrels do not die from the squirrelpox virus and can infect red squirrels causing the appearance of scabs and lesions on the face, feet, and genitals and eventually death.[6] In Great Britain, grey squirrels have been able to spread 17-25 times faster through competitive exclusion of the red squirrel due to increased mortality of reds from the squirrelpox virus.[3] In fact, the virus works so quickly in killing its host after infection that seeing a red squirrel with poxvirus is uncommon even though the disease may be highly prevalent in a red squirrel population.wikipedia.org/...

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Google 

Predicted spread of the poxvirus and damage to trees

The squirrelpox virus is predicted to spread by the grey squirrels as they act as a vector for the virus.[6] 

Further, a separate model examining the effects of the spread of the grey squirrel on the health of Scots and lodgepole pines showed that grey squirrels will spread red band needle blight (RBNB), decreasing the population of lodgepole pines exponentially, and that Scots pine populations will decrease slower due to fungal growth resulting from the bark-stripping behaviour of the grey squirrel.en.m.wikipedia.org/...

Continued spread after attempted eradication

In 1991, eradication of a grey squirrel population in Piedmont was attempted via trapping and euthanasia

During the three-year suspension, the grey squirrel population had grown so much that it was no longer feasible to attempt eradication by the methods initially used.[7] If the species spreads significantly (the three populations in Italy invade France or Switzerland and establish successful populations outside of Italy) before preventative or eradicative efforts are taken, it will, in all probability, be too late for effective action.en.m.wikipedia.org/...

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European red squirrels numbers have dwindled in recent years, thanks to invasive gray squirrels from North America.

Eventually if populations are left unchecked, the grey squirrel will spread through a large portion of continental Europe and Eurasia, potentially invading the entire global distribution of the red squirrel

In any given breeding season, an average of 61 – 66% of females bear young.

If a female fails to conceive or loses her young to unusually cold weather or predation, she re-enters estrus and has a later litter. en.m.wikipedia.org/...

Woodland and songbird species

Grey squirrels also bear some of the responsibility for the decline of select woodland and songbird bird species as they sometimes feed on bird eggs and chicksen.m.wikipedia.org/…

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Bark stripping, also has negative effects on trees and timber plantations

 This is thought to be biggest effect introduced squirrels have on island ecosystems.[7] For example, Garry oak trees on Vancouver Island have become endangered due to urban development and the presence of invasive species including the grey squirrel. illegal and allowed importations and escapes of grey squirrels from captivity pose threats to native red squirrel and tree populations.en.m.wikipedia.org/…

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"Worst case scenario,grey squirrels will reach the Western Alps by 2015, France by 2026, and Switzerland between 2031 and 2041"

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Ha ha.....

The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge. We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns.

We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below

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Nom!

PWB Peeps: Toosdai Evening: In Which We Have Memorial Day Hangovers

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Greetings! Welp, we had company in town over the weekend (we all now have our vaccines, yay!).

Spc. Christine Wilde from Salt Lake City administers a rabies vaccination to a local kitten in El Salvador.  The Veterinarian team of just three Soldiers joined the 349th Combat Support Hospital for a two-week mission to El Salvador to treat the people and animals. - Photo by Army Staff Sgt. Kristen King
Would you believe she’s getting a Catvid shot?
(OK, not really, it’s a rabies shot, but same idea!)

Since Mom won’t leave the house, everyone seemed to think I could host and they could kick back. 

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“More drinks please!”

We did not have a cookout. 

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Nope! No steaks!

But there were drinks.

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“Choose your poison!”

And fruit. 

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Hey, were you invited?

And ice cream for all!

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“Thanx, this goes good after nuts!”

Now I’ve been busy putting the house back together and Mom and I both recovering, so tonight’s diary is short. This is an Open Thread. How was your Memorial Day Weekend?

Can my African Grey Parrot get along with a cat that doesn`t get along with a mouse?

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It`s almost 7 a.m. this bleak cloudy Monday morning. By this time I`m used to seeing the warm sun making its way to my face as I sit at my working computer table. This morning though, it`s bleakness has me concentrating instead on a small greyish cat with a white spot on its face that sits, and at times lays in front of the open door of the house across the street of our home. The cat does not scratch at the screen of the open front door indicating he wants out. It just lays there looking at the passing cars and people going by.

Our street is a four lane busy area and the house across from me is clear of any brush or trees, so I can see that the guy who lives there alone is also an early riser. By the time I sit at my computer after my morning shower, he has his front door open. So his small cat can see outside to a world and the squirrels that play and hunt for food right before it`s eyes.

My family has lived here for over thirty years and one thing I learned in that time is that folks around here keep to themselves and rarely communicate with each other. To each his own, as some say. The guy across the street is a perfect example. He has lived across the wide street from me for several years and we have never shared even a hand wave or hello in that time. Past winters as I can remember, he used to walk his German Shepard dog out of the house and onto the sidewalk for its morning stroll. I felt some admiration and respect for the guy for his obvious love for his pets.

This past winter though, the handsome German Shepard was not around. I wish I knew what happened to that dog. But like I said, I would not know how to ask if we have never talked. Today though my thoughts and attention or on the cat.

You see, I need a cat. Like now. And I come before you folks seeking advise about the attitude the guy you see here in this picture will take if I bring a cat into our home where this Grey Parrot has enjoyed being King for years.

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I DON`T KNOW ABOUT YOU DUDE, BUT I HATE MOUSIES TO PIECES

To avoid being rude let me give you a bit of background about myself and what led me to write this piece and who I am as a member here.

                                         __________________________________

I`ve written over a hundred diaries here as a writer and some may have seen or read parts of issues you will see today. Please feel free to click on my profile so you may see how far I came to have my voice heard and take a seat among you. I have been Awol and absent for sometime but I have learned folks here are forgiving souls.

Like many times before I come here with some questions.  Although I have strayed away from writing diaries, I learned long ago that Daily Kos is where I can resolve problems. 

Now I don`t know, nor would I speculate if the guy across the street has this cat to protect him, from what? Mice. I doubt it.

But that is my reason that I need a cat.

I would like to tell you how this bird made it into my home to sit as our pet. There are some very interesting implications into what having a pet has meant to me and my wife over the years. You see, my wife and I just celebrated ?????, our eighty-fifth birthdays a few short weeks ago.  Yes, 85 years old.

My lovely daughter grew up loving animals whom I have mentioned several times in past diaries. She taught my granddaughter when they lived in the upper flat of our duplex home about pets. She  encouraged her to study to become a Veterinary.   

There were two (2) dogs living upstairs that my daughter kept as pets. Rico was a midnight black Labrador that barked so loud that neighbors sometimes complained.

Rico was not only loud he was a bully. Sam was a Golden Retriever. Also Labrador. These were pure blooded breed that my daughter spent a small fortune to have due to her love of animals as pets. I would sometimes have to go upstairs and break up a fights and beatings Rico was giving Sam, a dog so timid and afraid of Rico. Sam`s thing was catching squirrels in our yard and he was good at it.

Then came the time when my daughter bought her own home in the burbs and felt bad leaving her two old folks parents alone in this monumental duplex. She figured that by leaving her dogs with us we would not feel unprotected. That was a huge mistake. You see, pets die. When Sam passed away I decided to get rid of Rico so I could not see Rico die also. 

So my wife and I were now alone in this house. My daughter, bless her heart, I believe felt that we needed companionship to keep us busy, so she brought home this large bird cage and told us that soon we would have companionship. She brought the African Grey Parrot you see above.

Now if you agree that leaving her dogs Rico and Sam to keep us protected was a mistake, you perhaps may agree that bringing a Parrot for companionship was a disaster.

Parrots are nasty eaters. Kikki sprinkled the floor in our dinning room area with seeds and other food where the cage was placed by my daughter. Seeds and fruits fall off the Parrot`s claws and bounce off the cage`s bar onto the floor. And this my friends, brought the small fast moving critter that I caught sight off with the corner of my eye. For a home where pure blooded pets have lived for so long this new arrival has me pulling my hair in anger.

As I look at the small cat behind the screen door across the street I wonder if it would be a mistake to bring a cat to live in our home. One thing I am quite certain about is that a cat is a predator for the fast moving critter I glanced at in our dinning room hanging around the spoils dropped on the floor by the Parrot. If someone suggested that getting rid of the Parrot would solve my problem let me assure you that my wife and daughter would never permit that route. 

Kikki, the Parrot is another pure bred pet that a lot of money was spent so that my wife and I were not alone and something to keep our minds occupied. 

When I say “a home where pure blooded pets lived” evidence of that bring back my comment that my daughter wanted my granddaughter to study to become a Veterinarian.

When she was still a baby in the program Kindgarten, she was spending a lot of time looking at pictures of animals and told me she would grow up to be a very special Veterinarian with a hospital that would only treat animals.

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THIS IS MY BABY VETERINARIAN WITH TWO OF HER EARLY PETS AND COMPANIONS IN CHILDHOOD

Imagine how much money my daughter spent to buy these pets for my granddaughter. Elmo was her favorite patient and this cockapoo parrot would only talk to her, laugh very loud using my baby`s voice and would go outside in the patio as seen here with no fear of the bird flying away. Now the Pup you see here was named Gio, short for Giovanni and was a pure bred Boxer that to my baby`s pain, had his ears clipped later on in his life to become King in this home, with ears straight up and and standing up like a true King. Well no, Gio  could no laugh like Elmo but my baby had no problem understanding every move the pup made.

This is how much she loved animals. To this day, even though her dream of being a Veterinarian never happened, she kept her dream alive by treating human beings of their pain by  following in my daughter`s footsteps.

My daughter, as I have mentioned in one of my diaries graduated from the University of Marquette here in Milwaukee with a degree in the Science of Nursing. In the Veterans hospital she works in the operating room treating our wounded and old warriors.

My granddaughter did not become a veterinary and chose instead to follow in her mother`s footsteps and today treats the sick and wounded at her job in a hospital. So when Gio suffered a cancerous death, she had the dog cremated and has the ashes in a jar by her bed.

Finally, I struggle with the question I bring forth here. A cat would be committing suicide if it dared to be near Kikki. Blood has been drawn from my hands and arms by the claws of this bird when I get distracted and go into the cage to clean it. Kikki can crack open a walnut with its strong beak so I am at a loss about bringing a cat into our home. 

To leave the critter roam unattended under the cage feasting on Kikki`s spoils, and even perhaps the critter inviting neighbors to join in the feast in not an option. so if someone here has some advise to share please do. I will appreciate it and if indeed I write again I will not forget you.

A Feel Good Ivermectin Story

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In the Summer of 2012 I became friends with a squirrel.  Specifically what most folks call a Brown Squirrel but what is technically a Red Fox squirrel.  And no, Red Fox squirrels do not record filthy party records or play junkmen on TV.

Every morning I’d throw unsalted, in the shell peanuts out under the bird feeder, hoping to attract blue jays.  But usually the Red Squirrels as well as the Eastern Grey Squirrels would snap them up.

One afternoon, returning from work, a Red squirrel foraging with a group of his cousins saw me and came bounding up towards me, stopping perhaps 15 feet away.

When the same thing happened the next day, I asked him “Are you my friend?” figuring it to be the same one from the day before.  It appeared that he recognized me as the person who threw out the peanuts every morning.

After the third of fourth day of this happening I went into the house and re-emerged with a handful of peanuts, which I tossed in his direction.

And over the next couple of weeks this squirrel became bolder and bolder until finally as soon as I’d sit down in a patio chair he’d climb my pants leg, or just hop, until he was sitting on my knee.  I’d hand him a peanut which he would take and then scamper up and out onto a particular branch of a nearby maple tree.  Unless it was raining, in which case he’d go to the living room window sill which was protected by an awning.

If you haven’t seen a Red Fox Squirrel up close you have no idea just how beautiful an animal they are, and this one was no exception, with two exceptions:  He had a notch in one of his ears, and a dime sized patch of bare skin on his back where his fur was missing.  I figured this had happened squeezing through a hole or perhaps in a fight.  I decided to name him Patchy.

Other squirrels took note of our arrangement.  Another Red Fox squirrel who held up a front paw as he walked, earning the name Limpy would also hop up on my knee.  Unlike Patchy, who would take the peanut from me with his paws, Limpy would oh-so-gently take it from me with his mouth.

A third Red Fox Squirrel with a particularly full tail, who I named Bushy (OK, OK, I am not exactly a font of originality when it comes to naming squirrels,) was never quite as brave as the other two, coming to within perhaps three feet of me and then waiting, quivering with fear, for me to toss some peanuts down to him.

And the Grey Squirrels would notice what was going on and get in the act, but for whatever reason they never came to closer than 15 or 20 feet from me.

It got so that when I’d get up in the morning I’d look through the window and see Patchy waiting for me.  I never did determine how early he arrived on the patio, but he was always there.  I’d walk out with a bowl of peanuts, sit down, and we’d go through our ritual over and over.  Eventually there was a pile of peanut shells under the branch where he liked to dine.

One day as Patchy sat on my knee I was horrified to see that the dime sized patch of bare skin on his back was now larger than a quarter.  What’s more, the skin was all pebbly and bubbly looking.

A search of the web confirmed my suspicion.  He had mange, an infestation of parasitic mites.  And I also learned from a friend of a paste given to animals called Ivermectin.  It was used as a horse de-wormer, but also by owners of Guinea Pigs, Gerbils, and other small animals to treat mange.  A pea-sized piece of the Ivermectin paste administered every other day for a week or so apparently did the trick.

I called the last remaining feed store in my suburban area but no, they didn’t carry the paste.  A call to a feed store about sixty miles away, in an area that was still truly rural, also was for naught, although they said they could order it for me.

I called around to local veterinary practices.  None would sell me Ivermectin.  One offered to treat Patchy if I could bring him in, but how could I ever manage to do that?

I was finally able to purchase a small tube of Ivermectin paste from Amazon, who shipped it out to me within a couple of days.

The following morning I unshelled a peanut, squeezed a small dab of the paste on each “nut,” put them on a saucer and went outside, where Patchy was waiting for me.  I sat down in my usual spot and set the saucer down in front of me.  Sure enough, Patchy scarfed them up.

I repeated this off and on over the next 9 or 10 days.  And in very little time the bare skin became smooth again, and then began to shrink in size, until eventually it was completely healed over with his luxuriant fur.

If it hadn’t been for two things….his intelligence and his courage….I never could have treated him.  If I put out some Ivermectin treated peanuts there would be no way to keep other squirrels from eating them, were it not for the fact that every morning he’d be waiting for me on the patio.  Because he had deduced that I was “The Guy With The Peanuts.” And his bravery allowed me to set the treated peanuts right in front of me, knowing that he wouldn’t hesitate to come up to where they awaited him.

My friendship with Patchy lasted perhaps six or eight months until one day, like Little Jackie Paper, Patchy came no more.

Not long afterwards, I saw the body of a Red Squirrel, flattened by a car, not far from the house.  I had no way of knowing if it was Patchy or not, but I can tell you that it, along with many, many other issues, particularly the impending loss of the family homestead, triggered a mental health crisis in me.

One morning, perhaps two or three months later, I was sitting on the patio when a beautiful Red Fox Squirrel came hopping up towards me, stopping perhaps 20 feet away. On a hunch I went inside and came back out with some peanuts.  Upon seeing this the squirrel immediately hopped up to my feet.  I looked at his ear.  It was notched.

He was no longer brave enough to hop up on my knee, but when I threw a peanut down to him he immediately climbed up to his favorite branch in the maple tree.  It was Patchy.  It was the last time I saw him.

As brave as he was I was never able to make a video record of me feeding him.  The mere appearance of my phone or my camera would spook him.  But one Winter day, when there was a “Wintry Mix” coming down, I was able to capture him through the picture window as he sat on the other side enjoying his feast.

EDIT: Thank-you all so much for your wonderful response.  When I posted this I seriously expected it to disappear with perhaps a half dozen comments.  I believe it is now my most recommended diary in the 18 years I’ve been a DK member (although not the most commented upon.)

And the YouTube video has been viewed, as of now, 1,400 times!  Wow.

I never realized there are so many people who are nuts for squirrels!

PWB Peeps Open Thread: Squirrel!

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Sometimes it is really hard to concentrate. I just get going on… SQUIRREL!

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and then I start some other task...SQUIRREL!

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Three things going at once, humming right along...SQUIRREL!

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It’s just hopeless. The day is upside down...SQUIRREL!

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It just drives me nuts.

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So? nuts are good!  very nutritious, tasty….

PWBPeeps is a group that posts a daily diary and nightly open thread for animal lovers. We share photos, seek & give advice about pet health and behavior issues, support each other in times of sadness and stress, celebrate together when times are good, and on most days have an inordinate amount of fun.

You are welcome to join us!

Here are few not-too-onerous PWB rules

  • Do not “Troll” the Pootie Peeps Diaries. If you don’t like animal diaries, there’s no need to tell us about it. Just go find some other diary more to your liking.
  • Whatever happens in the outer blog STAYS in the outer blog. This is a place to relax and play; please treat it accordingly.
  • If you would like a pic from the comment threads, please ask the poster. He/she may have a copyright to those pics. Many thanks!
  • There are some pics we never post:  snakes, creepy crawlies, any and all photos that depict or encourage human cruelty toward animals.  These are considered “out of bounds” and will not be tolerated.
  • If you’re not sure about an issue...please ask.  Someone is always glad to help.


Top Comments: Squirrel Parkour!

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Scientists at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the University of California at Berkeley have studied how squirrels jump from branch to branch, traveling through the understory of a forest.  How do they assess when and how far to jump?  What strategies do they use to correct for a miscalculation?

The scientists built an obstacle course for squirrels on the Berkeley campus, and coaxed the local fox-squirrels to it with peanuts.  The obstacle course had a variety of jumps within it, including jumps of different distances from “branches” with varying amounts of flexibility.  One interesting observation is that the flexibility of the branch was much more important in influencing where on the branch the squirrel initiated the jump than was the length of the jump.  The squirrel would jump much further from the tip of a flexible branch than for a much more solid branch regardless of jump distance.

Further, the researchers were able to study the strategies the squirrels employed to correct for errors in their jumps.  While no squirrels fell, most of them, on attempting a jump for the first time, would have, shall we say, “inelegant” landings.  (Simone Biles would not approve.)

But within five trials, “squirrels learned to compensate for their initial error,” Hunt says, which they did by modifying their initial velocity.

If squirrels regularly encounter the same branches, such quick learning “might explain how they move so fluidly and rapidly” across particular branches, Hunt explains. The rodents might be such quick navigators, he says, because “they’ve already learned what they need to know about that branch.”

The squirrels surprised the researchers in other ways too. For longer jumps, or those that necessitated landing higher or lower than the starting point, many squirrels rotated midair, using their legs to “jump” off an adjacent vertical wall in a parkour-style maneuver. More often than not, squirrels employed parkour to slow down if they were coming in too hot to a landing. “It’s an additional point of control,” Hunt says.

It’s possible that those who practice parkour could learn something from squirrels.  I doubt the reverse is true.

Comments are below the fold, but first, here’s a word from our sponsor:

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Here at Top Comments we strive to nourish community by rounding up some of the site's best, funniest, most mojo'd & most informative commentary, and we depend on your help!! If you see a comment by another Kossack that deserves wider recognition, please send it either to topcomments at gmail or to the Top Comments group mailbox by 9:30pm Eastern. Please please please include a few words about why you sent it in as well as your user name (even if you think we know it already :-)), so we can credit you with the find!

PWB Peeps Open Thread: Squirrel Appreciation Day

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Adorable nuisances that they are, do squirrels deserve to be appreciated?

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Well, yes. They play important roles in our ecosystems.

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They are forest gardeners.  By caching the nuts and seeds that they gather, they plant new trees and shrubs, even in burned areas. They also help spread fungi that partner with plant roots.

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yummy fungi!

Ground squirrel burrowing aerates and mixes soil, increasing water penetration. One species of ground squirrel has been named a keystone species in the Snake River Birds of Prey conservation area.

Ground Squirrel

They are a chief food source for many predators.

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that’s why we’re always so alert and scold anything that comes too close!

PWBPeeps is a group that posts a daily diary and nightly open thread for animal lovers. We share photos, seek & give advice about pet health and behavior issues, support each other in times of sadness and stress, celebrate together when times are good, and on most days have an inordinate amount of fun.

You are welcome to join us!

Here are few not-too-onerous PWB rules

  • Do not “Troll” the Pootie Peeps Diaries. If you don’t like animal diaries, there’s no need to tell us about it. Just go find some other diary more to your liking.
  • Whatever happens in the outer blog STAYS in the outer blog. This is a place to relax and play; please treat it accordingly.
  • If you would like a pic from the comment threads, please ask the poster. He/she may have a copyright to those pics. Many thanks!
  • There are some pics we never post:  snakes, creepy crawlies, any and all photos that depict or encourage human cruelty toward animals.  These are considered “out of bounds” and will not be tolerated.
  • If you’re not sure about an issue...please ask.  Someone is always glad to help.

Happy Squirrel Appreciation Day! Raising baby squirrels

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For most folks squirrels are just there. A fleeting presence seen from the corner of the eye, or spotted balanced on a branch or power line, watching, giving you the old prayer paws as they perhaps decide if you are a nut or not. Or dead on the roadside and instantly dismissed from your thoughts. Unremarkable and unconsidered.

I have argued for the glory and wonder of squirrels before on this site. The sheer numbers of trees they plant every year makes them admirable, even heroic. Or if you are of a capitalist bent consider this: Americans spend over 5 billion dollars a year on feeding wild birds--and some fraction of that goes to, yes, intentionally feeding squirrels. Then there are the uncounted number of fellow citizens whose living derives from the design, manufacture, and sale of squirrel-proof feeders. Devices that can cost from $40 to over $200, and in the end prove to be at best squirrel resistant because squirrels are exceptionally clever and more manically persistent than telemarketers.  If you are by some strange circumstance the sort who thinks Bambi was wasted venison, well, squirrels can and do become sustenance for other critters such as hawks, owls, foxes and coyotes. The ones who fail to cross the road are flat snacks for the usual scavengers.

My wife and I have rehabbed wildlife for about 17 years, and we really dig squirrels. Over that span we have raised at least a couple hundred squirrels, chiefly gray and black squirrels (blacks are a morph of grays), red squirrels, and the occasional flying squirrel. We also get some chipmunks, but we know those little bastards are not really squirrels, and so do they, which explains the chip they have on their shoulders. We're talking squirrels here, about the basics of raising them up, getting them release-ready, and sending them out to plant trees, raise families, and in spite of the care we take choosing release sites, bedevil a certain number of humans. By the way, this is volunteer work, running on donations and our own income.

So, on Squirrel Appreciation Day, I offer a bit about raising squirrels. This is about gray/black squirrels; reds do the same things, only faster, as if they were on speed. We have had them come at most stages of their early life, generally as orphans. The newborns are tiny, maybe fifteen grams, the size of the end of your finger, nearly hairless, eyes closed, ears not yet unfolded, yet already sporting tiny sharp nails. They're born ready to climb even though they can't see where the hell they are going. We've had juveniles just short of their eyes opening arrive, having been found blindly climbing down or at the bottom of a tree searching for the mother who has not come for them for a few days, most likely because she is dead. They come in dehydrated and malnourished, quite often partially bald due to alopecia. We have nursed juvie squirrels who left or were forced out the nest before they were really ready, again dehydrated and starved.

Syringe feeding baby squirrel
Very baby squirrel -this might be a red squirrel

Raising squirrels, even healthy ones, is hands-on work. They are nursed about every two hours, using a 1cc syringe with a special nipple. This is a slow and exacting process because they are prone to aspirating in their crazed greed for milk. Around here in squirrel season the first feeding is around 8 in the morning, the last feeding 10 or later at night, the number of feedings (average around eight per day for the first few weeks) times the amount per feeding hitting the mark for how much one their age/weight should get each day. This is not milk from the dairy case, we use a special dry small mammal formula mixed with water in small quantities since it doesn't keep all that long once mixed. The milk is warmed, then provided very slowly while watching for snorking or nose bubbles, warnings of aspiration. Early on you **gently** push the plunger to keep the flow going. Later on you have to restrain the plunger to keep them from sucking the syringe dry.

Four baby squirrels in nest
Four baby squirrels in nest on heat.

The hands-on doesn't end there. Each baby has to be manually stimulated to pee and poop after feeding-- sometimes before if the critter is fussy. This pee and poop is examined as closely as a sports replay or spread of tarot cards. Dark urine, or urine tinged with blood are warnings. Soft, runny poops are a warning sign as well, as is no poop--a possible sign of dangerous constipation. This degree of poop scrutiny is crucial because with most wildlife, mammal and avian alike, things happen fast. A baby can go from doing fine, to having a problem, to dying in a matter of hours.

Sue-Ryn with four juvies almost ready for outside cage
My wife Sue-Ryn with four young squirrels just about ready for an outside cage.

So we go through all of that with each squirrel every couple hours, and sometimes we have a dozen or more squirrels at once, and there are usually two, sometimes three breeding seasons. While this is happening we may also have several baby/juvie birds to be fed and tended to at the same time. For half of the year both of us can't be away at the same time for more than two hours. We don't really have lives. But we've usually got poop a'plenty.

The squirrels grow quickly, and as they grow they get incrementally more milk per feeding using larger syringes. We put alternative food such as nuts, rodent block, grains, fruits and veg in with them almost from the outset, and over time they will chow down on this stuff more and more. When that happens we can cut back on the number of feedings. Not long after their eyes open, at about 4 weeks, they can pee and poop on their own. We provide a litter box. This does not discourage them from crapping in their food, in their sleep sacks, and on you while feeding them.

When they get old enough they are moved to an outside cage that gives them room to climb, play, hide food, and acclimatize to the great outdoors. By then they may only be getting milk three to five times a day. That means going into the cage with them, trying to feed critters that will not wait their turn--that will swarm you. If you are creeped out by the thought of being locked inside a cage with several squirrels climbing all over you, leaping on and off you, sitting on your head, investigating your pockets, squirming into your shirt front or sleeves, or up your pants leg, then this is not a task for you. It is the most divine madness and mayhem. It can make you crazy, and it can have you laughing to the point of helplessness.

Five gray squirrels in outside cage
Five gray squirrels in outside cage waiting for us to come in with food so they can pounce.
 

Once they are fully self-feeding, their tails properly bushy, capable getting into whole nuts and jumping six feet, they are ready for release. By then they have begun wilding up, growing wary, unwilling to be handled. One more sign they are ready for the wild.

A note on that jumping thing: a squirrel is not quite a foot tall, yet it can easily leap over six feet. Can you leap six times your height--over thirty feet? Do your back feet turn backward so you can climb down a tree face first? Can you chew a hole in a walnut? Hang from your hind feet to eat upside down? Literally run up a tree? Do your front teeth grow continuously? Can you bury and remember the location of several thousand nuts? Are you sacred to Artemis? I thought not.

My wife with a squirrel from a few years back on her head.
A picture from a few years back. Squirrels LOVE to sit on your head and hide at the back of your neck.

Final notes: Squirrels are not meant to be pets. Young squirrels can purr. It's soft and buzzy-rapid, but it there. We don't purr while holding and nursing baby squirrels, but we are in our own odd way content.

So there you go. Joni Mitchell could have easily sung: I've looked at squirrels from both sides now, from up and down and still somehow, it's squirrel illusions I recall, I really don't know squirrels at all.

We should all get to know squirrels better, the better to appreciate them.

PWB Peeps Open Thread: Poetry of Emerson

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The Mountain and the Squirrel, by Ralph Waldo Emerson

The mountain and the squirrel had a quarrel;

funny_squirrel_pic_01.jpg

And the former called the latter “Little Prig”.

WesternGraySquirrel-34.jpg
name-calling, is it?

Bun replied, “You are doubtless very big;

funny_squirrel_pics_04.jpg

But all sorts of things and weather
Must be taken in together,

GangSquirrel.jpg

To make up a year and a sphere.

Squirrel wishing

I think it no disgrace
To occupy my place

Squirell in a hot summer

If I’m not so large as you,
You are not so small as I,
And not half so spry.

squirrel_on_a_fence.jpg

I’ll not deny you make a very pretty squirrel track;

squirrelgroup.jpg

Talents differ; all is well and wisely put;
If I cannot carry forests on my back,
Neither can you crack a nut.”

funny_squirrel_pic_03.jpg

PWBPeeps is a group that posts a daily diary and nightly open thread for animal lovers. We share photos, seek & give advice about pet health and behavior issues, support each other in times of sadness and stress, celebrate together when times are good, and on most days have an inordinate amount of fun.

You are welcome to join us!

Here are few not-too-onerous PWB rules

  • Do not “Troll” the Pootie Peeps Diaries. If you don’t like animal diaries, there’s no need to tell us about it. Just go find some other diary more to your liking.
  • Whatever happens in the outer blog STAYS in the outer blog. This is a place to relax and play; please treat it accordingly.
  • If you would like a pic from the comment threads, please ask the poster. He/she may have a copyright to those pics. Many thanks!
  • There are some pics we never post:  snakes, creepy crawlies, any and all photos that depict or encourage human cruelty toward animals.  These are considered “out of bounds” and will not be tolerated.
  • If you’re not sure about an issue...please ask.  Someone is always glad to help.

PWB Peeps - Drama on the Deck

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“Mom, it’s story time.” Allen and Kiki rang out in a purry chorus.

cats, cartoon cats, cats reading cats and book

Still half asleep, I padded over to the bookshelf for our copy of Caterly Tales. “How about a poem today?”

cat dreams about duck cat duck

“No, this one is about a kitty who used to live here before either of you were born. She was a gray and black tabby cat, who loved to lounge out on the deck outside my bedroom.”

“You mean the deck where you won’t let us go?”

“That’s the one. One of the kitties here got too good at jumping from the deck onto the trees and climbing down into the yard, and then she couldn’t figure out how to get back. I don’t like our kitties running around in the yard because sometimes there are bad guys out there.”

“Like ducks?”

“Mostly I am worried about coyotes and mountain lions and bears. They all live around here, too, and sometimes they wander about in yards looking for tasty small critters to have for dinner. Best to not have to worry about you being out there.”

cat thinking about animals, cat dreaming, cat

My furries were growing antsy. “So, what happened to this pootie who liked to be out on the deck?”

“Well, here’s a poem about what happened one day. It’s called “Drama on the Deck.”

“Mmmm,” crooned Allen. That sounds like fun.”

Drama on the Deck

On the deck

outside my bedroom

my seventeen-year-old tabby sleeps

curled up

beneath a chair

cat sleeping cat under chair, cat sleeping

A frisky backyard squirrel

climbs onto the deck

looking for adventure

squirrel, squirrel on post

furry tail wrapped

around the railing

front paws

below on the post

ready to jump onto the floor

squirrel, squirrel on post

until

he

spots

the cat

squirrel

Backing up

onto the rail top

he darts quickly

until he has kitty

in full view

His sleek body turns to face her

muscles tense

beady eyes focused

on the gray bunch of fur

under the chair

cat waking up, cat

Wide squirrel tail

fur now puffed up

starts to undulate

up and down

up and down

squirrel, squirrel tail

The cat

sensing something afoot

opens her eyes

lifts her head

and watches the squirrel

cat

Then

being an old cat

realizing she has seen it all before

cat, cat yawning

she curls up a little tighter

and goes back to sleep

cat, cat sleeping, cat curled up

“And that’s all there is to that tale.”

Allen and Kiki mumbled to one another. “Oh, I wish I had been there. It would have been fun to chase that squirrel.”

“Yeah, all we ever get to do is chitter at them out the window.”

PWB Peeps Rules

bird, have a good week, greeting

PWB Peeps - A Squirrely Tale, Part 1

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Monday greetings to you, Peeps. Today’s true story was told to me by an old and wise bushy-tailed rodent by the name of I. M. A. Squir-Ell. I will pass off the telling to him, as he told it to his grandsquirrels one bright sunny afternoon.
 

Old squirrel talking to  young squirrels

Gather round, now, young 'uns, and I'll tell you a tale of an adventure that I had when I was not much older than you. Pay close attention, because the experience almost did me in. I boasted that I was a brave and daring dude, and, well, I turned out to not be quite so brave. I hope that you will be inspired to be not as foolish as I was.

But first, my friends, a gentle reminder ~
 

PWB Peeps Rules

I was out running around, exploring the world, much as you do all day, when I discovered a place that I had never noticed before. It was much larger than our trees and had a rather unusual shape. I have since been told that it is called a house.
 

little house with squirrel on roof

Being curious, as unsuspecting young critters often are, I inched my way closer to this place. I noticed a very large hole leading into it and decided to sneak in and have a look around, ignoring my Mama’s warnings to me, “Stay away from places that are not ours,” she would say. What did she know? She was just an old-fashioned parent.
 

squirrel mom and son

"Wow! What a strange and interesting place!" These were my exact thoughts as I ran into the darkish room. It was cool in there, a welcome feeling since the weather outside was very hot.
 

squirrel in doorway to inside

And there seemed to be lots of little nooks and crannies. The ground was gray and very hard, not at all like the dirt and grass that I can run across so easily. I couldn't get the good grip with my paws.
 

squirrel on cement floor thinking about being in grass

It was very quiet there, none of the sounds of twittering birds or scurrying creatures that I am used to hearing. I didn’t know who might be around, and that made me have an attack of cautiousness, which, as it turned out, I should have had before I ran in there. So far, I had not seen another creature and so I figured I would be safe for a while. It was time for my afternoon rest, and I looked around for somewhere safe to hide and maybe take a little nap. Wiggling into a little dark hole between two mounds of stuff, I managed to do just that.
 

squirrel resting in messy basement

When I awoke, I worked up my nerve to look around further. It was fun sniffing and checking out my surroundings, as there were all kinds of wondrous things to see.

There were big square white things with sides that were too slick to climb.
 

squirrel climbing on washing machine

Then some other things that seemed to be made of woven wood and filled with something. In one leap, I jumped to the top of one of them and landed on a pile of something that was so soft -- kind of like fur. It had sort of a sweetish smell. I tried to wiggle around then jump onto a high pile of boxes, but that was a big mistake. Suddenly, the whole top of the pile crashed over onto the floor, taking me with it, and burying me under some stuff that was starting to look a lot less fascinating than it had a few moments before.
 

squirrel in fallen boxes

To tell the truth, although I would not have ever admitted it to any of my friends at the time, I was getting pretty scared. In fact, I was missing my friends and decided that I was ready to go back outside. To my horror, I discovered that my entry hole had been covered up! I had no way to get out and find my own little home and, even more important, my food supply! My tummy was beginning to rumble and so far, I had not seen food anywhere. I wondered where whoever lived here kept their acorns.
 

squirrel at closed door

Hunger, my little ones, sometimes leads a foolish squirrel to do things that he might otherwise not do. As I explored some more, I came upon the strangest thing. I assumed it was a tree, but it was unlike any tree I had ever seen. It smelled like wood, and when I nibbled on it, it tasted like wood, although it seemed a bit stale. But the most wondrous thing about it was its shape. There were a bunch of flat parts going up and up, and when I climbed on them, I found myself in a completely new place.
 

squirrel climbing stairs

There was a lot more light up there, and the ground was covered with smooth, slippery wood. I could hear my claws scraping on it as I tried to move from place to place.

The best thing was that I found something to eat, right there in front of me. Strangely, the food was all piled up in one place! Perhaps someone was gathering it up for the winter and had been dumb enough not to dig a hole and hide it. Of course, the ground there was too hard to dig very well, so maybe there was no place to hide it.

It didn't matter to me. I was hungry, and ate almost that whole pile of strange and yummy food. I guess they were nuts. They were kind of shaped like small nuts, but they were so soft that I could eat them without having to remove a shell. They also tasted kind of strange, not at all like anything I had ever eaten.
 

squirrel eating cat food

After filling my tummy, I was feeling nervous that the owner of the food would return and not be happy to find his winter supply gone. So, I ran back down that funny tree with the flat parts and hid out for a while. I thought about the flat things on that tree and wished that there were something like that in my favorite tree. Much later, after I had worked up the nerve to tell my mother about my adventures, she said, “I have heard that they are called steps, and no squirrels know how to make them inside a tree.”

Amazingly, the next day, when I again scurried up that tree, I found a new supply of food. Whoever was gathering this stuff was certainly industrious. I also began to think that he was kind of stupid. If I'd left my food cache out in the open and someone took it, I would certainly spend a lot of effort finding someplace to hide it away.
 

squirrel with box of acorns

Even though I had found some food, I was feeling very nervous about this new place. I longed to go back to my beloved grass and trees, but even though I checked again and again, the big hole to the outside never opened up again.

And then, things got a lot more dangerous. On the third day, as I arrived in the brightly lit room with the food, I saw something that gave me a great fright…
 

question mark in bright light

Well, my Peeps, we shall have to return next week for another episode of this squirrely tale. Oh, my, a cat (of course) and other critters will appear, and that frightened little squirrel will have quite an adventure as he encounters them and longs for a way to get back to his friendly tree home. (Spoiler alert ~ the story has a happy ending for all.)
 

cartoon cats in tulips

Meanwhile, Allen and Kiki and I wish you a joyful and safe and healthy week!

PWB Peeps - A Squirrely Tale, Part 2

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Hi, Peeps. I hope you are having a happy Monday. Today, I have asked my friend, I. M. A. Squir-Ell, to continue his story.

You may recall that last week, I was telling my grandsquirrels (and you) the tale of the day I decided to have a little adventure and run into a house. As last week’s episode came to a close, I was getting pretty upset because I couldn’t get back outside to my home. I was headed up the stairs to find some more of the strange nuts to eat.

But first, let’s remember these little reminders ~
 

rules

When I arrived at the food room, the new pile of nuts was not there. I also got another surprise. Across the room and straight in front of me was sitting a very large animal. Too stunned or, you might say, too foolish, not to run away, I just sat down and stared.

The creature was enormous! Except for his head, he had almost no fur that I could see, and his tail was completely missing! He had something wrapped around a lot of his body, something thin, like leaves. It was even green, but didn’t really look like any leaves I have ever seen. I guess he was wearing it because he didn’t have any fur to protect his skin.

squirrel watching person eating

I could see that he was eating, but he didn't hold the food with his paws or even reach his head into it and grab it with his mouth. Instead, he scooped it up with a strange looking, shiny object and then popped it in his mouth. He ate it all right away, too, and seemed totally unconcerned with stuffing some of it in his cheeks to hide for later. I guessed that he must have his winter store of food all hidden away already. I also figured he was going to have a rough go of it in the winter, what with his fur all gone and no tail to wrap around himself to keep warm. Later, I heard that he is called a human.

Then, I looked up behind that huge human and saw what looked like a tree…a real tree, with lovely green leaves, a tree like the one where I liked to sleep. I ran behind him so he couldn’t see me, and I jumped up on a little flat place, intending to make a giant leap from there to the tree. When I tried to jump out, however, I noticed that there was something stopping me. It was strange, because I could see out there, and, yes, there was a tree, and under it there was some soft-looking grass, but something invisible and hard would just not let me jump over to it.
 

squirrel at window

Disappointed and puzzled, I turned around to jump down, and then, several things happened at once. The large furless human screamed and jumped up, and someone else appeared, staring at me from a flat place up above.  

This animal was furry, all right. He was bigger than I was, but not nearly as large as that fellow who had been eating. I didn't think he was a squirrel, because his ears didn't look quite right and his fur was a strange orange color. Suddenly, with horror, I realized what he was. He was a CAT! My mother had told me about cats. “They eat squirrels!” I also realized that it was probably that cat's food that I had been enjoying those last few days. Foolishly, I wondered how I could slip away quietly without him bothering me. Hah! No such luck!
 

cat watching from counter

In a flash, the very minute I landed on the floor, that cat pounced at me and then began chasing me around and around a wooden object that was in the middle of the room. Only my speedy running and clever maneuvers kept me alive. My heart was racing like crazy. Finally, I got enough wits about me to notice the entry to the lower level, and I raced down the funny steps. The cat was still on my heels, but because I was smaller, I managed to slip into a tiny space. The cat sat down and stared into the hole for a while. I stayed as still as I could, hardly daring to breathe, until he finally lost interest and went back up the steps.
 

squirrel hiding with cat watching

As I breathed a sigh of relief and began to relax, however, I realized that if any food did appear up there now, the cat was going to eat it all and not leave any for me. I was sure feeling nostalgic for my own little place outside and for all those nuts that I knew were lying out there on the ground. I wondered if I would ever be able to return.

Later that day, more frightening things began to happen. That large and almost furless animal appeared again, this time down where I was hiding. He began waving around a stick that looked like it had dried grass tied to the end of it, and making a lot of noise. I got so scared that I tore up the steps again, braving an encounter with the cat, just to get away.
 

squirrel running up steps to escape broom

But, bad luck, he followed me up. Worse yet, he covered up the entrance to the steps. I ran blindly, finally cringing in a little dark corner, hoping that I would not be found. The next thing I knew, that stick was rattling around right by where I crouched. I knew I would have to leave, and I raced out, madly looking for another hiding place.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a bright light, but I was too panicked to even look in its direction. This was no time for exploring. I tried climbing up on the wall, but it didn't have any claw holds like trees do, and so I fell down again.
 

squirrel jumping on wall

I jumped up on something else, and pieces of paper and cardboard scattered so that I couldn't get my footing. And that human with the grassy stick kept walking around making little fake squirrel sounds. “Ch-ch-ch-ch,” he muttered.

Finally, I found another place to hide in a space under a large wooden box. I stopped to get my breath and still my racing heart. I tell you, my young friends, you never want to get yourselves in a situation like that was. Suddenly, I saw a furry leg and paw reaching towards me. Oh, no! It was the cat! I was so scared that I squealed and made some very undignified sounds for a proper squirrel. I crouched as far back in the corner as I could and held my ground. Luckily, the cat was too big to crawl under there where I was, but he was making me very nervous!
 

view from under furniture - cat, broom

After a while, things quieted down. I could hear the sound of the cat purring, so I know he wasn’t far away, but at least he wasn’t actively hunting me. A bit later, I didn’t even hear the cat. Now I should have been suspicious of that sudden calm, but soon I smelled food. Oh, I was so hungry! I stuck my nose out. So far, no cat.

I did see some of that good food that I had eaten before. This time, however, it was not all piled up and I knew that I would need to gather the pieces myself. Great. Just when there seemed to be enemies everywhere, getting hold of the food was getting more difficult. I finally got brave enough to run out, grab a piece of it, and run back to my hiding place.
 

squirrel eating scattered cat food

As it turned out, of course, that big furless creature was still around. Sometimes he would block my way and I would have to run around the room before I could find another place to go. Every time I got hidden, things got quiet for a while. Then, just when I would venture out for another bit of food, the chase would start again. Oh, how I longed for my snug little home outside in the tree! If I could just go back, I would never, ever come into this horrible place again!

Finally, the quiet time stretched a little longer than before and I had a chance to rest. Perhaps the human was getting tired, too. The extra time allowed me to gain a little foolish bravado. I poked my head out, and noticed something new…a whole pile of food, just like I had seen when I was first there. I took a couple of steps and looked around. Nothing happened.  Then I took a few more steps, heading for that food. Oh, yummy. I planned to eat and eat, and maybe even gather up some extra bits in my cheeks for later.

Well, my friends, as you might be guessing by now, such was not to be. No sooner had I gulped down a couple of those odd nuts than a giant cage came down over me.
 

squirrel under laundry basket

I went berserk, tearing every which way inside that cage. I climbed its sides and ran around the small space. Worse yet, I kept jumping into the pile of food and it was flying out of the cage where I couldn't even reach it!

Then the large creature began moving the cage little by little towards the bright light that I had noticed earlier. Oh, no! What were they going to do to me! The further they edged that cage along, the more scared I got. I heard a funny noise, and the cage went over a little rise. Then, the ground dropped out from under me, and I fell out!
 

squirrel standing on concrete, being watched  by cat

I found myself again standing on some of that gray, hard stuff, but then I noticed, right near where I was, what looked like dirt and grass. As soon as I got my wits about me, I realized that I had fallen into my beloved outdoors! As fast as I could, I jumped off that gray stuff that felt so hard against my feet, and sped away from that dreadful place.

I already was beginning to feel better, touching ground that was soft, and I ran through the grass and leaves as fast as my legs could carry me to my own special tree. I leapt onto the trunk and scampered up to my favorite branch, and just stayed there for a while, catching my breath and trying to stop trembling. I found a delicious pine cone and munched on it a bit. Yum, was it good!
 

squirrel sitting in pine tree eating pine cone

Eventually, I ventured down again and found some of the nuts that I love to eat. I cracked the nuts and savored their delicious, familiar insides.
 

squirrel eating nut in grass

I was so filled with joy that I leaped and ran all over the place until I got very tired. Then I went up into a hole in my favorite tree. I curled up with my nice, fuzzy, warm tail around me, and had a long, relaxing sleep.
 

squirrel in tree longer shot

So, my little ones, the tale of my adventure ends. I hope that you will take my advice. Stay away from cats, and never, ever go into those places where the big furless animals live. Remember, too, another big lesson I learned. Don't let a hungry tummy make you foolish!
 

grandfather squirrel talking to young squirrels

Author’s Notes: This story is based on a true incident, when a squirrel got into my sister’s house. I was there that day, scrambling around with them, and watching what happened.

 You may wonder why I have no picture of that little squirrel all curled up, sleeping, with his bushy tail wrapped around him. I have looked through hundreds of pictures of squirrels while working on this story, and one would think, from those pictures, that all squirrels do all day is sit around and pose for photographers. I found very few pictures of squirrels running or jumping, and only one picture of a squirrel sleeping, and that was of a very young squirrel. Surely, they sleep, don’t they? Then again, have YOU ever seen a squirrel sleeping?

By the way, Allen and Kiki have mostly snoozed through this story. They would have been rooting for the cat, of course. They send their love and greetings and hope to see you next time. Have a good week!


Daily Bucket: Geological Wonders at Lassen Volcanic National Park and Environs

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I always wanted to visit Mt. Lassen, the southernmost volcano in the Cascade Range that runs from British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. The site of a 1915 major eruption, this National Park is a great place to geek out on volcanos with lots of current volcanic and seismic activity.  Evidence of numerous historical eruptions during the past centuries can be found all over the park.  

The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge. We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns.

We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below.

Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the phenological patterns that are quietly unwinding around us. To have the Daily Bucket in your Activity Stream, visit Backyard Science’s profile page and click on Follow.

We headed up to the high country to get out of the triple digit August heat. After traveling several hours in 105+ heat we climbed up to 5,800 feet into the park and a cool 73 degree temperature.  Lassen Volcanic National Park is tucked into the very rural Northeast corner of California. Because of its remote location, the park is not crowded and the Manzanita Lake campground was only half full.  As we went out and about, we were often the only people at a scenic location.

The area is still seismically active with active steam vents, hot springs and mud pots. It’s a great spot to learn about volcanos and the visitor’s centers have a short video on volcanos and the 1915 eruption.

Unfortunately, the high altitude from 5,800 feet to just over 8,500 feet at the top of the Lassen Summit Pass made it difficult for my husband to breathe.  All of the sites I photographed were either right next to the highway or on a very short trail. Everything but the subway cave is easily accessible for people with mobility issues. In addition, the Manzanita Campground has campsites specifically for people with mobility issues.

Here are some interesting volcanic features:

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Northeast side of Mt. Lassen blown out by the 1915 eruption.

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The unmarked southwest face of Mt. Lassen stands tall over the Upper Kings Creek Meadows

This rock from the top of Mt. Lassen rests more than 2 miles from the mountain. The 1915 eruption instantly melted the snow and the heated water mixed with lava, rocks and dirt to create a devastating mudslide sweeping everything in its path miles from the mountain.

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 The reddish spots were created when hot liquid magma hit the surface and melted into the rock.

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Original seismograph once used to monitor volcanic activity.  Now computerized seismic data collectors are scattered throughout the area and monitored daily by the US Geological Service

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Wisps of steam continually flow from this vent at the sulphur works.  

Geologists have identified a magma reservoir about 8 miles beneath the earth’s surface that provides the geothermal energy that power the various hot springs, pots and fumaroles throughout the park.

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Yellow sulphur encrusts the ground surface at the sulphur works.  This area was a private sulphur mine and health resort within the park boundaries until purchased in 1952

Lassen isn’t the only volcano in the park.  US Geological Service has identified a number of volcanos within the park boundaries that include all 4 known volcano types:  Mt. Lassen is a dome volcano as is Mt. St. Helens. There are also cinder cones, unique cone shaped hills primarily consisting of red cinder rock.  Shield volcanos in which each eruption causes a layer of slow moving lava to cover the sides, building the mountain and creating a shield.  A composite volcano which has both shield and dome elements.

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Chaos Craigs -this dormant volcano exploded several times 350 years ago causing a series of rock slides up to 130 feet thick that dammed Manzanita Creek to create Manzanita Lake.

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Chaos Jumbles — hundreds of acres are covered by the rock slides from the Chaos Craig eruptions.  The forest grows where a tree can gain a foothold

About 15 miles north of Lassen lies the Subway Cave, an immense lava tube discovered when a portion of its roof collapsed revealing its location.

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A long staircase leads to the cave’s mouth

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Note how the hot lava left remarkably smooth walls and ceiling

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Looking up from the cave entrance, this jumble of moss covered rocks was once the ceiling of the cave.

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The lava rock appears to be still moving as swirls were frozen when the molten lava cooled.

We also visited MacArthur-Burney Falls, a beautiful natural waterfall 45 miles north of the park. The volcanic rock underneath the falls is semiporous.  The falls are fed by Burney Creek and the water seeping through the rock walls.

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Burney Creek tumbles over the cliff creating a gorgeous sight.

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A number of ferns and other plants grow upside down under the waterfall rim as water seeps through the walls.  

Modern catastrophe also touched the park. The 2021 Dixie wildfire, the largest fire in California history,  swept through a year ago, damaging more than 65 percent of the park. Most of the park east of the Lassen Peak Highway burned.  Portions of the park are still closed due to fire damage.

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Some of the burned acreage at the south entrance to the park. Burnt forest can be seen for miles along the highway through the park.

Yet life abounds.  Here are a few of the fauna & flora. Let’s start with the birds:

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Stellar’s Jay — one of many who watched our campsite for something to steal

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Hairy woodpecker — spent an entire afternoon loudly pecking at several campground trees.

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Robin — flew down to a ledge outside the Subway Cave entrance and then flew right out

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A raven stalks the empty campsite seeking anything edible left behind

I also saw a golden eagle while driving but did not have an opportunity to get a picture.  Mr Birdbrain and I were buzzed by a humming bird as we set up camp.  It then took off and we never saw another one.  The Merlin app identified both the White Breasted and Red Breasted Nuthatches which have distinctly different songs but I never saw them. Didn’t see any waterfowl, but there was supposed to be Canada geese, mallards, and mergansers.

The small mammals were all around us:

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Chipmunk munches on something he found in the dirt

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Ground squirrel on alert atop a picnic table

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Gray squirrel feasting on a pine cone

We also saw black tail deer and coyote along the road but couldn’t stop for photos. Didn’t see any reptiles.

Interesting insects:

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Beautiful butterfly

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Striped bee on a wildflower

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Gray grasshopper

There were also these tiny black bugs that infested our tent the first night.  We quickly learned to ensure the tent was tightly closed before turning on the lantern.  Also saw a couple of damselflies.

Don’t know the flower names except for lupine but I saw lots of pretty flowers and interesting lichen.

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Sunny mountainside covered in lupine

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A variety of yellow and white wildflowers In the area hit by the 1915 eruption and mudslide

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Various colored lichen covers lava rocks

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The rocks in Chaos Jumble sport a variety of lichen

The mixed conifer forest include Ponderosa Pine, Western Cedar, and Douglas fir. 

I didn’t get to the Butte Lakes area in the eastern portion of the park.  There is a cinder cone, lava beds and a boiling lake.  Something to look forward to on my next trip.

Temps nearing 100 today and we are expecting at least 4 or 5 days over 100 degrees and possibly up to 110? 

What’s up in your neck of the woods?

Daily Bucket: Birding at the Carbon Canyon Regional Park

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When I drove down to Orange County to visit family for Thanksgiving, I blew my engine going up the notoriously long steep Grapevine Grade on Interstate 5. I ended spending an extra week with family as I had my car repaired.

But it gave me an opportunity to do some additional birding. So I headed towards a local regional park that is also part of the flood control system. Carbon Canyon in the northeastern corner of Orange County offers traditional park amenities such as picnic areas, playgrounds, ballfields (baseball, soccer, football) and tennis & basketball courts.  It has a stocked fishing pond that is equally popular with local anglers and all kinds of birds.

In addition there is a dam under the jurisdiction of the Army Corps of Engineers to control flash flooding.  The dam prevents runoff from overwhelming the creek system by restricting water flow during heavy runoff periods. A large undeveloped nature area sits behind the dam structure with a creek and walking/biking/horse trails. Another haven for birds and native wildlife.

The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge. We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns.

We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below.

Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the phenological patterns that are quietly unwinding around us. To have the Daily Bucket in your Activity Stream, visit Backyard Science’s profile page and click on Follow.

There is a minor fee to enter the park, well worth the cost.  There are a number of parking areas which allow visitors to easily access the various facilities.  The developed park has wide paved paths and plenty of picnic tables and benches. The nature trails are also wide and level easy to use for those with mobility issues.

A storm system was coming in and we had increasing clouds and the temps were just below the average for the end of November. Here is what I saw that fine day. I had a couple of new to me sightings:

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Lark Sparrow

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Egyptian Geese with goslings — non-native but still beautiful

On and around the fishing pond:

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American Coot — you see water, you almost always see a coot

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Mallard and hen

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Great Egret — a stocked fishing pond is sure to attract the egrets

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Green Winged Teal

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Ruddy Duck in winter attire

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Double-Crested Cormorants drying their wings in the sun

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Belted Kingfisher on a tree limb overlooking the pond

Of course, we had raptors in the air:

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Red Tailed Hawks flying high above the park.  Note the natural chaparral landscape.

In the trees and on the grass:

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Yellow Rumped Warbler

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Western Bluebirds hiding in the canopy

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Mystery bird in a pine tree

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Black Phoebe on a metal post

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American Goldfinch — non breeding color

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Another Goldfinch?

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Ravens roost in a massive eucalyptus tree

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Nuttall’s Woodpecker

Finally, the other critters I saw:

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Turtles on a little island in the middle of the pond

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Ground Squirrel — it looks like he had an accident with his tail

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Tree Squirrel just chillin’.

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Red Tree Squirrels foraging in the grass

I walked down the nature trail.  I heard lots of birds and the Merlin app identified a Spotted Towhee and a Savannah Sparrow but I didn’t find them.  A hummingbird sprinted past me so fast that all I recognized was the shape and heard the buzzing wings.  I caught a glimpse of a Northern Mockingbird.  I also heard frogs croaking in Carbon Canyon creek.

I’m back in Sacramento with a repaired auto running fine.  We had two bands of decent rainfall this weekend and snow is continuing to fall in the Sierra.  Today is cloudy with chance of showers, clearing through the week before another storm is slated to come in before the weekend.

What’s up in your neck of the woods?

Would-be Speaker desperately seeking more nuts

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My wife and I do wildlife rehab, and the above pose at left is one anyone who  has raised squirrels or watched their feeders would recognize: this an utterly unready for real life mammal with a very small brain wondering where their next nut is coming from. Squirrels need nuts for food. Kev needs a whole batshit basket of them to get the job he is so obviously unqualified to hold.

We can only hope he buries them afterward.

Gardening with a Purpose - Water for Wildlife

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 It had been a cool, wet spring in the Northwest where I live, with constant rain and some flooding. But this past week the  summer dry season arrived with a vengeance in the form off a record-popping heat wave.  During summer garden water sources are more vital than ever for birds, mammals, insects, and frogs that need moisture to thrive.

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A cute but feisty Douglas Squirrel, a Northwest native pine squirrel, at the birdbath.

The National Wildlife Federation’s Wildlife Habitat Certification requirements list a water feature of some kind as one of the four main wildlife needs in a garden: food, water, nesting sites, and protective cover.

Some gardens have beautiful fountains or ponds for wildlife to enjoy. But simple birdbaths that are kept filled and clean are most common.

Not only birds and bees use birdbaths – squirrels and other mammals enjoy refreshment in dry seasons. 

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A Western Gray Squirrel on the birdbath.

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Even mule deer came to my little birdbath during the dry summer in Central Oregon where I used to live.

I have two birdbaths in my garden, both bought from Wild Birds Unlimited.  Large shallow plastic trays sit on sturdy metal stands.  I like the ease of picking up the trays for cleaning and refilling. If the tray degrades, I can buy another one. I also put rocks in the middle of the trays for birds to perch on, and for bees or other insects to sit on while they drink.

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A Mourning Dove on the birdbath in Central Oregon.

Another type of water feature for native plant gardeners is a butterfly puddler station.  You might have noticed butterflies sitting on moist soil - they are imbibing both moisture and needed nutrients. Male butterflies seek out materials in soil like salts and amino acids that are passed on to females when they mate to ensure the eggs have sufficient nutrients for larval development.

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A Pale Swallowtail butterfly imbibes needed nutrients from damp garden soil.

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A tiny but colorful Echo Azure butterfly drinks from garden soil in early spring.

Bees and other insects are also attracted to butterfly puddlers.

A puddler can be as simple as keeping a spot in the garden consistently moist.

You can also make a puddler – here are instructions from the Birds and Blooms website:

How to Create a DIY Butterfly Puddler:

Help butterflies, especially during dry weather, with a DIY backyard butterfly puddler spot.

Find and fill a shallow dish or container with soil or sand. Add a few flat rocks to provide perching spots.

Pour enough water in the container to moisten the soil, and sprinkle some salt on the surface. Also set out overripe fruit like bananas and oranges.

Keep the soil moist during the heat of the day, when butterflies are more likely to visit.

www.birdsandblooms.com/...

I made a  puddler using an old Tupperware container set flush with the garden soil. I filled it with sand and gravel, put a couple of larger stones on top, and will sprinkle it with table salt and put rotten fruit on it this summer as further enticements for butterflies. 

Do you have a water feature in your garden? What critters have you seen coming to your water source?

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Wait! Isn’t this a BIRDBATH? For a neighborhood cat, it’s a kitty watering hole.

PWB Peeps Open Thread: Grab Some Nuts

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Nuts and seeds. Go ahead, stuff them in, they are good for you.

Chipmunk

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ooh, fancy!

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maybe some leafy greens?

Cooper's Hawk observations July 8 2023

fruit is good too.

Chipmunk

PWBPeeps is a group that posts a daily diary and nightly open thread for animal lovers. We share photos, seek & give advice about pet health and behavior issues, support each other in times of sadness and stress, celebrate together when times are good, and on most days have an inordinate amount of fun.

You are welcome to join us!

Here are few not-too-onerous PWB rules

  • Do not “Troll” the Pootie Peeps Diaries. If you don’t like animal diaries, there’s no need to tell us about it. Just go find some other diary more to your liking.
  • Whatever happens in the outer blog STAYS in the outer blog. This is a place to relax and play; please treat it accordingly.
  • If you would like a pic from the comment threads, please ask the poster. He/she may have a copyright to those pics. Many thanks!
  • There are some pics we never post:  snakes, creepy crawlies, any and all photos that depict or encourage human cruelty toward animals.  These are considered “out of bounds” and will not be tolerated.
  • If you’re not sure about an issue...please ask.  Someone is always glad to help.

The Daily Bucket: Looking out the Window on a Winter’s Day.

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 January 14 was an indoor day. We had near blizzard conditions the day before and into the morning on Sunday. We were happy to be inside, and that the power had been restored late Saturday night.

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The backyard Sunday morning. That’s a Redbud with seed pods in the foreground.

PWB Peeps Open Thread: Getting Squirelly

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gonna do some weight lifting

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A gentle reminder of how we do things:  🐱🐶🐦

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  • Do not troll the diary. If you hate pootie diaries, leave now. No harm, no foul.
  • Please do share pics of your fur kids!  If you have health/behavior issues with your pets, feel free to bring it to the community.
  • Pooties are cats; Woozles are dogs.  Birds... are birds! Peeps are people.
  • Whatever happens in the outer blog STAYS in the outer blog.  If you’re having “issues” with another Kossack, keep it “out there.” This is a place to relax and play; please treat it accordingly.
  • There are some pics we never post:  snakes, creepy crawlies, any and all photos that depict or encourage human cruelty toward animals. These are considered “out of bounds” and will not be tolerated.  If we alert you to it, please remember that we do have phobic peeps who react strongly to them.  If you keep posting banned pics...well then...the Tigress will have to take matters in hand.  Or, paw.






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