Crocuses Flowering

[Pulsegleaner]

Nyboy, are your flowers close to the house or a building? I know those seem to flower a lot earlier than the ones planted out past the lawn. Of course, you have been having much warmer winter weather than we have had.

Most of ours are actually IN the lawn (it's something they did in the 1920's and 30's)

 

[Nyboy]

Pulse are yours flowering yet? Red when I had pigeons I was told never fly them in the morning wait till afternoon. Hope was hawk, would have already fed by afternoon.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Yeah, they started several weeks ago. Got a pretty good crop this year (no one has re bulbed the yard since the original planting, so the display each year has a lot to do with 1. how well the previous years bulbs divided and 2. whether the bulbs get some time to make leaves before the gardeners come and mow.)

 

[Nyboy]

Wow a couple of weeks ago, I thought mine where very early

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Must have been, I remember seeing them on my birthday and that was 2 weeks ago.

 

[bobm]

"Turkey Vultures have been increasing in number across Northward America since the 1966 ... were threatened by side-effects of the pesticide DDT ... fall victim to poisons or lead in dead animals."

There is where the conservation efforts had to take effect.

"Despite their size, Turkey Vultures are often driven off by smaller Black Vultures, Crested Caracaras, Zone-tailed Hawks, and other species." link

My mentioning both (other) species of hawk reflects what I might see soaring in the sky on a summer day. They would come in contact and conflict, perhaps. I have seen Sharp-shinned fly straight up at soaring Redtails, probably to threaten them away from nest sites. Eagles and Osprey "cruise," often above water.

Another shift in population I've noticed is with those Sharp-shinned. Kestrels were once common in nearby farmland. Since I see Sharp-shinned in cities as well as suburbs, humans are probably responsible for decreasing one favorable environment while increasing the other. The benefits of English sparrow and Starlings populations, must favor the new guy. Kestrel hawks always seemed to be interested in small rodents. I never see them these days! Oh, I see the rodents ... hopefully the Redtails and owls do, too!

@so lucky , I wouldn't "trust" a Redtail with a chicken. All of the birds of prey are remarkably aggressive carnivores. That doesn't mean we need to shoot them outta the sky. ... i wonder what air pollution does for bird populations ... maybe, i don't want to know ...

Steve

On my ranch there are several pairs of Red tailed hawks nesting in Valley Oaks... there are also dozens of ground squerrels at those same oak trees' bases to feed their nestlings, but their populations increase ... Wherever there are wind farms to generate electricity there is dead eagles and hawks under the spinning blades. In S. Cal. there are several solar arrays installed in the nearby deserts that send a beam of light to a central point. When any bird,buzzard, eagle, or hawk that flies through that beam of concentrated light.... the birds drop dead out of the sky.... FRIED . Onward Wind and Solar Power !!!

 

[Smart Red]

Bobm, have you seen the next generation in windmills? These tall structures have a top that spins -- no blades. One problem for wildlife eliminated. Possibly?

Fried predator on the wing is still a problem.

 

[digitS']

This is as bad as when I tried to use the @ in front of the name and I wrote @steve

Mary

No, that was fine .

With "handles" and tricky autocorrect, there is no telling what outrageous thing we might come up with sometimes

!

Steve

 

[ducks4you]

This will sound odd but there were no vultures here, 20 years ago, or 50 years ago. They showed up in the last 10 years ago, if that.

See the map for their range:
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Turkey_Vulture/id

Exit the Ferruginous hawk, enter the Turkey Vulture - things change.

Steve

Ha, Ha--DH told me a few years ago that he thought he saw "big, black chickens" out in the corn fields. I told Him that they were probably Turkey Vultures. Now we have 5 Dark Cornish Roosters, so we now own our very OWN black chickens!

 

[Nyboy]