SPRING 2011

[Wally]

Had to capture this through the bedroom window about an hour ago. I've never had one this close to the house. He was taking his meal. Hope it was one of those moles that wrecks our garden in the summer. The next 2 were taken yesterday.

I hate to rain on the parade, but that's a nice-looking Sharp-shinned Hawk you've got there.  Guess what they eat?  Hint, they don't go on all fours.  Voles are not on the menu.  I can't tell from the picture, but it almost looks like baby robin souffle.

[colporteur]

Since we are talking about predators what do you make of this. We had 16 cats. That was about 14 too many. Last fall in a matter of about three days all 16 disappeared. No  fur, no crippled cats, no evidence whatsoever. I;m thinking either hawks and eagles or coyotes. With all the thick brush and buildings for the cats to hide in and under it is diffcult to image that predator birds could get at all those cats to effectively in two days. The same is true of the coyotes. We have a dog that can hold his own against the best of the coyotes and dogs.

On a more tasty note we have been doing the maple syrup again this year. I almost bypassed this labor intensive project this year when most of the snow disappeared. Then it snowed quite a bit and I fell pray to my family's suggestions to tap again. Soon after it got extremely warm with a quick run odf sap and I thought oh no, that's what happened last year and the season was very short. I must have thought I was super human and worked 39 hours straight and boiled 300 gallon of sap in a batch pan. I did great until about the last 2-3 hours when I became very weak and punchy after a 30 minute nap. Then I slept a straight 14 hours. I will not do that again. Yes, I know, it was intemperate. I intended on starting a day later and after giood night's rest when I discovered the trees had run considerably and I was behind in my process. Then all the snow pretty much melted away. Now the temp has dropped to be unseasonably cold and we received about 10 inches of snow today. That means good, good for the maple syrup operation. I noticed today in the health food store $36.95 plus tax for a quart of organic maple syrup. $ 156.00 per gallon? I can understand why though as I calculate that at $50 per gallon my labor is worth about $4.00 per hour. Now you know why we really do not produce it to sell.

[Tamara]

It is Autumn and my magnolias are still blooming! The heat is close to summer weather and life in Aus for the moment is good

[Wally]

Since we are talking about predators what do you make of this. We had 16 cats. That was about 14 too many. Last fall in a matter of about three days all 16 disappeared. No  fur, no crippled cats, no evidence whatsoever. I;m thinking either hawks and eagles or coyotes. With all the thick brush and buildings for the cats to hide in and under it is difficult to image that predator birds could get at all those cats to effectively in two days. The same is true of the coyotes. We have a dog that can hold his own against the best of the coyotes and dogs.

On a more tasty note we have been doing the maple syrup again this year.

I believe Fishers will kill cats, and so will Bobcats.  Owls will take smaller cats.  That is odd, though, that so many would disappear in such a short time.

The sap is running well around here.  We've had no major warm ups like last year.  Indeed, it's been mostly cooler than normal lately, and looks to stay that way through early next week.  That price you quoted seems rather exorbitant for maple syrup, but then I remembered that 2 years ago I saw it for $80 a gallon at the college store in Berrien Springs.  We're selling it for around $53 or $54 right now.  When I started working at the store 20 years ago we were charging half that.

[Vicki]

We've always had a lot of stray cats in this area - a neighbor feeds them all, so no wonder they stay around. But last year the cat population decreased drastically. I always thought coyotes got them, but it could have been owls. Many nights I heard them hooting - great horned owls according to the bird book. We've had the pleasure of seeing them, although in dim light; spectacular wing spread.

Cp, did the children's pet kitty disappear too? Son's did and he still cries over that cat. They were a perfect match in pesonality for play. I miss seeing them together, too. He prays for another, but I can't see the wisdsom in having another animal to feed in this economy. He's praying for an orange tabby. All the ones around here are black, so if an orange tabby appears I'll know we are suppose to feed it!

[Sister Dee]

It is Autumn and my magnolias are still blooming! The heat is close to summer weather and life in Aus for the moment is good

Ah, yes!  Not all of us are in the same season.  Maybe you should get a jump on things around here and start an Autumn 2011 topic, Tamara!   

[Tamara]

It is Autumn and my magnolias are still blooming! The heat is close to summer weather and life in Aus for the moment is good

Ah, yes!  Not all of us are in the same season.  Maybe you should get a jump on things around here and start an Autumn 2011 topic, Tamara!   

I might be the only one posting there then! We have a mild Autumn in my area of the country anyway

[Larry Lyons]

Had to capture this through the bedroom window about an hour ago. I've never had one this close to the house. He was taking his meal. Hope it was one of those moles that wrecks our garden in the summer. The next 2 were taken yesterday.

I hate to rain on the parade, but that's a nice-looking Sharp-shinned Hawk you've got there.  Guess what they eat?  Hint, they don't go on all fours.  Voles are not on the menu.  I can't tell from the picture, but it almost looks like baby robin souffle.

Wally, I think it might be a Coopers Hawk. Its hard to tell, but it looks fairly large. They look almost alike, but Coopers are bigger than Sharpshinned. Coopers have a white nape according to Sibley. The one in the picture seems to fit the description. Both would enjoy a baby robin souffley.

I got a thrill a few days ago. Early one morning while driving, a bald eagle flew across the road in front of me just above the level of my car. I could clearly see his completly white head and his white tail feathers which were spread out as he flew down towards the river. Eagles are often seen around these parts but that was the first time I have actually seen one.

[Wally]

I guessed Sharp-shinned because of the squared off tail.  Female Sharp-shinned can be nearly as large as a male Cooper's.  Over the years I've found that size is tricky unless there is another bird nearby to compare it with.  I few weeks ago I saw a nice looking Cooper's flying across the road in front of me carrying a Rock Pigeon.  No problem with size comparison there.  Even so, it was struggling to carry the bird.  A pigeon is not that much smaller than a Cooper's.  That bird must have been really hungry.

Anyway, spring is not quite in earnest, yet.  I'm still seeing interesting winter birds, and only a few spring migrants.  1000 or more Canada Geese flying overhead yesterday was a good sign, though.

[Kelsy]

Larry's story reminded me of last year driving a country road early in the morning, when a huge bird, that to me looked like a very big Owl, dropped very low over a long line of bushes, growing by the pasture, and picked up a very wiggly long snake.  He  glided in front of my windshield, to the point I thought I was going to have him in my car with that dangling snake, his eyes looked like satellite dishes, that is what made me think it was an Owl, but I did not think Owls were out during the day..We have a lot of hawks, but none this size that I have seen.

[Richard Myers]

Owls will eat cats? Big cats or just the little ones? How about little dogs?

Spring is gone out in the West. We have flooding and snow! The poor fruit and nut trees. Winds have been very very strong. Lots of uprooted trees on houses.  Global warming seems to have been an error in judgment?

[Mimi]

House cats. I have had some taken and one grand escape that left a huge gaping wound on her back. Owls are lethal to house cats. We stopped replacing cats that were anything but Tabbies. They cannot be seen so well in the dark as white cats.

Sorry about the weather. We are a coming in at a sweltering 54 degrees right now. Glad I bought one last cord of wood. Typically May 15 is our latest freeze date and we always second guess it just to be nipped in the bud!

[Mimi]

The storms currently moving across the south are producing hail up to the size of grapefruit. Have we ever seen hail quite that large? Wow wee!

[Sister Dee]

Wow!  All we saw were a few drops of rain, and I mean that literally, when we were out driving. 

[Mimi]

The storms are in the deep south from Louisiana to the Atlantic.

[Sister Dee]

Oops!  I guess I took that too locally, didn't I?  Need to get more sleep.   

[Ed Sutton]

BTW from the feathers on the ground the hawk had a bird from mid air.  When linda moved around the trailer he was already in alert mode and flew off.   Wish it had been a mole.

Our peonies are coming up and the pansies refused to die overwinter despite tempratures in single digits.

[Vicki]

mmmm...I just got a whif of mother's peonies.

[Wally]

Spring has been postponed in this part of the country.  The worst storm of the "winter" is upon us.  Very heavy, wet snow, falling at 1-2" per hour.  7" so far, and more than a foot is expected.    About all it's good for is making snowmen and snowballs--but I'm too busy shoveling to do that. 

[Mimi]

Oh - I am so sorry! We are drier than powder here, warm, too. Bulbs and perennials and showing their little faces! How happy that makes us!