Hi All:
jsb: At the end of the previous Weekly Chat are two responses to your posting about the birds with French accents. One is from me and not especially profound. The other is from Diane, and reads as follows : Lovely article. I always have two pairs of house wrens (known as jenny wrens here) who return about the same time in the spring. Even though both females are house wrens, I can always tell which bird is singing, no matter where they are. I don't know whether the slight difference is because they winter in different regions or because individual wrens have distinct sounds. I always put up houses for them, but, this year, one pair decided that it would be more fun to nest in the nook above my propane gas tank, where the dials and controls are. So I had to fiercely guard the nest from the gas company employees who periodically check the gas levels. The gas company guys think I'm looney but they didn't dare to defy me and bother the wrens!
Everyone: AQ posted this one: Adelaide 10.50 am 12 C. Pumpkin soup for lunch thanks to friend giving me 2 large butternuts. Today is the Bay to Birdwood Classic for cars 1956-1977. Once upon a time they left from Glenelg (the Bay), but lack of space means they now leave from West Beach (2 km north). They travel about 70 km (44 miles) to Birdwood in the Adelaide Hills where there is a Motor Museum. Next year is the run for the Vintage cars (pre-1956). A picnic day. A bit chilly today but not as chilly as Wattle's.
And Teresa had this tip: If you delete something by mistake it is worth holding the Ctrl key down and clicking on Z. In lots of instances it undoes your last action - not always though but still worth a try.
AQ and Teresa: Hope it was okay to copy and paste your comments on this page - didn't want anyone to miss them.
Me too!!!
Unknown said: Just watched the preview for the ken burns program and was just wandering if it might be shown at sometime on Discovery over here as it looks as if it will be a wonderful series. The BBC did a program about Yellowstone a while back and you could put Scotland in the area of just one of your National Parks. It is only now that the politicians in this country are realising how important it is to look after the wild areas of a country so that nature gets a chance. I think they are also realising that the seas around our country also require to be looked after and they are discussing making some parts conservation areas so I hope they will stop speaking and act quickly before the wildlife in them becomes extinct.
Just watched the preview for the ken burns program and was just wandering if it might be shown at sometime on Discovery over here as it looks as if it will be a wonderful series. The BBC did a program about Yellowstone a while back and you could put Scotland in the area of just one of your National Parks. It is only now that the politicians in this country are realising how important it is to look after the wild areas of a country so that nature gets a chance. I think they are also realising that the seas around our country also require to be looked after and they are discussing making some parts conservation areas so I hope they will stop speaking and act quickly before the wildlife in them becomes extinct.
I don't honestly know if the Ken Burns film will be shown elsewhere on the telly. I know there is a very large book with lovely phoots and DVDs for sale at this point in time but not much else. Maybe you might have some luck finding the DVDs second hand at later date on Amazon.com or Ebay?
Cirrus
My link for Pete's Pond is
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/wildcamafrica/
Use whatever talent you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sing the best.- Henry Van ***
Annette
Thanks for that. I'll give it a try. Otherwise it takes ages. Tish X
Everything in life is speaking in spite of its apparent silence.
Hey, Annette. The fat little bird who is spraying your seed all about is probably looking for flavorful bugs or worms in the seed, rather than the seed itself.
Also, I don't know a lot about this but I think that Afke is the camera woman at Pete's Pond. She is the one in charge of the panning. She might leave if the camera panning function is broken. Or maybe other camera people broke the camera in her absence, and she isn't available to fix it. If I remember correctly, she recently rescued a mongoose, and they have had some talk on the Facebook site about the release of the mongoose back among its own kind into the wild, but I haven't really kept up with the saga. I know that she apologized at one point because the noise of the curious, busy little mongoose was coming across on the webcam.
Good Day All!
Very windy and cool here in Chicago today. Temps have dropped enormously in 24 hours down to 16c with wind speeds of 20-30 mph with gusts to 45 mph. I do wish those Canadians would keep their cold air and winds to themselves! =O) Winds makes me worry about my young American Kestrel friend, he's only 3 -5 months old. So young and inexperienced he is, I hope he is faring well in this weather.
I am so happy to share the Rogers video with all of you. I was introduced to it in HD and had much trouble viewing it with many stops and starts so finding it on YouTube last night was ideal. I love that the Hawk she is about to release at 4:52 - 4:56 is holding her glove in its beak. So sweet.........
Cirrus: The URL for Pete's Pond is http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/wildcamafrica/
I loved your story about seeing the "large very black something" crossing the track you were walking along and possibly hunting the deer. I recently watched a TV show (I think on National Geographic or Discovery or History Channel -- one of those) that talked about a widely reported, ongoing legend of very large black wild cats throughout the UK -- something similar to our cougars/mountain lions/pumas or bobcats in the US. Some people didn't take it seriously and treated the idea like a bigfoot legend. But others had some pretty good evidence that these cats do exist. I don't know; I've never been to the UK. I do know that we have big wild cats in areas of the US outside of their known range. I don't know whether the growing populations are the result of the breeding of discarded pets. Hope you are doing well.
Oh, sooo sorry Teresa. You already gave Cirrus the URL. You are so very good about helping people. Bless your heart! You're a good person.
Diane: I think you're right about Afke, she seems to be on Facebook a lot with the Pete's Pond followers.
My sister in Lincolnshire has talked about "large black cats" on the loose in the UK.
Hi Tish! Also still wondering if Maureen is about or if she won the lottery and is on a sunny beach somewhere or off chasing down Garten!
Does anyone have any clue as to when GE is scheduled to update these days?
Caerann: I was in Chicago one November and was reminded of how I used to walk in England during the cold weather: Sideways against the wind with face all scrunched up!
Do you think Rothes will run into Bing, Bob, and Dorothy? (Oh, we're off on the road to Morocco.....)