Hi all:
Lindybird: I responded to your post at the end of the last Weekly Chat.
Well, it's just about stopped raining and our TV weatherman has just declared "an historic rain event" for October. Well, in such a young country, it doesn't take much to be historic.... :-)
Gary: TWO leaf blowers? Do you wield them both at the same time?
Oh my. It's 3:30 in the morning in the UK and our stag is honking around the woods - can't see him but sure can hear him... Ah, just saw the tail end of either a stag or doe moving across the field of vision. And there was a high-pitched shriek - a Sika deer perhaps?
Cirrus: Oh...so so sad about Hix. I love the big ol' Great Horned Owls, but they can be quite lethal, and they don't have our sensibilities when they pick their prey. :-(
Everybody: This is a wonderful page by a good organization. Scroll down to find a really nice close-up video of a Great Horned Owl making various calls. http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/indiana/misc/art23682.html
Here are some interesting facts about Great Horned Owls:
- They take life-long mates.
- They are often called "the tigers of the sky” because of their aggressive nature and ability to capture prey much larger than themselves.
- They are the only animal that commonly eats skunks!
- Groups of owls have many names, such as "a wisdom of owls", "a bazaar of owls", "a glaring of owls", or "a parliament of owls".
- The talons of this owl can extend to a diameter of 4x8 inches.
- The flight of the Great Horned Owl is swift and silent. The wing’s feathers are comb-like with a soft fringe that reduces the sound of air rushing through them.
- Their large ears, covered by special feathers, allow the owl to hear even the smallest sound (like a mouse squeaking) up to 900 feet away!
- Great Horned Owls start nesting in January, raise their families in the dead of winter, and care for their young late into fall, sometimes as late as October. Stay away from young owls and their nests because Great Horned Owls are not afraid to attack if the family is threatened.
My owl post was long! Sorry, everyone. I get a little carried away about the big guys.
Hi, Annette. A Sika deer? Is that what that strange shrieking noise is? I wondered whether it was some kind of screech owl. But I didn't know.
I hope you and your home are safe. The rain sounds torrential where you are. Let me know if you need me to borrow a tractor and pull you and your house out of the mud? Seriously, stay safe.
Good afternoon 2.25 pm. Cool day 14 C. Lots of rain in the Adelaide Hills yesterday, up to 3 inches in some places. We had less than ½ inch. More water is being released from a reservoir - first time it has been full for 4 years. But still no lifting of water restrictions as the reservoirs do not hold enough to supply population. We rely on the River Murray which, experts say, needs 3,000 gigalitres to restore it to health. Recently 14 gigalitres were released into the Coorong. Oh so little. Too bad they can't send the water that is flowing out to sea, back over the hills to the Murray.
Thanks Tish, OG, AnnaBanana, Birdwater and anyone else I have forgotten. I've caught up with your comments on my pics. Yes, Tish, we still have water restrictions - see above. This year some plants in the garden were the best ever, thanks to the buckets of grey water from the washing machine !!!!
OG. I dislike the preening & posing of presenters too and I often decide not to watch some TV programs because I can't bear the presenter. Why can't they let the scenery, or the wildlife or whatever, speak for itself. Look at how much enjoyment we get from a single osprey nest.
This morning as I opened the door to pick up the paper, our 2 nearly-tame Pacific black ducks rushed over calling for breakfast. No sign of their offspring. Last summer we had two visiting the back door. Then one day there were four; the next day none. I wonder if the parents were introducing their young to the local 'soup kitchen' - "This is where you come for free handouts, kids."
Last night (our time) on the NF site I saw my first stag - he was sitting down, bother him. Oh well, patience, maybe later on I shall be lucky.
aquilareen: I usually see the stag just before dawn and at twilight (UK time). You might look for him then. Poor fella is limping a bit. Feed those Pacific Black Ducks a good snack -- just because they are so cute!
Diane: Re that shriek. I'm not at all sure, but if you go to the NF website and play the Sika deer sound sample, it's peculiarly high-pitched. But it could just as well have been an owl. I really don't know... Re the silence of owls, my sister said the local villagers where she lives tell a tale about a highly spooky sight - a ghostly, silent, figure emerging from a bush and gliding across the lane one night some years back. Her theory is that it was an owl, which - apparently - can take off in a sort of sideways motion and, as you pointed out, are totally silent. (But when I was out walking at dusk one evening during last year's visit, I confess I speeded up going past that spot!)
Hey AQ: We had some wonderful rain here - washed away all the ash from the fires and the normal accumulation of summer-long dust, so everything fresh and squeaky clean. I was online at 9 a.m. (I think) our time today and the stag and does were all over the place; he's a noisy fella.
Diane! I just downloaded La Mer, the original recording by Charles Trenet - and managed to get it to play on my MP3 player! I ended up getting it from Audio Lunchbox; don't know why the one I downloaded from iTunes wouldn't play, but never mind. Now I can listen to this (along with Bill Haley and Chuck Berry and others) - at the gym. Really did love "Mr. Bean's Holiday."
Good Day/Night Everyone!
Annette: Yes, that is Bob Anderson on the Raptor Force film both climbing the stack and also present for all the bird test flights. I haven't seen any of the Mr. Bean films and must do that, possibly as the chilly winter months force me indoors. I don't know if you've ever seen the program Rowan Atkinson Live but he performs a series of sketches and the one where he portrays how to do Shakespearean type acting always sends me in to fits of laughter. You know I've always thought Bill Haley and the Comets were under rated. What a great band, really tight and their musicality was out of this world.
Diane: Thanks so much for the G.H. Owl link! Do you watch the owl cam out at Colorado State?