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I've got a fondness for Canadian Geese (no not that kind of fondness) > General, non-sequitur type statements re: local birds. e.g.: plastic alligators are not effective to scare away Canadian geese ... but may be effective in scaring away Canadians
message 51:
by
Cynthia
(new)
Dec 27, 2010 02:40PM
OK, I found out at the pet food store--It is a Flicker, not a Meadowlark.
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Flicker? I hardly know'er! (too tired for a new joke)
I've always loved that painting of dogs playing poker.
Jonathan wrote: "I've always loved that painting of dogs playing poker."Yeah, it's much classier than the one on black velvet.
Try relaxing at Lake Sammamish, about 30 minutes east of downtown Seattle. ICKY ICKY GOOSE POOP!Beautiful lake and scenery, if the geese would leave...
Stacia (impatient for Shadowfever) wrote: "Yeah, it's much classier than the one on black velvet."It's called "A Bold Bluff" and was painted by an American artist named Cassius Marcellus Coolidge (1844-1934), who did quite a few pictures featuring anthropomorphic dogs--dogs playing poker, dogs arguing a case in court, dogs playing baseball--a theme that may have come to him as an offshoot of his early career as a decorator of carnival midways and fairgrounds.
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Say what you want. I'm still fond.
I wish someone would post a photo of Flickers, they are good looking. The male has a mustache marking, the female does not.
Here's a flicker. Sorry for the delay.[image error]
Oh, sorry, wrong pic. Here it is for real.
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Like he's some kind of bad ass Harley bird.
Aren't they pretty? They must be related to Woodpeckers. The woodpeckers seem to be tanking up on the suet as well.
Canada geese are horrible birds, and I wish Barb would come get them all and take them home where they belong!In NE Ohio, we have killdeer, cardinals, titmice (both tufted and non), chickadees, sparrows, wrens, blackbirds, grackles, crows, hawks, wild turkeys, bluejays and finches (house and gold).
Gail "cyborg" wrote: "Would an Eastern Spine Bill distract you Jim. We have these in my garden. They are one of my favourite birds. "
Thanks Gail, that distracted me perfectly.
Cynthia wrote: "Is anyone else getting lots of Meadowlarks at the bird feeder? I have been, ever since I put out a block of suet. They are BIG birds."I've never seen a Meadowlark in winter Cynthia.
Cynthia wrote: "OK, I found out at the pet food store--It is a Flicker, not a Meadowlark."Shouldn't have responded so quickly I guess. Yes we get Flickers at the feeders, and they are a big bird.
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::Sings "I've got a fondness" to the tune of that insipid Black Eyed Peas song.::
We have flickers here, Northern Flickers, and they are really pretty. Here's one in the tree next door to my old house:
That's a great picture, Jackie. I'm not sure if we get Flickers here. If we do, I can't recall ever seeing one.
You get cardinals, and we don't, Jonathan, so it evens out.
No cardinals in the Northwest? I had no idea.
I can't believe that the robins haven't left Omaha yet. I saw a bunch of them today feeding on ornamental pears.
No cardinals, and I'm very sad about that. No plain old blue jays in the northwest, either. We have Stellar's jays and scrub jays.
I loved living in Texas - soooo many birds there, it being so central, and so southern, too. So you'd get some exotic stuff like green jays, and pyrrhuloxia:
Not my picture, but I wish it was.
That looks similar to the Cedar Waxwing that we get around here in addition to the Cardinals.[image error]
I've never seen either of these before, I don't think. Beautiful birds.
I love cedar waxwings, and their whispery little thweets, Jim. They migrate through here, in their flocks, and I notice them first by hearing them. Pyrrhuloxia are kind of reverse image cardinal, and really cute!
They are a very neat looking bird Jackie. I will also hear Cardinals before I ever see them in the summer time, as they sit at the very top of trees and sing.
Cardinals, in pairs. Flickers, in packs.
Cardinals in the evergreen during a snowfall, magical. Wish a photograph would do it justice.
Very nice, Sally, but I still loathe Canada gooseses. ;)
I mean, the poop is everywhere but it's not smelly. They put plastic alligators in the lagoon to scare the Canada geese away. It did not work so don't try this at home.
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hey, is everything I write here going to end up in the title? That would be so cool!dang, the pressure's gotten to me.
uhh...
There were "too many" Canada geese here in Washington state, according to people who didn't like all the green poop everywhere, like all over the grass at the University of Washington, and all over the beaches. Admittedly, there was a LOT, and it is gross and slimy to step in. They weren't migrating and flying away, they were just living here, more and more of them.So, there have been measures to reduce their numbers. Egg addling. Rounding them up and gassing them to death (no, I'm not kidding). And scaring them away with herder dogs, the method I'm most in favor of.
People scare me more than alligators sometimes.
I think they tried the dogs, too. Only I don't think they just "herded" them back to Canada.
I saw an idiot shoot an arrow through the neck of one by Lake Sammamish. Didn't kill it right off -- he just tossed the still-struggling bird in the back of his pick-up truck. Hey dude, if you're going to do illegal hunting, at least make sure the animal is dead.
Jackie and Phil, I was under the impression that Canada geese are protected, i.e. it's a federal crime to kill them. Golf courses here use herding dogs to keep the geese from nesting, because that's when the geese are mean and a danger to people, but of course cemeteries can't have dogs running around, so there tends to be goose poo everywhere in cemeteries with ponds.
I called the police when I saw the archer, but they didn't care. It was after a big snowstorm hit Seattle, and I was one of maybe 12 people who made it to work that day. I was looking out my office window when I saw the shot.
It doesn't look like it, Jammies. This is what it says on the Audubon website:Conservation of Canada Geese is difficult since one of the subspecies found in Washington is so abundant it is controlled as a nuisance (B.c. moffitti) while the others are less numerous.
And this:
Many people consider Canada Geese a nuisance, and their droppings (each birds leaves up to three pounds of droppings a day) have forced closures of beaches, athletic fields, and other recreational areas. Within the past few years, control measures have included egg shaking and oiling, relocating, and even killing large numbers of geese. These stopgap measures, however, only temporarily reduce the urban populations, which rebound as long as they have abundant habitat and food.
http://www.seattleaudubon.org/birdweb...
