Official Bird & Nature Post

Woke AF

Tom Curren status
Jul 29, 2009
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Southern Tip, Norcal
Whoa, really?

Had not heard that, but twice so far in the last 20+ years, have seen a Red-tail Hawk swoop down and nab a pocket gopher from the green verge as I was pulling off the wetsuit. Those hawks seem most habituated to humans and often set up shop on the street lights. Heck, if I had a small purse dog, I don't know if I'd let it run around off leash when the hawks are there.

View attachment 115882
Yeah, also on the GH I saw a hawk swoop down and land right next to a toddler. The parents were a hundred yards down the road while the kid and the hawk just stared at each other. The hawk was about half the size of the kid. I was watching and was going to intervene but neither the kid nor the hawk advanced on each other but both seemed kinda mesmerized. The parents were clueless and never knew it happened.

Luckily we have no local eagles!

 

ghostshaper

Phil Edwards status
Jan 22, 2005
6,244
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1134
Yeah, also on the GH I saw a hawk swoop down and land right next to a toddler. The parents were a hundred yards down the road while the kid and the hawk just stared at each other. The hawk was about half the size of the kid. I was watching and was going to intervene but neither the kid nor the hawk advanced on each other but both seemed kinda mesmerized. The parents were clueless and never knew it happened.

Luckily we have no local eagles!

Pretty sure that video is an admitted fake by some film students.

Did a workshop in the bay area. Had a lecture by a park ranger at golden gate park. Boring geology content (no offense kento, if you're reading), saw a great blue heron run down a grassy hill. Then saw kids running behind it, and figured it was running from them. Gbh bends down and pulled a gopher out of a hole in the grass, and flew over our group.
 
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Bud

Nep status
Apr 20, 2001
908
779
93
Oahu
www.808surfer.com
^ How old is that thing? Didn't know they could get that big. Biggest I've ever seen was maybe 6-8" across.
Do you feed it goldfish or Koi?
I thought it was a tortoise at first. About 3 months ago I went out to see why my dogs were going nuts, they had it trapped (fierce turtle hunters they be) in the back yard. I was blown away. Reviewed my security cam recordings and middle of the day from out of nowhere it was literally walking down the street, turned left into my driveway and squeezed under my gate, went around to the back until the hellhounds found it. With the recording sped up, it looked like a giant alien tick creeping up my driveway. Over the next few days, shot a group text to about 6 of my neighbors and a craigslist ad, nobody was missing a huge semi aquatic freshwater turtle (plenty on craigslist wanted to come get it though). A few days of internet crash coursing on red eared sliders, named him Truman (as in the Truman Show movie because we have the camera on him) and started building the 125 gallon water park with the Skull Island Walls. He likes to eat red leaf lettuce, turtle pellets and small children probably
 

Hump

Phil Edwards status
Jan 10, 2002
5,910
2,130
113
Vancouver Island
Every year the Pink salmon return to the Quinsam river here, main tributary of the Campbell and one of my friends tries to get neat photos of them.

Here's one.
KarensPinkQuinsam.jpg

Naturally, when one has a large number of salmon in a small river, critters that like to eat salmon show up.

Couple shots of one of them.
QuinsamBear.jpg

With his buddy, the Crow, who is hoping for some scraps.

QuinsamBearCrow.jpg

And chowing down.

QuinsamBearEating.jpg




Take care.
 

Hump

Phil Edwards status
Jan 10, 2002
5,910
2,130
113
Vancouver Island
Forgot to give photo credit to my friend, Karen Wasilenchuk, Miss Campbell River in 1966 and still kind of cute at 72.

Goofing around in her '40's look.

Karen40sLook.jpg




Take care.
 

kelly7873

Nep status
Jan 20, 2002
837
356
63
Honolulu
I thought it was a tortoise at first. About 3 months ago I went out to see why my dogs were going nuts, they had it trapped (fierce turtle hunters they be) in the back yard. I was blown away. Reviewed my security cam recordings and middle of the day from out of nowhere it was literally walking down the street, turned left into my driveway and squeezed under my gate, went around to the back until the hellhounds found it. With the recording sped up, it looked like a giant alien tick creeping up my driveway. Over the next few days, shot a group text to about 6 of my neighbors and a craigslist ad, nobody was missing a huge semi aquatic freshwater turtle (plenty on craigslist wanted to come get it though). A few days of internet crash coursing on red eared sliders, named him Truman (as in the Truman Show movie because we have the camera on him) and started building the 125 gallon water park with the Skull Island Walls. He likes to eat red leaf lettuce, turtle pellets and small children probably
Truman is a female.
 
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kelly7873

Nep status
Jan 20, 2002
837
356
63
Honolulu
Thicker longer tail would mean male but I can't see its tail in the photo. A male also has freakishly long claws in the front which I don't see. Males tend to get dark and lose their pattern as they they older, yours has an excellent pattern. I'm mostly going by its size, males seldom get bigger then 8". One more thing to check is its plastron (belly), males are concave, females are flat or convex.
 

Hump

Phil Edwards status
Jan 10, 2002
5,910
2,130
113
Vancouver Island
Back when I was married we had a pond in our backyard with fish and two turtles.
One was a wild Painted turtle that was found in the bush near Comox by kids of friends of ours who took it home.
The parents recalled our pond so brought it over and it took up residence and lived happily for a couple of years. Then, other friends gave us a full-grown Red-Eared Slider that had been human raised and was hand-friendly. We put it in with the wild one and they seemed to co-exist fine for several years.

It was interesting to hand-feed the tame one and see the wild one slowly sidle in close enough that I could toss it a piece and it would cautiously edge over and grab it.

They would sometimes scrap a bit over the optimum spot on the sunning rock, with the established one pushing the other off with a rear leg when it tried to scrabble up onto the rock. It was fun to watch their battles and strategy.

The weirdest thing happened in 2011, the year the marriage ended, as it was usually into March or even April before the turtles first climbed up to sun themselves, as it was then, except the turtles that climbed on the rock that year were not the same two that had been in the pond previously.

Somehow, the wild Painted one had left the pond and found its way off our property, which was interesting as it was all fenced in, and a new and smaller Red-Eared Slider had entered the pond and taken up residence. I searched every inch of that pond and could not find the wild one, nor was it anywhere on the property.

I'm still puzzled by that and, as I sold the place a couple of months later, never did find out what happened.

Interesting critters.




PondBackside.jpg




Take care.
 

ringer

Tom Curren status
Aug 2, 2002
11,341
612
113
Huntington Beach, California
Every year the Pink salmon return to the Quinsam river here, main tributary of the Campbell and one of my friends tries to get neat photos of them.

Here's one.
View attachment 116019

Naturally, when one has a large number of salmon in a small river, critters that like to eat salmon show up.

Couple shots of one of them.
View attachment 116020

With his buddy, the Crow, who is hoping for some scraps.

View attachment 116021

And chowing down.

View attachment 116022




Take care.
Those are great.
 
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Hump

Phil Edwards status
Jan 10, 2002
5,910
2,130
113
Vancouver Island
For those of you who fish for salmon, here's the link to my annual thread on one of my fishing sites you might enjoy.

Somehow I've developed a fan club which is somewhat humbling as I'm just a hack who likes to "talk story", but it is nice to get some positive feedback when you write stories and such. Ask any writer.

Anyway, hope you enjoy this.





Take care.
 

Woke AF

Tom Curren status
Jul 29, 2009
11,439
7,754
113
Southern Tip, Norcal
For those of you who fish for salmon, here's the link to my annual thread on one of my fishing sites you might enjoy.

Somehow I've developed a fan club which is somewhat humbling as I'm just a hack who likes to "talk story", but it is nice to get some positive feedback when you write stories and such. Ask any writer.

Anyway, hope you enjoy this.





Take care.
Who would have guessed that Hump would be The Sensual Writer?

But it does make sense in retrospect
:cheers:
 

SrPato

Miki Dora status
Jul 12, 2005
4,962
1,220
113
San Buena Ventura
This male House Finch was hopping around trying to look up under all the ladies skirts.





Sadly, we found a dead one in our water fountain Saturday morning. First time in 20 years of owning bird fountains that we've discovered a dead bird in it. I drained and flushed the fountain, then refilled it and the birds have returned. Anyone ever have this happen?