He's a handsome fellow.
Posted on 05/22/2006 6:35:26 AM PDT by girlangler
That's a relief, especially considering hunters' money was used to purchase the wildlife refuges in this country.
Birders, AR activists, Sierra Clubbers, none of these contribute a dime to the purchase and maintenance of these PUBLIC lands. Grrrrrrrrrr
Ping
Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence............
From another News source:
No Sign of Woodpecker
Searchers were unable, this week to spot any sign of the ivory-billed woodpecker discovered last year in a remote Arkansas area. Speculation about the fate of the bird, perhaps the last example of a species thought to be extinct was ended this afternoon.
As soon as the first reports of the ivory-billed woodpecker came in, it was shot by a guy living in a shack. When interviewed, he said, "I always did want to see what one a' them things tasted like.
Travis "Toad" McAlester, who has lived on the border of this wilderness area, is an avid hunter, and has a life-long dream of dining on unusual animals. "Dang," he continued, "if it didn't taste just like them spotted owls I et up last summer. Waste of my damn time."
Heck, we all kow what has happened here..........its a bg conspiracy by the timber interests. They paid a few crackers to go in there with their shotguns and kill all peckerwoods so they can be allowed to come in and clear cut the forest. Those 1000 yr old cypresses will make a lot of garden mulch.
If the Ivory Bill likes the same habitat that the Pileated Woodpecker likes, they should look in SE Tennessee. Pileated Woodpeckers are thick around here. I see them every day.
Thanks for the ping.
unknown unknowns or known unknowns or known knowns
"Reports that say something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know,"
"We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know."
--Don Rumsfeld--
I have seen Pileated on my land....and heard them. I will be listening for the Ivory Bill! Not far from Louisanna here in E TX.
As soon as I get in the area, I'm going to rush right over there and catch some nice fish in that shallow water. Maybe I'll catch a few cottonmouths too.
I see a lot of the Pileated peckers too where I am (upper east TN/Ky border. I saw one yesterday.
The neat thing is I have an upper deck on my house and so when on the deck I am level with the tree tops. I have huge trees in my yard.
So it is a neat place for bird watching.
Watch out billhilly, cottonmouths are probably endangered or threatened species in that area.
Rattlesnakes and copperheads are endangered (or threatened, species can't remember) here in Tennessee, so it's illegal to kill them (although this law is loosely enforced). And we have plenty sightings of these critters.
A few years ago I received a news release from the state wildlife agency and it had info about a man who was arrested for poaching bears. Agency officials also found more than 100 poisonous snakes in his freezer.
I was perplexed -- why would anybody keep all those snakes in the freezer. So I called the agency and was told the man was very "religious."
Turns out he was one of those preachers at these snake handling churches we have up here (yes, they are all over east TN and southerneastern KY). He would just thaw his out and shake 'em around in front of his flock of worshipers. A cheater, so to speak ;)This is a true story.
What are some of the birds you attract to your yard? I have a lot of them too, and put out feeders so I can enjoy them.
Dove
Sparrow
Tufted Titmouse
Chickadee
Gold Finch
Red Finch
Bluejay
Robin
Cardinal
Woodpecker(s)
Catbird
Hummingbird
Blackbird
Hawk(s)
Crow
Bluebird
Nuthatch
Wren
There are several more birds which appear here at different times of year.
Wow billhilly.
I'm an amateur bird watcher, really got interested in watching them last June when I moved here. My top deck of my house is in the treetops and being out there is like being in their livingroom.
I don't know what kinds I have, I haven't looked them up. However, I do see a lot of hummingbirds (I have four feeders) and plant flowers that attract them. I have a pair of HUGE woodpeckers with red on their heads and they are black/grey (I am assuming they are Pileated).
I have lots of robins, bluejays, and I could hold a governor's dove hunt here, right at the deer corn feeder:)
Lots of little finches and crows, several hawks, and some big barren owls.
Last Summer I'd sit with my dog Lucy out on that deck in the darkness, and the owls would fly right up to the deck and perch in a tree. Once, it was really quiet and dark, and suddenly a huge WHOOOOO right up close.
Scared me and Lucy so bad we both jumped up.
I planted a mini food plot also out at the deer feeder, and another open area outside the woods, where the deer also feed and I can watch them through the livingroom windows.
Since I keep corn out there there are a lot of birds. I looked out the window once and my cat was lurking behind a tree waiting on a victim, and suddenly a deer comes in to feed.
My tomcat came walking out in front of the deer, like he was bad or something,then the deer started stomping one hoof on the ground.
The cat skedadled.
Wish I'd had a video camera going.
Sounds similar to where we're are. We live on the Cumberland Plateau about 30 miles due north of 'Nooga. I included a small deck off of my master bath, also "in the treetops". I put up a couple of feeders mid-ways up in the tree next to the house and I get a much wider variety of visitors here than at the lower feeders, including a couple of different small woodpeckers.
That sounds so neat. As a lifetime hunter, who lost his shooting eye, I find an enormous amount of pleasure in watching the birds and animals, as I did when hunting.
We also have a cat who fancies herself a hunter. A couple of days ago I heard a bird screeching, and I ran and saw a female cardinal in her mouth. I raced toward her, yelling for her to release the bird but she just ran around the neighbors fence with the bird screeching. A big bluejay got involved, and if you have never seen them attack a predator, you would be amazed. A moment l;ater, my cat was sitting on the ground peering up at the neighbors garden house, where the cardinal was sitting on the roof.
Yesterday I stopped her from tormenting a chipmunk. she was not happy with me when the chipmunk ran away to freedom.
My cat Tsali, named for the Cherokee Indian who ran into the Smokies and is the father of the Cherokees in the reservation here in the Smokies (the rest were marched to Oklahoma)thinks he is a cougar.
He is great at keeping the field mice at bay. He also has his share of chipmunk kills in his surrounding territory.
Lucy (bird dog) drug a possum up on the deck a few days ago. I thought it was dead, got her away from it, then looked out the window and the thing looked around and sauntered off (guess that's what they mean by playing possum).
Yes big bluejays are fierce. And what we call catbirds, they'll swoop down and attack a cat -- its hilarious to watch.
Peck a cat right on the head.
Tsali has a fragile ego to start with. It's hard coming down from being a cougar to a danged BIRD pecking the crap out of you. I've had some fun watching him adjust to his new home in the woods (we moved from a house in town). Tsali is nine years old, a big, neutered fat cat.
You'll never convince that old boy he aint no cougar :)
You need to put a bell on your cat. It's more sporting that way.
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