Paranoid Sparrows And A Man Named Cecil

Doing a good deed with no expectation of gratitude or anything else. Better if you are caught out by accident

True. The selfish side of me is happy to have a potential source of fire wood for years into the future.

Yesterday was a good day...............3 full truckloads of oak.

Part of the reason for my semi-bizarre post last night, is that I was thinking about what it says in the link here. If it's all true, it's shameful.

http://cr4.globalspec.com/comment/841526/Re-Will-Lack-Of-Water-Be-Our-Undoing

I figured out what was wrong with the bird. For each of the previous generations, the light on the other side of the door was a 60 watt incandescent. This year I switched it out with a 100 watt equivalent CFL. It temporarily blinded the bird and it was bouncing off the wall. It really got bad when I turned the light off, after having it on for about an hour. I need to downgrade my bulb. I needed an excuse anyway...................it's too bright for me too.

See, even certified bird brains don't like CFLs.

I have to admit, it's pretty darned bright...........................after it warms up for half an hour. The front porch is my drinking area. If I accidentally look directly at the light, I've been known to walk into the wall too.

Here's a picture of the 7th generation birds nest...........................and the cat that sits underneath it every year, waiting for the hatchlings. If I don't happen to be home when they leave the nest, it's carnage.

Are those massive runs I see behind the light???????????????????

Yeah. Along with overspray and a big holiday.

I should be out of the inside of the house in a couple of months. Kitchen is plumbed, wired, sheetrocked and ready to hang cabinets.

Outside is next. The crap masonite siding is getting replaced with hardy plank. I gave it a quicky spray job because the original blue paint had faded out to light purple. It looked like one of those houses you see on the outskirts of Vegas.

I'm sure the birds don't care.

I haven't been to Vegas since it's had an outskirt.

The birds don't get seriously freaked out until the chicks are getting ready to leave the nest and the cat sits directly under the light and waits for them to drop. I try to make sure I'm around the house when the time comes. She doesn't understand that eating little birds isn't the same as eating mice and wood rats.

"She doesn't understand that eating little birds isn't the same as eating mice and wood rats."

Neither do I. What's the difference?

Same reason we can kill thousands of tuna, but if one dolphin dies it's tragedy.

Oh,

That is a fine reason.

For a minute there, I forgot who was in really in charge.

You sure about that? She understands they taste better then the mice and wood rats. And the young birds are tender. Noticed the feral cats kept here will kill the mice and rats but won't eat them. They will eat a bird they kill.

My cat doesn't seem to care. It's a strictly outdoor cat. She'll take down a squirrel and eat the entire thing, (bones and all), and leave nothing but the tail.

Yeah I know the type. Brought one back from West Texas with me many years ago that only occasionally would eat cat food there. Here on the east coast he had a smorgasbord to choose from. Seen him many times enjoying a meal with blood not his own from ear to ear.

.....jus sayin'....

I'd prefer that she didn't kill the squirrels, but they are getting smarter and she is getting older, so her kill rate has dropped off severely. Fortunately she prefers the rats and mice. Less work. She can find a little trail that they use and lay in wait, all day long.

Corrupt politicians and bankers going to prison. Sorry, I'm dreaming.

More seriously, that nirvana/serendipitous moment when you realize the answer to a problem. It could be solving an engineering problem, or coming to terms with bereavment. The latter one added to suggest 'good' is a relative term.

The question is a tad off topic, but what they hey, it's weekend. You make some good points, although I might make some ceveats to them. Civility cost nothing, but it has great value. I'd be interested in hearing more, but I think it's too far off CR4's scope.

Have a great day, kramarat, but this discussion is not for me. It might be better to express your thoughts on your profile. This thread may go down the road of deletion (It happens ), but I can see nothing wrong with you posting the gist of that to your profile.

I don't think it's worthy of deletion.......................but quickly snatched from the front page? Yep.

There's nothing wrong with a good snatch. Breaking news is always good to hear. Not that it's 'good news', more that CR4 can act as a bulletin board. Another story hitting the headlines here is a jet crashing in Virginia . It's all off topic, but CR4 is surprisingly good at spreding news.

I think everyone is getting war weary.......................I know I am.

From what I understand, no one was seriously injured in the jet crash. At least that I know of. It must have been a catastrophic failure for them to eject over a populated area, but they had time to dump the fuel first. It could have been a lot worse.

Yeah, that U.S Navy F/A-18D Hornet crash in Virginia Beach could have been much much worse. Apparently there was a major malfunction on take-off and they quickly dumped the fuel and rode it down until the last second to insure it didn't cause more damage. Wiped out a bunch of apartments though and 6 people had minor injuries. From what I saw on the news this morning the student pilot and the seasoned check ride pilot suffered the worse from the ejection. From what I remember of the short emergency training session I had before going on a flight in a F-16D Fighting Falcon with my cousin, a human being can experience around 25G's on ejection......it's very violent and you will get beat up badly, especially if you're flying fast. There's lot's of spinal compression, neck injuries, and broken bones if you fail to tuck in your legs and arms + force your head into the seat's headrest when that ejection handle is pulled.

I've been to Oceana NAS in Virginia Beach several times during regular work days (not at their annual open house airshow) and there's jets always taking off and landing all the time. At the time, the Navy was still flying F-14D Tomcats + the Hornets. Between the eastern end of the major runway and the beach there's a lot of residential and commercial properties.....I'm not surprised that any crash would not be serious. This particular crash outcome was nothing less then miraculous.

The sparrow was so much a part of our life in my childhood that its disappearance from Bangalore a few years ago left me wondering what had changed...till the nickel dropped ... no sparrows any more !!! What a tragedy..my mother had taught me that the sparrow hopping around in the sunbeams in the house was a harbinger of good fortune. So no more good fortune for Bangalore !

Thankfully, many right-thinking people have started movements to bring back the sparrow. Thank God.

http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/metroplus/article2928041.ece

I wonder if the lights at the airport have anything to do with it?

As I found out last night, they are very affected by light. When I turned the bright light off, the bird started bouncing off the window............like it was trying to get to the light inside the house. I had to physically pick it up and set it back on it's nest.

This morning, both male and female are just outside and doing fine.

It's crunch time. The parents are completely freaking out. I've got to work tomorrow, so if they don't get out of the nest today...................they're cat food.