Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Friday, November 25. 2016

Thanksgiving raptors


It's still raptor migration time here. Seen overhead in the past three days: Bald Eagle, Red Tail, Rough Legged, and a couple of Sharpies. One of the Sharpies was eating a pigeon on my front lawn. This guy yesterday seemed to be enjoying the smell of my grilling turkey (OK, it's probably a Cooper's Hawk. We ararely see, much less get to photo, a Cooper's):



Posted by Bird Dog in Natural History and Conservation at 04:04 | Comments (10) | Trackbacks (0)

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I know you hate cats. However, we live in the woods and have had two to several cats for over 30 years. We also have had at least one bird feeder that whole time. The younger cats (say 1 to 3) do hunt and even sometimes catch birds, more often mice of some kind. Over the whole 30 years or so, our feeder attracted some two to three dozen bird species. We've had as many as eight male cardinals at the feeder at any one time.

We did, that is. A year ago, a sharpie moved into our neighbor and pretty much cleaned out the local bird population. I haven't seen a cardinal since last spring, and even the crows don't stop by anymore. I used to fill the feeder (an nice squirrel-proof one) twice a week. Now I fill it every other week.

I would kill the sharpie were it not a protected species.
#1 bob sykes on 2016-11-25 07:15 (Reply)
Your redtails prob. do migrate. In winter, you prob have birds from the north. Their populations shift South.
#1.1 Bird Dog on 2016-11-25 08:06 (Reply)
I actually didn't know red tail hawks migrated as we have them on our property in Missouri year round. They kill more birds at the feeder than the cats. Have all but obliterated the doves, poor things. I'm going to have to look up sharpie as I have never heard of them. My guess is they don't reside in MO.
#2 JC on 2016-11-25 07:47 (Reply)
You certainly do have them
#2.1 Bird Dog on 2016-11-25 08:05 (Reply)
Are you sure that's not a Cooper's hawk? Its tail feathers appear rounded off at the tip, not squared off like for a sharp-shinned.

And while it's sad to hear about folks getting their songbirds wiped out, hawks (and their relatives) are pretty damn magnificent and it's always a treat for me to see them, especially in

P.S. Belated thanks for a wonderful blog.
#2.1.1 Bill Carson on 2016-11-25 11:01 (Reply)
"especially in urban settings where you might not be expecting to see them."
#2.1.1.1 Bill Carson on 2016-11-25 11:03 (Reply)
Would some please tell me what a "Sharpie" is. Must be a northern bird. I live in Georgia and can't remember anyone ever saying that name for a bird. And a Google search fails too.
#3 oolioo (Link) on 2016-11-25 11:07 (Reply)
Never mind. I found " sharp-shinned". But I've never seen one. However, they do seem to migrate to the south.
#4 oolioo (Link) on 2016-11-25 11:14 (Reply)
Out here in rural deplorable land where cows and chickens outnumber humans, you cant go 2 miles without seeing hawks, bald eagles, carrion eater buzzards. A barncat got hit on the road near our barn, i am surprsed that two weeks later its still there. Saw a hawk or owl smushed on road in town. Was probably hit while eating roadkill because theyve wiped out the small game and wild turkeys.

The eagles snag the wild turkeys while they are roosting in trees.
.
#5 Fjord on 2016-11-25 11:43 (Reply)
We saw two eagles on Thanksgiving day here in the Arkansas River basin in OK.
#6 Jack Walter on 2016-11-26 09:54 (Reply)

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