Very odd. No birds.

Originally Posted by Lucille

It is difficult to know these days whether a disaster is an act of God, or engineered by man.
And sculpting disaster is far more complex than simply population control- war boosts economies, for instance, and funding after a disaster can have political influence.
I certainly think there is much more going on behind the scenes than is evident, and I believe much of it is not in the best interests of the ordinary working person.

Obviously governments have learned the power of taking advantage of the emotional currency disasters will provoke in people. So if one does not come along at an opportune time, certainly they can be made to order.

Which brings up a question. What, exactly, is the GOAL of terrorism?

Governments tend to become the equivalent of living, breathing organisms, and soon place their own survival over all other interests. They would likely name it something innocent and official, like, oh, I don't know, how about maybe "national security". Seriously, anything have a higher priority than that?

I think the more we would REALLY know about our own government and what they are planning (and HAVE planned) behind closed doors, the less we would like.

Originally Posted by WebSlave

Yeah, could be......

I used to be a mud logger 30 yrs. ago in the Anadarko Basin in OK. I know for a fact that the drilling companies do not bother even trying to control gas deposits until they are quite deep (and set casing), but most of these wells were 18,000+ feet deep. Hydrogen sulfide gas was a major concern, and was considered very deadly. good reading here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_sulfide

Was working on the pens today while the woodpeckers took breaks to find food between bouts of yelling at me for existing. The cardinals sometimes come close enough for me to touch them, but never when I have a camera.

Beautiful pictures!!

Well except for a lone pair still hanging around, the gold finches appear to have headed back north a week ago. Doesn't seem like they were here as long as years prior.

Been trying to get a photograph of this one since October, but it positions itself so that I have had to basically stare at the Sun most of the times I tried to take photos. This one (and its brethren) yell at me whenever I am outside patrolling the grounds or working with the animals during the daytime. Red-headed woodpecker. I think I have seen maybe four species of woodpeckers on my land thus far. Pileated, these guys, red-bellied, and downy. There are maybe half a dozen pairs of each species here, give or take.

I was able to just barely pet a downy once, but the other three do not let me get that close (someday...). The red-headed ones are the most strict about keeping their distance from me. There is a red-headed nest in a dead limb covered in bracket fungi on one of the trees in the front of the property. The pileateds have a few nests in a dead trunk at the back of the property.

Nice pic!

I do the lazy method with shy birds. Just set up the Reconyx game camera near a feeding area and check it a couple of days later.

Cool. Did that pileated do all of the visible damage to that trunk (over time, of course)?

Do you have suet in that feeder? If so, does it get rancid or fouled in FL weather or is the formulation stabilized somehow? Or does it not even matter?

As best I can tell, yes, one or more pileateds have been tearing up that log. I actually pushed it over to keep it from falling against the house, so it is leaning against another tree.

We have other types of woodpeckers around, but I'm really not much on identifying many birds.

Actually when we put a new block out, it takes a while before the birds seem to go for it. So maybe they like it a bit aged.

One thing for sure, the bears sure love those suet blocks. I'm surprised the one I put up on that leaning tree hasn't been snatched yet.

BTW, the woodpeckers seem to like the peanut butter suet blocks more than the other ones we have tried. The gold finches seemed to like the ones with various berry flavorings. Never seen the cardinals, or some others touch those suet blocks at all. Sunflower seeds seem to be the favorite feed around here.

I found another pic of one of the other woodpeckers around here. Also found that those suet blocks appear to attract flying squirrels as well.