Very odd. No birds.

[WebSlave]

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.

 

[Casey Hulse]

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

 

[nickolasanastasiou]

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.

 

[Lucille]

Beautiful pictures!!

 

[WebSlave]

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.

 

[nickolasanastasiou]

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.

 

[WebSlave]

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.

 

[nickolasanastasiou]

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?

 

[WebSlave]

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.

 

[WebSlave]

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.

 

[nickolasanastasiou]

Awesome. I love flying squirrels. So adorable. I mostly see possums and armadillos here at night. The armadillos do not enter the pens, so they are only an occasional minor nuisance now (and they amuse me). The possums do steal the food from the tortoises (without harming them) and play around in their water dishes, but they eradicate ticks, so I consider the relationship square enough. There is a raccoon in an adjoining property I have to remove, unfortunately, as its presence basically cannot end well with respect to my animals.

 

[snowgyre]

Yeah, flying squirrels are pretty cute little devils. They are a major predator of nesting birds though, and we annually have to kick them out of the bluebird boxes we set out each year. Here's one that we handed an eviction notice to a couple of weeks ago.

 

[nickolasanastasiou]

I am sure we have some here, but I have not had the pleasure of seeing any yet. Our trees are mostly very tall.

 

[brd7666]

I am sure we have some here, but I have not had the pleasure of seeing any yet. Our trees are mostly very tall.

I'm sure Flying Squirrels are all over Brooksville. I have nine of them. The first two we caught in Plant City. You will never see them during the day. They only come out at night. They sure are cute.

 

[WebSlave]

Back when Connie and I first bought the land we live on now, we would come down here from Maryland and camp out for our vacations. Near one of our campsites there was a tree with a hole in it about 4 ft. off of the ground that appeared to run down to the base of the tree. Well one day I knocked against the tree and heard an odd little "growly" sound coming from the hole. Knock on the tree, and the growl followed. I wasn't about to stick my hand into the hole to find out what the heck that was, so it just remained a funny little mystery at the time.

Many years late a friend came by the house to show us his pet flying squirrels. He was tossing them around and every once in a while, one apparently would get agitated and make a noise. THAT was the noise we had heard coming from that tree hole. So the mystery was finally solved.

Not sure how many of them we have around here, but as long as they leave my bamboo alone (unlike the evil gray squirrels) they are welcome to stay.

 

[nickolasanastasiou]

I'm sure Flying Squirrels are all over Brooksville. I have nine of them. The first two we caught in Plant City. You will never see them during the day. They only come out at night. They sure are cute.

People find them in their garages in Brooksville, so for sure. I just have not seen them. My trees are mostly very tall. We have many woodpecker nests and owl nests and I am sure flying squirrel nests, but I just have not located the latter just yet and I do not want to get too poky with them.

I do night patrols on the property because I want to ensure the animals I own are in safe and proper states, but even with powerful beams/torches, the heights of the trees makes for difficulty seeing little stuff up high. I (and the dogs) mostly keep the raccoons at bay and I check on the possums and armadillos to make sure they are being properly behaved citizens in my little kingdom (stealing tortoise food is fine and digging is fine, but digging a gap alongside a barrier or messing with a shallow nest of eggs is discouraged). The possums really dislike me petting them and the armadillos jump and snort when I approach them from downwind and pat them on the plates, but that is the price they pay for my tolerance.

Maybe I could see a flying squirrel if I used a scope of some sort. I have several species of owl which hoot all night right outside of all of my bedrooms and I still have yet to catch a glimpse of even one. Saw 40-something turkeys today maybe 100 feet from my property line when i was heading to an appointment this morning. There is some sort of squeaky thing every night on the property and I think it is a mammal, but I do not recognize the noise well enough to know the source (yet). Could be the flying squirrels (maybe).

 

[snowgyre]

Flying squirrels sound like high-pitched gray squirrels. It's unmistakably a squirrel noise. Flying squirrels will use cavities to nest in, like woodpeckers. If you put up a few bluebird boxes you will probably get flying squirrels moving in. It may be worth a shot?

 

[nickolasanastasiou]

Not a bad idea. If I overwhelm my wife with their cuteness, I could probably gain extra buy-in on on-the-fence decisions. lol My wife will come home to a small kangaroo wearing a Hannibal hoodie while sitting next to me in a chair while I am at one of the computers. Or something like that. "Nick, why is there a puffer fish in my vase? And why are there salamanders in the cold cuts drawer of the fridge?!" "Who can say, honey? Who can say?" "YOU CAN SAY!" "Who can say, honey? Who can say?" lol

Back to birds, I found a sandhill crane hanging around when I got home today and chased it off. One of my turtles is conspicuously absent. I can deal with that if it happened. Not critical, project-wise. Not desirable, though, either. Could also have been an indigo I damn near stumbled upon the other day in the small bank area by the simple turtle pond. Assuming it is gone at all. Some stuff can vanish for weeks due to space or cover. Had a little heron about (off and on), but it was a smaller sort and the turtle had been seen since the heron left.

 

[brd7666]

I know we are getting off topic with the squirrel thing. I had to clean the cage today that all of my Flying Squirrels are kept in. I put them in a small cage to hold them while I clean their cage. Here is a picture of all nine of my squirrels in the holding cage.

 

[snowgyre]

As much as it sucks potentially losing a turtle, if that was going to happen to me, I almost wouldn't mind it so much as long as it was a sandhill crane taking it. They are super awesome birds. How big was the turtle though? I honestly haven't heard of either sandhills or herons taking hard-shelled turtles before.

And Brian, those are super cute! Have you tamed them at all or are they still pretty wild?