Mischa the Peregrine is chillin' inside on her perch. And right outside that window, the swarm. The most honeybees ever and I just filled that feeder first thing this morning! Heck with that "No Mow May" leaving the dandelions in your yard for the honeybees - just load up on hummingbird feeders.
ps: I checked and didn't have the top part screwed in all the way, so leaking sugar like crazy. pss: Misch just has her head turned upside down in a playful fashion, not deformed.
Over two weeks ago, I was typing away and our internet quit. Happens all the time, and same the next morning so let's call Speedconnect, "A TPT Global Tech Company," our awesome provider (me and Cary down the road.) The message said open 9-5 EST, but closed 24-7. Yep, they just pulled the plug and left us high and dry. Cary found a local server but we had three companies over here and impossible coverage with all these trees. Or I could dig a 100 yard long trench...nope. For two weeks I was getting email on the laptop while parked in front of a neighbor's house with WIFI. Then it dawned on us - Verizon! Voila! Phone and now internet with a little cordless device as big as my flip phone! Sorry for the silence... stupid Speedconnect SOB's.
And just now - two Big Baby Bald Eagles Begging:
I just gave a "Red-tail and Rattlesnake" print to a dear friend that I finally met in person on Sunday! Her young sons will share it in their bedroom at their fervent requests, a compliment to be certain. I told her that we have one next to a mounted mallard that Sibley caught, taxidermy by Dale Manning, and a big Audubon print that was my favorite painting when I was the boys' age. Dueling Red-tails, and probably an inspiration for that pen & ink she now has, drawn right out of college. Art on the website.
As usual, the Bald Eagle fledglings from across the river discover our eagle building perching on the wire, here by the shade cloth. "Perhaps I can get in there and eat the rest of that squirrel..." I don't think so. And a very quiet, polite, and neat robin family right at our back door. It's that time of year.
For the third year we have hosted a group of music buffs here, "Back Stage Pass" and fans of the metal band Queensryche. That's lead singer and super-great-guy Geoff Tate right of the penguin beak. To the left is lead singer of Anthrax, Joey Belladonna, and what a fun crew!
A little break in the action around here now and hope to be improving, health-wise. My iron infusions for anemia may not have kicked in yet and I was told they could take a month. That would mean by Friday I may be feeling half-way human again, sick since first week in May. This is getting really old.
Little Billie, the one-year old Northern Saw-whet Owl was struck by a car in Kalispell in January and came to us from Beth Watne and Montana Wild Wings recovery Center, just placed on our USFWS
Education (Possession) Permit! News on the way...
Zootown Arts Community Center, that's ZACC hosted a morning of birds and printmaking for kids yesterday, our first visit to the hot spot downtown Missoula (Zootown). Portia the Barred Owl on the left and Sibley the Peregrine were star models, watching Sib's slow motion flight video that they play at the Museum of Natural History in NYC. Thanks Patricia Thornton for the invite, and Bev Glueckert for the help. And the young artists for your wrapt attention.
Our "Hack Building" is refurbished, slender trees installed with a Christmas tree stand, and two of the kestrels installed at dinner time. So far, so good and one of the brown mice dropped through the tube was devoured (see that back shelf?). The intention is to hack these brothers out here, feed them anonymously so they don't associate with people, but the damage might be done. We shall see. In a few weeks I'll open the back screen and continue to feed them in the building - hack them out. This worked perfectly for three young Sharp-shinned Hawks five years ago, hanging around for the summer.
These non-native game birds started showing up in the Bitterroot Valley starting in the early 2000's, hardy little flock birds that can survive the winters just fine. They were released by people with game farms and hunting preserves, or escaped from hobbyists (many apparently purchased from one feed store in Hamilton.) Either way, it became illegal to keep them in 2003, and it is not known if they continue to be "liberated." Either way they are here to stay. The population hotbeds are Hamilton and Stevensville with 494 and 797 birds counted respectively about ten years ago! Unlike Ring-necked Pheasants and Gray Partridge that were intentionally introduced by MT Fish, Wildlife & Parks as game birds, California Quail are not protected. There you have it.
These guys have been in a big kennel on the porch during the day which I bring inside at night. Today they are going outside to a medium-sized enclosure, then the big Hack Building. More about that soon. I have a plan...
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