Don't buy used silverware

[Pilgrim]

I had grackles once.....

But I went to the doctor and got rid of them. 

Ba-da-BIM!  Thank ya folks, we're here all week.

[uwe]

I can just GUESS that we're about to head into new territory from this point on.....so I'll blaze a path...although I admit this pic is short on feet.

(Rubbing eyes ...) Is that Hale Berry?  I don't remember her that way - would have been cumbersome in that Cat Woman (not as bad a film as everybody said, I've seen worse comic suoerhero adaptions) suit. It baffles me that someone with real acting talent - she played that role in Monster Ball wonderfullly - would do something like this. And I think she is past the age where cup size should be decisive for a role, her agent should have a chat with her.

Benefit of doubt: She had a baby and breastfeeding has pleasent side effects even for the not so immediate beneficiaries. Nature can be lavish in that way.

[Highlander]

Trying to do the decent, upstanding thing...



Not a corvid, but still called a "magpie"...

anyone remember the poem...? "one for sorrow, two for joy, etc..."

One time we were heading to the RSPB headquarters by an off main road route and we came upon a tree absolutely full of magpies - well in excess of 100 of them...

Mind you, we used to get up to 5000 rose ring neck parakeets just up the road from us, until the rugby club decided to lop a few of their lombardy poplars to make way for some phone masts... another alien invader now naturalised...

[Freuds_Cat]

I just noticed that you guys have common ravens (not crows, we're talking about the big guys) too




and it seems that they are doing better than their magpie siblings in conquering North America. Only parts of the old Confederacy are still holding out. Figures, given that bird's particular color ...  

Here we have mostly Ravens. Crows live mainly further inland in the desert and there is a lot less of them. Funny thing is that everyone calls the Ravens Crows. Even the main Football team is called the Adelaide Crows and South Australians are referred to as Croweaters. No accounting for accuracy of species here

[Denis]

Don't you have magpies in the US? I didn't know.

A relative to crows and ravens, it's a pretty and smart bird, quite combative too though their reputation as nest robbers eradicating all other species is a myth. It used to be rather rare in urban places, but judging from how often you see it in recent years, it has - like the blackbird which was solely a forest bird a hundred years ago - become hemerophile (now there's a word to look up!) over time.  

I read part of a study recently about Magpies that was fascinating. When a white dot was attached to the black portion of the Magpie's breast and then put in front of a mirror, the Magpie looked at his reflection, then down at the white dot, then back at the reflection then proceeded to remove the white dot from his breast. That indicates the Magpie recognizes itself in a mirror. Pretty much means those bastards are smart!

[Highlander]

Corvids are all pretty smart birdies; they even hold their own "courts", and the guilty or the condemned are often shunned or executed... Uwe could come back as a raven, in another life...

[eb2]

I have always been a fan of Halle Berry's bum.  That Travolta movie where she first let the jugs out to play was fine and all, but being a fan of the can, I was only mildly interested.  But if that is a post child birth pic, then that was a good move for her.  She is a coming and going all star.

I have been noting a gradual decline in the midwest's Cardinal population and an increase in the Blue Jay.  A decade ago the pigeon, scourge of every east coast city, was hardly ever seen.  Now they are expanding beyond the downtown office building ledges.  What all that means, I have no idea.  But I have never seen a magpie.  Only heard it used to describe a blabber mouth.

[uwe]

Ravens, crows and magpies are a great recipe for keeping the pigeon population under control.

[Highlander]

Peregrine Falcon is far more effective... We have a few cities where they have moved in, naturally... most notable is a family that have succesfully fledged several young, that live in Chichester Cathedral's tower... the pidgies are quaking...

My wife's home state birdie is the red cardinal... first time I ever saw one was outside the Saturn 5 building in Florida...  birdie

[Freuds_Cat]

Peregrines are very cool birds. They love the tall buildings of cities and with a few Pigeons to eat they are happy. We have them in the cliffs along our coastline here in SA.



A town near me called Strathalbyn has always had a major problem with Little Corella's

This is a Norfolk (Island) Pine tree in the centre of the town


They can strip the leaves in a few days.

Solution:





Lucy the Peregrine



"It is amazing to see 2000 Corellas screaming their heads off, then dead quiet within two minutes," - Paul Willcock

http://www.victorharbortimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/falcons-used-in-corella-fight/510703.aspx

[SKATE RAT]

I read part of a study recently about Magpies that was fascinating. When a white dot was attached to the black portion of the Magpie's breast and then put in front of a mirror, the Magpie looked at his reflection, then down at the white dot, then back at the reflection then proceeded to remove the white dot from his breast. That indicates the Magpie recognizes itself in a mirror. Pretty much means those bastards are smart!

i work with a 19 yo girl who spends all day looking in the mirror.and let me tell you, recognizing yourself does not make you smart

[rahock]

A few years back they brought a bunch of falcons in to Detroit to control the pigeon population. I could sit in my 7th floor office downtown and watch falcons snatch pigeons in flight just a few yards outside my window.
Rick

[uwe]

Yup, falcons, in Germany on the verge of extinction a few decades ago due to DDT overuse in agricultural zones, have moved into German cities, preferably ones with hi-rise buildings because up there on the rooftops its basically a man-free habitat. And pigeons are ample though not as prevalent as they used to be. But they are a hardy species, I'm not worried about their extinction yet. Though there was a time when they were rare forest birds too.

Not sure whether falcons are the more efficiejt pigeon controls, ravens, magpies and crows are effective nest-robbers unless its their own species. They eradicate the pigeon problem at its root.

But I saw once how a falcon (we must have one on the roof of our hi-rise) swooped a pigeon in midair - that was admittedly quite spectacular.

[Highlander]

The "Feral Pigeon" was originally a sea-cliff dwelling bird that "man" took into villages and towns; a useful food-source... when we "evolved" the humble pigeon became redundant... fascinating how we screw-up our environment...

The original bird is known as the "Rock Dove"; you can see "throw-backs" in the town birds - quite distinctive double wing bar...

Bryan... that was an unbelievably cutting comment... 

Rick, Uwe, Bret... Awesome...

[rahock]

Falcons are one of the only birds that will take its' prey in mid air and it is a sight to behold. I was on the phone with an out of state client when this attack took place right outside my 7th floor window.  I let out a "holy shit" and began to describe what I was seeing. The client on the other end was an avid sportsman and camper/hunter and he had never seen such a thing. He kept asking me "where the hell are you at?" He had a real problem believing I was in downtown Detroit
Rick