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Post by kerouac2 on Apr 6, 2022 19:50:42 GMT
Birds are not as stupid as we would someetimes like to think they are. Does anybody still use scarecrows?
(I still consider pigeons stupid, the way they will often run straight ahead in front of you when if they just turned right or left, the "danger" would disappear.)
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Post by questa on Apr 8, 2022 6:18:38 GMT
pigeons and doves are very trainable.Apart from getting to a destination thus becoming a Passenger Pigeon they can watch over small things on a production line and peck out those not perfect... Pills, capsules, computer parts etc. They can be fitted with tiny cameras which record bushfires, floods and battles All they ask in return is a safe, dry roost and lock the cat out
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Post by Kimby on Jun 4, 2022 19:12:31 GMT
I knew it! I’m kicking myself.
We went for a walk and I brought binoculars instead of a camera, on purpose. Guess what we saw? A moose with twin calves, very young and wobbly on their spindly legs!
Not only did I not have a camera (or phone) with me, I FORGOT to use the binoculars I did carry!
They were pretty close, though, and I hope they’ll stick around awhile.
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Post by Kimby on Jun 10, 2022 21:59:49 GMT
Meanwhile, at home in the woods, I saw my first Bambi of the year, stepping tentatively behind its mama.
I didn’t run for my camera, but stood in the dark garage looking out the open door as they ambled past my “Little House” (garden shed, aka “She Shed”, also Hoarders Heaven) and out of sight, seemingly oblivious to my presence.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 15, 2022 3:52:49 GMT
Kimby ~ super experiences!
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 15, 2022 4:03:02 GMT
As we know, all of the posts in this thread are about what a shame it was that the poster didn't have a camera when the ufo flew overhead or whatever. But my "and me with no camera" moment has a better outcome this time. I was walking to the bakery and came upon this totally fabulous large moth in the middle of the sidewalk. I managed to get it to walk up on my hand and then it fluttered off. It was so cool & I was so frustrated because I knew I couldn't even describe it well. As I returned back the same way from the bakery, I spied the moth clinging to a wall. And then I saw my baker friend coming from the other direction, talking on his phone. I gestured at the phone & then at the butterfly. A couple of days later, he sent me the picture. That was great, but then a guy on a local garden group posted a picture of the same kind of butterfly and also identified it, along with an Aztec myth about it. Here is the nice baker's picture of the silk moth, Rothschildia orizaba, and its 6 inch / 15 cm wingspan.
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Post by mickthecactus on Jul 15, 2022 17:10:21 GMT
That is amazing!
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Post by Kimby on Jul 24, 2022 4:24:49 GMT
Your MOTH is amazing bixa! And I like your workaround for being without a camera!
Not sure the species is quite right, though, based on the shape of the clear windows in its wings. Could it be O. prionia instead? Or O. triloba? Or O. forbesi?
Lotta gorgeous moths in that genus. And similar to our Cecropia moth, though much larger.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 24, 2022 5:33:45 GMT
Kimby, the markings aren't clear. They only appear to be because they're the same color as the wall behind the moth. I got the ID from someone else, since the only moth I'd ever have a chance of identifying would be the luna moth.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 24, 2022 17:09:55 GMT
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Post by Kimby on Jul 25, 2022 4:29:23 GMT
(Thanks, Bixa. I’ve bookmarked that thread, which I hadn’t seen before.)
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Post by onlyMark on Aug 6, 2022 9:08:48 GMT
Here's a picture I took when I didn't have a camera -
.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 6, 2022 18:43:13 GMT
So we're seeing inside your brain, where you stored the information?
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Post by onlyMark on Aug 7, 2022 4:29:11 GMT
Yes. It's empty my head is.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 14, 2022 11:34:23 GMT
The bus I was on was in a minor accident this morning with the spectacular shattering of two windows. You'll have to take my word for it.
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Post by htmb on Sept 14, 2022 12:23:23 GMT
Your complete description of the event leaves nothing to the imagination.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 11, 2022 23:12:54 GMT
I'm in Chapala, Jalisco right now and have taken quite a few pictures of the very large and beautiful lake here. I'll have to wait to get home to get them off the memory card, but that's the good camera part.
The bad part is that I was walking down the street with both my regular camera and my phone in my purse, but couldn't get to either quickly enough to capture the guy walking his raccoon on a leash.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 10, 2023 19:09:51 GMT
Perpendicular to my street is a very wide street with sidewalks on either side. It has some residences behind walls and a school on a huge green property. I like to walk the dogs there because hardly any cars go down it and there are few pedestrians, sometimes none.
Anyway, yesterday the four of us were trotting down one side of the sidewalk when I saw a woman standing looking down on the opposite sidewalk. She was a completely unremarkable, normal-looking person of middle age, but I noticed her because she appeared to be talking to the sidewalk. She must have sensed my staring, as she looked up and called to me as she gestured for me to come see whatever it was on the sidewalk.
She had not spoken very loudly, so I called back to ask if it were a baby bird, saying that I didn't want to bring my dogs near as they might go after it. "No, it's [undistinguishable]."
A combination of curiosity and courtesy got the best of me, so I crossed the street. What she was watching was a baby bat! It was sort of splayed out on the sidewalk, just moving slightly. I'm no bat expert, but the reason I say it was a baby was because it had a little round face like a kitten & somehow had an aspect of babyhood.
As the two of us humans stood there pointlessly discussing it, Darla approached and stepped on it, because she didn't even notice it. Now I felt even worse for the poor little thing. I asked the woman if she had a towel or anything (she was carrying two plastic bags with stuff made of fabric in them) because I was willing to pick up the bat and put it somewhere up high but did not wish to be bitten. Even had I not known that frightened animals are likely to bite, the woman had pointed out several times, "They bite!"
It was all too bad, but I finally crossed back to the other sidewalk with the dogs. I walked a few steps, then thought that I could take off my short-sleeved open-knit sweater & fold it enough so I could use it to pick up the bat. I re-crossed the street to share this insight with the woman, who still watching the bat.
In those couple of minutes the bat had moved several feet to the concrete gatepost of a nearby property and had scaled up it about a foot. Also, a man was now observing the proceedings and holding forth on the biting tendencies of bats. I told the woman I would use my sweater to move the bat to safety, but the man vehemently vetoed that, saying that the bat's needle-sharp teeth would still get me. (Not hardly -- the thing's little face was hardly bigger around than the hole in a doughnut, so not much room for long teeth.) At any rate, I figured if it had recovered enough to get over to that gatepost & start pulling itself up, it might be better off without my clumsy intervention.
Question: do baby bats have to learn to fly the way baby birds do?
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Post by Kimby on Dec 10, 2023 19:35:04 GMT
Perhaps bats are among the animals that cannot take off from the ground? They probably never land on the ground on purpose - why would they? - and usually drop down into flight from wherever they’ve been hanging. (Just my educated guess.)
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 14, 2023 5:47:05 GMT
That makes so much sense, Kimby. I'll never know how the bat got to the sidewalk, but can't help trying to guess. One thing odd is that it was broad daylight, which is not a bat time of day. Another thing is that it stayed still for so long. When young birds fall from trying to fly, they try to get away if approached.
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