Sunday, October 07, 2007

another lame excuse (too busy chasing hine)

'Nother short one. Hey, the short strokes are the best ones, y'know!

The Yummy Biker got a promotion! YAY!
He is no longer working the potlines (i.e. wearing several layers of flameproofed wool, suspended in a rickety piece of obsolete techonology over huge electronically supercharged vats of molten metal)
Obviously, THIS IS A GOOD THING.
Mr. Smithers switched him to Safety Ops.
No, ha ha! That is a joke! Ha! No, he is now in the machinists apprenticeship program! And instead of working all night long whenever the hell they felt like calling him in, he works days, 4 on, 3 off. And on his 3 off, he attends COLLEGE!
*Snif* They grow up so fast! *snif*
Now I like to walk up behind him and growl 'Heeey, little schoolboy, ahhm a little schoolgirl too!" in my best blues voice. A yuk a minute here at Rancho FirstNations, I tell ya.
So yeah, I'll see ya Monday.
Are you SURE nobody wants to hear more stories about the Meadows family? Gosh, I thought that would bring the requests just rolling in! SO confused.


oo, also- I just saw a sharp-shinned falcon take a robin off the hawthorne tree outside! Nature is happening in my yard! Very cool! Could someone tell me what they do with the bird once they take it? A SSF is almost the exact same size and weight as a robin, and this robin was loaded with berries. Can they actually take off and fly away with them? How do they eat them?

21 comments:

  1. Birds are strange coves. The inside of their bones, unlike ours, are honeycombed, so making them lighter. A robin doesn't look weighty at the best of times but, with this flight-helping innovation, it actually weighs even less.
    As for eating them, it's usually done in a tree, ripping apart the chest and tearing out all the yummies before discarding the little empty, feathered suit which is left. Everyone will be trying to feed themselves up at this time of year, their little ones having fledged and got used to fending for themselves. Just a pity that the little robins will have to get through their first winter without their mum or dad.

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  2. reg: do you watch birds? *little hearts orbiting head* our robins are a thrush, remember, not a little tiny guy like yours. and these robins had been gorging on hawthorne berries and worms today, so fat and full their crops looked like golf balls. our SS is the size of a small crow-not much larger than the robin, and this one was a juvenile too. it flew down, delivered the neck-bite like a surgeon and dropped the robin into my melissa officionalis, diving down after it. when i looked later, both were gone and only a few robin feathers were left. amazing that such a small, young bird could carry all that!
    i planted with the intention being to feed and shelter wildlife, so when i see it happening i just rejoice. the robin went quick; better than dying slowly of disease or starvation. and the falcon got fed!

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  3. Can you do a story about the Meadows Family being eaten by falcons?

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  4. Thank you, Mr.P for the explanation.
    Coincidence, but driving home 20 minutes ago I saw 2 mudlarks chasing a kestrel and one actually managed to hit kestrel's tail! Caused a speed-wobble, but no damage.The mudlarks were not hunting the raptor for food, rather, to chase the predator away from their nest and young.
    Yeah...hawks ripping into the Meadowses would be fun!

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  5. Anonymous2:45 PM

    What is a sharp shinned falcon - I see it having really spikey knees!!

    Thank goodness for the Biker!!!

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  6. Anonymous9:40 AM

    you've got too much time on your hands, first nations, if you're starting to bird watch and wonder what happens after a falcon takes on a robin.

    here's what happens. they fly through the sky until they both land on a branch, they share the berries and have a lovely conversation until all the berries are gone and then they go their merry way, having found new friends and new conversation.

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  7. Anonymous9:46 AM

    Love hawk watching! Hub just got me Raptors of Western North America by Brian K. Wheeler. I highly recommend.

    Sounds like your sharpy was a female, they are larger than males and will eat even quail. They usually (both sexes) take the prey somewhere on the ground that's concealed (shrubs and stuff) and then eat. Fun!!!!

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  8. i like pink drama's answer.

    i think that's what happens when the feral cats meet the bunny rabbits.

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  9. I can't help you on the nature question but excellent on the Biker's upward trajectory.

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