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About 10 minutes until I take my 4th proctored A&P exam. Fingers crossed I get another A and can skip the final.
Good luck!!!!!!
About 10 minutes until I take my 4th proctored A&P exam. Fingers crossed I get another A and can skip the final.
Good luck!!!!!!
Well, I'll take that good luck for 2 hours from now. I scheduled the wrong exam. I scheduled myself for BIOL 2111, but I am in BIOL 2112. There's $28 down the tubes.
I'll take my test at 2:40, instead.
Just got back from the MVD (everywhere else I've lived has called it the DMV), another hour and a half as they basically put me through the whole process again........... And that was just for my license....... The wife needs hers and then we have to register the vehicles, at least I know now to take a picnic lunch and maybe dinner with me next time...........Droped the wife off this morning where she's doing volunteer work, ran a couple of errands then decided to go to the MVD to look into switching my driver's license over to New Mexico. No information desk, took a number and an hour and a half later my number was finally called. They entered all my info in the computer and took my license picture, half an hour later I had to leave to pick up the wife, I'll have to go back tomorrow to actually get my license........ I have never had to wait more than 45 minutes (when the DMV was the busiest in Virginia) for anything especially a driver's license, hell in Texas it only took 20 minutes total. I could go to one of the MVD expresses but that's an extra $30 out of pocket........... Amazing, absolutely amazing.........
At the risk of going political in the Coffee Shop, can't say I didn't tell you so.
Just got back from the MVD (everywhere else I've lived has called it the DMV), another hour and a half as they basically put me through the whole process again........... And that was just for my license....... The wife needs hers and then we have to register the vehicles, at least I know now to take a picnic lunch and maybe dinner with me next time...........Droped the wife off this morning where she's doing volunteer work, ran a couple of errands then decided to go to the MVD to look into switching my driver's license over to New Mexico. No information desk, took a number and an hour and a half later my number was finally called. They entered all my info in the computer and took my license picture, half an hour later I had to leave to pick up the wife, I'll have to go back tomorrow to actually get my license........ I have never had to wait more than 45 minutes (when the DMV was the busiest in Virginia) for anything especially a driver's license, hell in Texas it only took 20 minutes total. I could go to one of the MVD expresses but that's an extra $30 out of pocket........... Amazing, absolutely amazing.........
At the risk of going political in the Coffee Shop, can't say I didn't tell you so.
In Northern Virginia there was a check in/information desk, they asked what you needed to get done then assigned you a specific letter/number code to be called for your specific need. There were so many people doing licensing, so many doing registration, so many doing titling, etc, it moved relatively quickly. Even in El Paso there was a check in desk to point you in the right direction and make sure you had everything you needed to complete the process.
Just got back from the MVD (everywhere else I've lived has called it the DMV), another hour and a half as they basically put me through the whole process again........... And that was just for my license....... The wife needs hers and then we have to register the vehicles, at least I know now to take a picnic lunch and maybe dinner with me next time...........Droped the wife off this morning where she's doing volunteer work, ran a couple of errands then decided to go to the MVD to look into switching my driver's license over to New Mexico. No information desk, took a number and an hour and a half later my number was finally called. They entered all my info in the computer and took my license picture, half an hour later I had to leave to pick up the wife, I'll have to go back tomorrow to actually get my license........ I have never had to wait more than 45 minutes (when the DMV was the busiest in Virginia) for anything especially a driver's license, hell in Texas it only took 20 minutes total. I could go to one of the MVD expresses but that's an extra $30 out of pocket........... Amazing, absolutely amazing.........
At the risk of going political in the Coffee Shop, can't say I didn't tell you so.
In Northern Virginia there was a check in/information desk, they asked what you needed to get done then assigned you a specific letter/number code to be called for your specific need. There were so many people doing licensing, so many doing registration, so many doing titling, etc, it moved relatively quickly. Even in El Paso there was a check in desk to point you in the right direction and make sure you had everything you needed to complete the process.
Hopefully that means I can be exempt from the final.....although I already paid for this exam twice because I screwed up, so I won't exactly be saving money if I am exempt. 
Final exempt!
Well, I'm rid of the cane again. The foot is pain free and undamaged. I still sleep with my leg elevated to relieve swelling from the knee injury and I could get into my dress cowboy boots in the morning, but likely would never get them back off.
I woke up just before 8 this morning. Once I was cogent, I decided to head to the kitchen to make coffee. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and the TV went dark. None of the familiar blue LEDs on various electronic gadgets were lit. I used an app on my phone to turn on a lamp and got no reaction.
Panic set in as I realized there would be no coffee and driving to Doc Holliday's to make coffee there would put all of Foley in extreme danger as me attempting to operate a motor vehicle without sufficient caffeine in my system is incredibly dangerous, though, I've been told, fun to watch.
I laid back down, defeated and rather despondent.
15 minutes passed and desperation surpassed discretion. I figured I had a 60% shot of making the bar alive and my compassion for my fellow man had waned. I sat up and began putting on pants.
From the kitchen came a beep and I could see light from the recessed LED lighting in the kitchen through the open door. Electronic gadgets began coming back to life and I realized that Foley and maybe the entire Gulf Coast was safe.
So far I have pants, have finished my first cup of coffee and apparently, the ability to communicate with the public. One more cup of coffee and a shower and it's hello world.
Hawks gotta eat too!The wife saw the hawk again this morning chasing a grey dove.Pop's hobby was reading. He didn't golf, fish, hunt, work with wood nor clay nor paints. We never knew what Pop had read so buying him gifts of books never worked out.Over the last two weeks we have had two hawk visitations, the first one was a hawk chasing a bird through the back yard, the small bird flew into one of the arborvitaes and the hawk landed in the apple tree to wait the bird out. The small bird flew out the back side of the arborvitae where the hawk couldn't see it and escaped. The second one I saw the aftermath of a kill, feathers and down all over the ground at the corner of the house with more feathers and down up on the chimney where the hawk decided to eat it's catch.
One Christmas Pop said he might like a bird feeder for the west lawn at the Big House. That opened the flood gates and Pop got bird feeders for that Christmas, the next Father's Day and his birthday. Bird feeders festooned the lawns and soon Pop was keen on bird watching. Finches, Nut Hatches, Jays, Cardinals and Titmice were all over the grounds Andy under Pop's binocular aided view.
One fine spring day a Blue Jay sat at a suet cake encrusted with black sunflower seeds. As he munched away a Cooper's Hawk swooped down from the Sugar Maple not thirty feet away. The suet begat the Jay and the Jay begat the Hawk. It tore that Jay stem to stern as Pop watched in rapt fascination.
When Mom came into the kitchen where Pop was watching nature play its cruel game she was horrified!
"Just like Marlin Perkin's Wild Kingdom!" said Pop with a small bit of glee.
We were told no more bird feeders by my gentle mother.
What comes around, goes around. While anecdotal here, we recognize that eagles prey on cats, small dogs, and even baby goats.The mourning doves coo gently here too. Mom currently has a nesting pair at the Big House. She has named them George and Gracie.The wife saw the hawk again this morning chasing a grey dove.Pop's hobby was reading. He didn't golf, fish, hunt, work with wood nor clay nor paints. We never knew what Pop had read so buying him gifts of books never worked out.Over the last two weeks we have had two hawk visitations, the first one was a hawk chasing a bird through the back yard, the small bird flew into one of the arborvitaes and the hawk landed in the apple tree to wait the bird out. The small bird flew out the back side of the arborvitae where the hawk couldn't see it and escaped. The second one I saw the aftermath of a kill, feathers and down all over the ground at the corner of the house with more feathers and down up on the chimney where the hawk decided to eat it's catch.
One Christmas Pop said he might like a bird feeder for the west lawn at the Big House. That opened the flood gates and Pop got bird feeders for that Christmas, the next Father's Day and his birthday. Bird feeders festooned the lawns and soon Pop was keen on bird watching. Finches, Nut Hatches, Jays, Cardinals and Titmice were all over the grounds Andy under Pop's binocular aided view.
One fine spring day a Blue Jay sat at a suet cake encrusted with black sunflower seeds. As he munched away a Cooper's Hawk swooped down from the Sugar Maple not thirty feet away. The suet begat the Jay and the Jay begat the Hawk. It tore that Jay stem to stern as Pop watched in rapt fascination.
When Mom came into the kitchen where Pop was watching nature play its cruel game she was horrified!
"Just like Marlin Perkin's Wild Kingdom!" said Pop with a small bit of glee.
We were told no more bird feeders by my gentle mother.
Those are mourning doves, very prolific year round here and in the lower elevations of the Sandia and Manazano mountains. If you have a lot of trees and shrubbery on your property they probably have a nest or two there.
It was interesting that the scrub jays on the mountain harrassed and bullied all the smaller birds up there, but they couldn't bully the mourning doves who got along with everything but them. If the jays got too obnoxious, the doves would run them off allowing the little birds to go to the feeders unmolested.
But it was interesting. Everybody--jays, sparrows, nutcatches, grosbeaks, finches, doves, etc. would go flat to the ground or flatten out on the deck when the shadow of the golden eagles passed over them.
I've told this story before, but it bears repeating.
When I lived on the sunny coast of west Florida, Sarasota to be specific, I had a project mapping a garbage dump. It was all bright lights and glamor at that point in my career. The dump was a cone shaped mound that rose more than 100 feet from the billiard table like terrain. The top of the mound was perpetually covered with scavenging sea gulls. They picked through the disposable diapers and frozen dinner containers and placed a patina of gull guano all over the dump.
There was a pair of Bald Eagles who built an aerie in the tall yellow leaf pines surrounding the site. We found the nest by looking at the ground around the base of the trees. Once we found a mess of fish bones, gull bones, eagle down and poop, we knew which tree contained their aerie. We diligently placed caution tape around a fifty foot diameter ring around the tree to help preserve the nest.
Every day, three of four times a day, one of the eagles would take Wing and swoop low across the convention of gulls. The sea gulls weren't dummies. They sensed the flight of the eagles and would split as soon as possible. It looked to me like someone was opening a zipper on a gull sweater. They flew off with due haste as they knew any one of them might just become lunch.
I have an icon to a southwest Florida bald eagle cam on my desktop. It is idle right now because the last eaglet left the premises to resettle probably up north somewhere on May 2.
Harriet and M-1, mom and dad, are still in the area but enjoying the summer for now. They will shore up the huge nest, 90 feet above the ground, this fall and the new eaglet or eaglets will hatch probably in November or December. M-1 is Harriet's second mate. Her first husband, Ozzie, died two or three years ago. But they are a great pair and good parents taking turns incubating the eggs and hunting--the hunter brings food back to whoever is on the nest. And once the eaglets hatch, they have to work from dawn to dusk to keep the hungry little ones fed along with themselves. Bald eagles mate for life and are monogamous unless no offspring result from the union in which case they go their separate ways and seek out new mates.
If ya'll will remind me, I'll post the link to the eagle cam this fall if anybody is interested in watching.
Yikes!What comes around, goes around. While anecdotal here, we recognize that eagles prey on cats, small dogs, and even baby goats.The mourning doves coo gently here too. Mom currently has a nesting pair at the Big House. She has named them George and Gracie.The wife saw the hawk again this morning chasing a grey dove.Pop's hobby was reading. He didn't golf, fish, hunt, work with wood nor clay nor paints. We never knew what Pop had read so buying him gifts of books never worked out.
One Christmas Pop said he might like a bird feeder for the west lawn at the Big House. That opened the flood gates and Pop got bird feeders for that Christmas, the next Father's Day and his birthday. Bird feeders festooned the lawns and soon Pop was keen on bird watching. Finches, Nut Hatches, Jays, Cardinals and Titmice were all over the grounds Andy under Pop's binocular aided view.
One fine spring day a Blue Jay sat at a suet cake encrusted with black sunflower seeds. As he munched away a Cooper's Hawk swooped down from the Sugar Maple not thirty feet away. The suet begat the Jay and the Jay begat the Hawk. It tore that Jay stem to stern as Pop watched in rapt fascination.
When Mom came into the kitchen where Pop was watching nature play its cruel game she was horrified!
"Just like Marlin Perkin's Wild Kingdom!" said Pop with a small bit of glee.
We were told no more bird feeders by my gentle mother.
Those are mourning doves, very prolific year round here and in the lower elevations of the Sandia and Manazano mountains. If you have a lot of trees and shrubbery on your property they probably have a nest or two there.
It was interesting that the scrub jays on the mountain harrassed and bullied all the smaller birds up there, but they couldn't bully the mourning doves who got along with everything but them. If the jays got too obnoxious, the doves would run them off allowing the little birds to go to the feeders unmolested.
But it was interesting. Everybody--jays, sparrows, nutcatches, grosbeaks, finches, doves, etc. would go flat to the ground or flatten out on the deck when the shadow of the golden eagles passed over them.
I've told this story before, but it bears repeating.
When I lived on the sunny coast of west Florida, Sarasota to be specific, I had a project mapping a garbage dump. It was all bright lights and glamor at that point in my career. The dump was a cone shaped mound that rose more than 100 feet from the billiard table like terrain. The top of the mound was perpetually covered with scavenging sea gulls. They picked through the disposable diapers and frozen dinner containers and placed a patina of gull guano all over the dump.
There was a pair of Bald Eagles who built an aerie in the tall yellow leaf pines surrounding the site. We found the nest by looking at the ground around the base of the trees. Once we found a mess of fish bones, gull bones, eagle down and poop, we knew which tree contained their aerie. We diligently placed caution tape around a fifty foot diameter ring around the tree to help preserve the nest.
Every day, three of four times a day, one of the eagles would take Wing and swoop low across the convention of gulls. The sea gulls weren't dummies. They sensed the flight of the eagles and would split as soon as possible. It looked to me like someone was opening a zipper on a gull sweater. They flew off with due haste as they knew any one of them might just become lunch.
I have an icon to a southwest Florida bald eagle cam on my desktop. It is idle right now because the last eaglet left the premises to resettle probably up north somewhere on May 2.
Harriet and M-1, mom and dad, are still in the area but enjoying the summer for now. They will shore up the huge nest, 90 feet above the ground, this fall and the new eaglet or eaglets will hatch probably in November or December. M-1 is Harriet's second mate. Her first husband, Ozzie, died two or three years ago. But they are a great pair and good parents taking turns incubating the eggs and hunting--the hunter brings food back to whoever is on the nest. And once the eaglets hatch, they have to work from dawn to dusk to keep the hungry little ones fed along with themselves. Bald eagles mate for life and are monogamous unless no offspring result from the union in which case they go their separate ways and seek out new mates.
If ya'll will remind me, I'll post the link to the eagle cam this fall if anybody is interested in watching.
eagle feeds eaglets a cat - - Yahoo Video Search Results
Good morning America, it's 5am British time and I am not sleepy.
I intend to visit job early, than usually, because I plan to free my evening... If I wouldn't get an urgent tasks...Good morning America, it's 5am British time and I am not sleepy.
Morning, It's 7 o'clock in Moscow and I'm preparing wheat porridge to eat it with sausages and fermented cabbage and go to job
What comes around, goes around. While anecdotal here, we recognize that eagles prey on cats, small dogs, and even baby goats.The mourning doves coo gently here too. Mom currently has a nesting pair at the Big House. She has named them George and Gracie.The wife saw the hawk again this morning chasing a grey dove.Pop's hobby was reading. He didn't golf, fish, hunt, work with wood nor clay nor paints. We never knew what Pop had read so buying him gifts of books never worked out.
One Christmas Pop said he might like a bird feeder for the west lawn at the Big House. That opened the flood gates and Pop got bird feeders for that Christmas, the next Father's Day and his birthday. Bird feeders festooned the lawns and soon Pop was keen on bird watching. Finches, Nut Hatches, Jays, Cardinals and Titmice were all over the grounds Andy under Pop's binocular aided view.
One fine spring day a Blue Jay sat at a suet cake encrusted with black sunflower seeds. As he munched away a Cooper's Hawk swooped down from the Sugar Maple not thirty feet away. The suet begat the Jay and the Jay begat the Hawk. It tore that Jay stem to stern as Pop watched in rapt fascination.
When Mom came into the kitchen where Pop was watching nature play its cruel game she was horrified!
"Just like Marlin Perkin's Wild Kingdom!" said Pop with a small bit of glee.
We were told no more bird feeders by my gentle mother.
Those are mourning doves, very prolific year round here and in the lower elevations of the Sandia and Manazano mountains. If you have a lot of trees and shrubbery on your property they probably have a nest or two there.
It was interesting that the scrub jays on the mountain harrassed and bullied all the smaller birds up there, but they couldn't bully the mourning doves who got along with everything but them. If the jays got too obnoxious, the doves would run them off allowing the little birds to go to the feeders unmolested.
But it was interesting. Everybody--jays, sparrows, nutcatches, grosbeaks, finches, doves, etc. would go flat to the ground or flatten out on the deck when the shadow of the golden eagles passed over them.
I've told this story before, but it bears repeating.
When I lived on the sunny coast of west Florida, Sarasota to be specific, I had a project mapping a garbage dump. It was all bright lights and glamor at that point in my career. The dump was a cone shaped mound that rose more than 100 feet from the billiard table like terrain. The top of the mound was perpetually covered with scavenging sea gulls. They picked through the disposable diapers and frozen dinner containers and placed a patina of gull guano all over the dump.
There was a pair of Bald Eagles who built an aerie in the tall yellow leaf pines surrounding the site. We found the nest by looking at the ground around the base of the trees. Once we found a mess of fish bones, gull bones, eagle down and poop, we knew which tree contained their aerie. We diligently placed caution tape around a fifty foot diameter ring around the tree to help preserve the nest.
Every day, three of four times a day, one of the eagles would take Wing and swoop low across the convention of gulls. The sea gulls weren't dummies. They sensed the flight of the eagles and would split as soon as possible. It looked to me like someone was opening a zipper on a gull sweater. They flew off with due haste as they knew any one of them might just become lunch.
I have an icon to a southwest Florida bald eagle cam on my desktop. It is idle right now because the last eaglet left the premises to resettle probably up north somewhere on May 2.
Harriet and M-1, mom and dad, are still in the area but enjoying the summer for now. They will shore up the huge nest, 90 feet above the ground, this fall and the new eaglet or eaglets will hatch probably in November or December. M-1 is Harriet's second mate. Her first husband, Ozzie, died two or three years ago. But they are a great pair and good parents taking turns incubating the eggs and hunting--the hunter brings food back to whoever is on the nest. And once the eaglets hatch, they have to work from dawn to dusk to keep the hungry little ones fed along with themselves. Bald eagles mate for life and are monogamous unless no offspring result from the union in which case they go their separate ways and seek out new mates.
If ya'll will remind me, I'll post the link to the eagle cam this fall if anybody is interested in watching.
eagle feeds eaglets a cat - - Yahoo Video Search Results
Yikes!What comes around, goes around. While anecdotal here, we recognize that eagles prey on cats, small dogs, and even baby goats.The mourning doves coo gently here too. Mom currently has a nesting pair at the Big House. She has named them George and Gracie.The wife saw the hawk again this morning chasing a grey dove.
Those are mourning doves, very prolific year round here and in the lower elevations of the Sandia and Manazano mountains. If you have a lot of trees and shrubbery on your property they probably have a nest or two there.
It was interesting that the scrub jays on the mountain harrassed and bullied all the smaller birds up there, but they couldn't bully the mourning doves who got along with everything but them. If the jays got too obnoxious, the doves would run them off allowing the little birds to go to the feeders unmolested.
But it was interesting. Everybody--jays, sparrows, nutcatches, grosbeaks, finches, doves, etc. would go flat to the ground or flatten out on the deck when the shadow of the golden eagles passed over them.
I've told this story before, but it bears repeating.
When I lived on the sunny coast of west Florida, Sarasota to be specific, I had a project mapping a garbage dump. It was all bright lights and glamor at that point in my career. The dump was a cone shaped mound that rose more than 100 feet from the billiard table like terrain. The top of the mound was perpetually covered with scavenging sea gulls. They picked through the disposable diapers and frozen dinner containers and placed a patina of gull guano all over the dump.
There was a pair of Bald Eagles who built an aerie in the tall yellow leaf pines surrounding the site. We found the nest by looking at the ground around the base of the trees. Once we found a mess of fish bones, gull bones, eagle down and poop, we knew which tree contained their aerie. We diligently placed caution tape around a fifty foot diameter ring around the tree to help preserve the nest.
Every day, three of four times a day, one of the eagles would take Wing and swoop low across the convention of gulls. The sea gulls weren't dummies. They sensed the flight of the eagles and would split as soon as possible. It looked to me like someone was opening a zipper on a gull sweater. They flew off with due haste as they knew any one of them might just become lunch.
I have an icon to a southwest Florida bald eagle cam on my desktop. It is idle right now because the last eaglet left the premises to resettle probably up north somewhere on May 2.
Harriet and M-1, mom and dad, are still in the area but enjoying the summer for now. They will shore up the huge nest, 90 feet above the ground, this fall and the new eaglet or eaglets will hatch probably in November or December. M-1 is Harriet's second mate. Her first husband, Ozzie, died two or three years ago. But they are a great pair and good parents taking turns incubating the eggs and hunting--the hunter brings food back to whoever is on the nest. And once the eaglets hatch, they have to work from dawn to dusk to keep the hungry little ones fed along with themselves. Bald eagles mate for life and are monogamous unless no offspring result from the union in which case they go their separate ways and seek out new mates.
If ya'll will remind me, I'll post the link to the eagle cam this fall if anybody is interested in watching.
eagle feeds eaglets a cat - - Yahoo Video Search Results
While I've seen a hawk's shadow send squirrels and chipmunks scurrying, I never worried about my fourteen pound miniature poodle. But we have Eagles here too nesting out around the state park.
Daisy and I will be sticking close to home.
From your lips to the bird's ears!Yikes!What comes around, goes around. While anecdotal here, we recognize that eagles prey on cats, small dogs, and even baby goats.The mourning doves coo gently here too. Mom currently has a nesting pair at the Big House. She has named them George and Gracie.Those are mourning doves, very prolific year round here and in the lower elevations of the Sandia and Manazano mountains. If you have a lot of trees and shrubbery on your property they probably have a nest or two there.
It was interesting that the scrub jays on the mountain harrassed and bullied all the smaller birds up there, but they couldn't bully the mourning doves who got along with everything but them. If the jays got too obnoxious, the doves would run them off allowing the little birds to go to the feeders unmolested.
But it was interesting. Everybody--jays, sparrows, nutcatches, grosbeaks, finches, doves, etc. would go flat to the ground or flatten out on the deck when the shadow of the golden eagles passed over them.
I've told this story before, but it bears repeating.
When I lived on the sunny coast of west Florida, Sarasota to be specific, I had a project mapping a garbage dump. It was all bright lights and glamor at that point in my career. The dump was a cone shaped mound that rose more than 100 feet from the billiard table like terrain. The top of the mound was perpetually covered with scavenging sea gulls. They picked through the disposable diapers and frozen dinner containers and placed a patina of gull guano all over the dump.
There was a pair of Bald Eagles who built an aerie in the tall yellow leaf pines surrounding the site. We found the nest by looking at the ground around the base of the trees. Once we found a mess of fish bones, gull bones, eagle down and poop, we knew which tree contained their aerie. We diligently placed caution tape around a fifty foot diameter ring around the tree to help preserve the nest.
Every day, three of four times a day, one of the eagles would take Wing and swoop low across the convention of gulls. The sea gulls weren't dummies. They sensed the flight of the eagles and would split as soon as possible. It looked to me like someone was opening a zipper on a gull sweater. They flew off with due haste as they knew any one of them might just become lunch.
I have an icon to a southwest Florida bald eagle cam on my desktop. It is idle right now because the last eaglet left the premises to resettle probably up north somewhere on May 2.
Harriet and M-1, mom and dad, are still in the area but enjoying the summer for now. They will shore up the huge nest, 90 feet above the ground, this fall and the new eaglet or eaglets will hatch probably in November or December. M-1 is Harriet's second mate. Her first husband, Ozzie, died two or three years ago. But they are a great pair and good parents taking turns incubating the eggs and hunting--the hunter brings food back to whoever is on the nest. And once the eaglets hatch, they have to work from dawn to dusk to keep the hungry little ones fed along with themselves. Bald eagles mate for life and are monogamous unless no offspring result from the union in which case they go their separate ways and seek out new mates.
If ya'll will remind me, I'll post the link to the eagle cam this fall if anybody is interested in watching.
eagle feeds eaglets a cat - - Yahoo Video Search Results
While I've seen a hawk's shadow send squirrels and chipmunks scurrying, I never worried about my fourteen pound miniature poodle. But we have Eagles here too nesting out around the state park.
Daisy and I will be sticking close to home.
I don't think anything over 5 lbs or so has much to worry about from the eagles. A 14 lb dog is pretty safe from any bird of prey, Even a large great horned owl who can out lift any eagle couldn't carry more than 8 or 9 pounds.
What comes around, goes around. While anecdotal here, we recognize that eagles prey on cats, small dogs, and even baby goats.The mourning doves coo gently here too. Mom currently has a nesting pair at the Big House. She has named them George and Gracie.The wife saw the hawk again this morning chasing a grey dove.Pop's hobby was reading. He didn't golf, fish, hunt, work with wood nor clay nor paints. We never knew what Pop had read so buying him gifts of books never worked out.
One Christmas Pop said he might like a bird feeder for the west lawn at the Big House. That opened the flood gates and Pop got bird feeders for that Christmas, the next Father's Day and his birthday. Bird feeders festooned the lawns and soon Pop was keen on bird watching. Finches, Nut Hatches, Jays, Cardinals and Titmice were all over the grounds Andy under Pop's binocular aided view.
One fine spring day a Blue Jay sat at a suet cake encrusted with black sunflower seeds. As he munched away a Cooper's Hawk swooped down from the Sugar Maple not thirty feet away. The suet begat the Jay and the Jay begat the Hawk. It tore that Jay stem to stern as Pop watched in rapt fascination.
When Mom came into the kitchen where Pop was watching nature play its cruel game she was horrified!
"Just like Marlin Perkin's Wild Kingdom!" said Pop with a small bit of glee.
We were told no more bird feeders by my gentle mother.
Those are mourning doves, very prolific year round here and in the lower elevations of the Sandia and Manazano mountains. If you have a lot of trees and shrubbery on your property they probably have a nest or two there.
It was interesting that the scrub jays on the mountain harrassed and bullied all the smaller birds up there, but they couldn't bully the mourning doves who got along with everything but them. If the jays got too obnoxious, the doves would run them off allowing the little birds to go to the feeders unmolested.
But it was interesting. Everybody--jays, sparrows, nutcatches, grosbeaks, finches, doves, etc. would go flat to the ground or flatten out on the deck when the shadow of the golden eagles passed over them.
I've told this story before, but it bears repeating.
When I lived on the sunny coast of west Florida, Sarasota to be specific, I had a project mapping a garbage dump. It was all bright lights and glamor at that point in my career. The dump was a cone shaped mound that rose more than 100 feet from the billiard table like terrain. The top of the mound was perpetually covered with scavenging sea gulls. They picked through the disposable diapers and frozen dinner containers and placed a patina of gull guano all over the dump.
There was a pair of Bald Eagles who built an aerie in the tall yellow leaf pines surrounding the site. We found the nest by looking at the ground around the base of the trees. Once we found a mess of fish bones, gull bones, eagle down and poop, we knew which tree contained their aerie. We diligently placed caution tape around a fifty foot diameter ring around the tree to help preserve the nest.
Every day, three of four times a day, one of the eagles would take Wing and swoop low across the convention of gulls. The sea gulls weren't dummies. They sensed the flight of the eagles and would split as soon as possible. It looked to me like someone was opening a zipper on a gull sweater. They flew off with due haste as they knew any one of them might just become lunch.
I have an icon to a southwest Florida bald eagle cam on my desktop. It is idle right now because the last eaglet left the premises to resettle probably up north somewhere on May 2.
Harriet and M-1, mom and dad, are still in the area but enjoying the summer for now. They will shore up the huge nest, 90 feet above the ground, this fall and the new eaglet or eaglets will hatch probably in November or December. M-1 is Harriet's second mate. Her first husband, Ozzie, died two or three years ago. But they are a great pair and good parents taking turns incubating the eggs and hunting--the hunter brings food back to whoever is on the nest. And once the eaglets hatch, they have to work from dawn to dusk to keep the hungry little ones fed along with themselves. Bald eagles mate for life and are monogamous unless no offspring result from the union in which case they go their separate ways and seek out new mates.
If ya'll will remind me, I'll post the link to the eagle cam this fall if anybody is interested in watching.
eagle feeds eaglets a cat - - Yahoo Video Search Results
