David, at least you are staying out of that other exotic Asian dove location, "This site is for consenting adults only and should only be accessed by adults over the age of 21." Or did you? I'm not sure if there is any "native" plant invasive in my yard or garden. Amongst the dozens of weeds, they're all from the "old world" (& then there's your Russian olive). I don't have a good excuse for the pleasure I had at learning that the black locust trees are considered invasive in western Europe. The islands are terribly impacted but we're told that the development of so many useful domestic species is a result of the size and diversity of the Eurasian landmass. The Suez canal or not, Africa is a part of that same landmass. Over in the tomato forum, Carolyn linked to an article on genetic diversity. The authors' idea was that one of the reasons for problems of low resistance to pests in the older varieties was that the tomato gene pool was isolated in Europe by limited importation of tomato seed centuries ago. Utilizing new strains from South America in plant breeding wasn't undertaken until the 1950's. Genes from resistant varieties were very successfully made use of after that. Also, hybrid vigor is significant in those older crosses. Seems like it sometimes takes the people of the old world to take what is here and then give it back to us in a more appreciated form. The Russell lupin is an example but I'm not sure what the people or fauna of New Zealand think of the lupin invading acres of land there. Or, what they think about the American wild turkey or California Valley quail, for that matter. I believe you make some use of the German brown trout and where'd these Chinese ring-neck pheasants come from? The wild turkey is around here in what must be record numbers. I doubt if it was ever here prehistorically. With global warming, maybe we'll get that lesser goldfinch up here. But, will the Bohemian waxwing still come south from Canada every Winter? Oh, gosh. I'd fly away myself out of sheer nervousness but where would I go? Steve's digits

HTown, don't be too comfortable with them. I've been feeding the ones in our yard off and on for awhile, but I never get too close to them. No matter how "familiar" you may be with them, they still have an instinctive distrust for people and they have the potential to be dangerous. Most people don't like them because they've had bad experiences with them, just like many other types of wildlife that invade or wreak some form of destruction on their property, and that's completely understandable. They can also be aggressive towards pets. I made a point of mentioning to my neighbors that there were raccoons active in our area. If you get to feeding them and slack off, they could move on to another property where they're not as welcome and that could have negative consequences for the neighbor, the raccoon or both. I'm not saying don't feed or enjoy them, but make sure you educate yourself on them before you get into it on a regular or semi-regular basis. Make sure there are no means for them to access your house including the roof and chimney, because once they know where the food is coming from they could try to find an easier way to get to it. It's best not to leave food for them near your house for this reason. One of the first things I did when I knew how much they came around was make sure they couldn't get on our roof from any trees, the area around our deck was sealed, and our chimney cap was secure. I added chicken(Actually smaller gapped fencing than chicken wire) wire around the opening to ensure there was no access.(Something I was going to do anyway to deter the birds that ended up in our living room.) This link I found can cover it a little more indepth. These are just tips, but they can be helpful. Feeding Tips I guess my message is it's fine to enjoy them, but make sure you know what you're getting yourself in for, as there are a few things to consider. :-)

The hawk in Menifee, CA can only be a Cooper's Hawk but it is an oddly-colored one. Something going on with the feathers, such as a heavy molt or missing feathers for some other reason. If you have other photos please post.

Well look what I woke up to this morning! The sharp shinned having his breakfast right outside the kitchen window! If only he wasn't hiding in all the shrubbery, it would have been a nicer picture. Looks like a collard dove he got himself, which I don't mind at all. He can eat every last one as far as I'm concerned. Pretty amazing, the doves are every bit as big as he is (though, they are kind of slow movers, especially after gorging themselves on our *expensive* bird seeds). And remember when I said That owl pic was probably the last one I'd ever take? Well, I wasn't counting on finding them in the middle of the day! I was walking around Chatfield SP this afternoon and came across three of them napping in the cottonwoods (one burst out of the dead branches and took off before I even knew it was there). The smaller one flew away after it decided it had had enough me, and smacked the one next to it right in the face as it took off (which was pretty funny) but the bigger one stuck around and I got quite a few pictures of it before letting it get it's rest for a long night of looking for mice and stuff. And these fuzzy mulies were hanging out right next to the truck when I got back to the parking lot. Awwww!