Once again, no photos from Randy, but hopefully, I'll be able to redeem myself with some accounts of things I've witnessed and heard. :D Account #1 - While up at my folks' this weekend, Mom spotted a praying mantis on one of her plants. I then noticed that it was eating a grasshopper (YIPPEE!!). It was so cool watching it bite into the critter and chew. LOVE those mantises! THEN, some wasps that we commonly refer to as "meat bees" started taking interest in the mantis's meal. They would fly up, try to land, and get smacked away by the mantis! Its reflexes were so strong and fast, we could hear the whacking sound and see the wasps hitting the ground! At one point, the mantis even let one wasp nibble on the back end (less tender? LOL) of the grasshopper, while it continued to munch on the front. As long as the wasps didn't infringe too much on the mantis's area, everything was dandy. :D Account #2 - The barn owl has really been vocal in the early morning hours here. It seems to be on a routine of sorts, feeding, or making noise, every couple of days or three. The other morning, when the barn owl seemed to be taking a break, I heard another sound which I can only describe as a "deep, resonating" hoooOOO, hoo-hoo-hoo, repeated just like that, over and over, with breaks in between. No gutteral sounds, though. Another type of OWL?! I've tried looking for this sound ALL over the place online, but I can't seem to nail it down. When I first heard it, I thought it surely was an owl. It has that classic owl sound to it, but then again, I've never heard a "classic" owl sound in person. LOL Then, due to call descriptions in my book, I thought it might be a band-tailed pigeon, but the sounds online just don't match. However, none of the owl sounds seem to match, either! And it's definitely not one of the Eurasian collared doves (or ringed-necked turtle doves?) which have been hanging around. The sound is VERY deep and VERY resonating (almost a bass sound), and yesterday morning, DH and I heard BOTH the barn owl and this mysterious creature at the same time! I sure hope we can ID this soon....before it's gone! I'm so tempted to get a night-vision something-or-other so we can put this mystery to rest! Brenda

Ohh, too cool! It's so exciting when a new bird shows up and you got a picture too! I just bought a subscription to the Birds of North AMerica website and this is what they say about Eurasion Collared-Doves.... One of many successful species introduced to the North American fauna in recent history, the Eurasian Collared-Dove was first released in the New World on New Providence, Bahamas, in the mid-1970s. Since its introduction, this dove has spread quickly across the North American continent. Reports of this bird continue at a rapid pace as the public is made aware of its presence Fairly uniformly distributed in Florida, Georgia, and along the Gulf Coast of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Locally common in Alabama, Arkansas, sw. California, se. Colorado, and regions of Illinois, Kan-sas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, N. Carolina, Oklahoma, S. Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. Reports of small numbers (1Â10 doves) from Arizona, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, New Jersey, N. Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, S. Dakota, and Wisconsin, as well as Saskatchewan, Canada. May occur in Mexico; all sw. Texas counties have reported observations. ... But not in Ohio :^( There diet consists of .... In North America, seeds and cereal grain offered from bird feeders and spilled from agriculture. Includes seeds of millet (Setaria spp.), sunflower (Helianthus spp.), milo (Sorghum spp.), wheat (Triticum spp.), and maize (Zea mays). Reported also to take spilled peanuts (Arachis hypogaea) from warehouse (Drennen 1997), fallen pecans (Carya illinoensis) crushed by automobiles on road (Steele 1998), crackers, and bread (CMR). Same male observed eating berries directly from Dahoon holly (Ilex cassine) every day for a week in early Aug 2001 in s. Florida (CMR). Flocks seen feeding on gravel in parking lots in Florida (CMR). And thanks Brenda, I haven't had any new birds in awhile so it was fun to research something new!

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

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.