Today I had another opportunity for photos. Got some but they are too far away. Did witness it hunting smaller birds flying over the field. Then later I was out on the terrace talking on the phone wit my Mom. Noticed a whole lotta turkey vultures gathering in a swirl in the sky-just circling like a tornado. There were a good 300 and they just kept gathering from the west. When it got to be about 500 they moved further east to gather with another couple thousand we saw off in the distance!! Couldnt believe it!!! Wish I could have got a picture for you Kathy!! Earlier in the year we were on our way to church. (our church building is in the middle of a field on the SW section of the Mojave Desert). A "dog" passed in front of us just on the property border of our church. Well it was a coyote and it had a turkey vulture in it's mouth!!! Thought it WAS a turkey at first. It was good to see the wild doing so well in it's natural surroundings!!! Have a great Friday. Love, Jules

They are about ready to fledge. Not far from us a couple of houses are under siege. A pair of red-tailed hawks build a nest in a tree right next to the deck. Not only does the deck get pretty messy, the owners of the house cannot use it, their next door neighbor had a vegetable garden and can't tend it and if they go out the front door, they have to defend themselves with rakes or anything else long, in order to get to the mailbox. They had the problem last year, were allowed to take down the nest after the chicks had left, but they rebuilt this year. They were advised to take down the tree. The owls have left the nest, the loon in Minnesota is still sitting on her eggs and the storks in Germany lost the last baby to hatch, but four was a bit much to raise, even three are hard to feed. A couple of Blue Jays think I am their foster mother and beg every time I go out. Young squirrels were also told to stay here and since 3 days a racoon spends his days sleeping in the big oak. Not to forget the Cardinal who sits twice a day on a dogwood branch next to the backdoor and sings for his peanut. How am I supposed to get any work done?

Noooooooo - I'm not gonna stop feeding them. That's what annoys DH. (grin) I'll just hang crap all over the house to spook them off the house! LOL I'm an animal person. He had a problem with a bird in his grill and couldn't keep them out. I told him get a cover. He wouldn't. So I suggested he get another grill. One for the birds, one for him. (grin) He looked at me like I grew 3 heads. (grin) And said "Yea, that would be YOUR solution." Re: Nature, food, etc. I had a very bad experience in CA. A raven raided a small Finch nest. It was horrible. The screaming, the babies, and at one point, I couldn't distinguish between who was screaming, me or the other birds. Blood everywhere. I started hurling rocks and banana peels and anything I could find on my deck. Screaming as I ran down the road hurling stuff in the air. (Yep, I looked like a lunatic) I tried to save the one remaining baby. The raven came back looking for it. That gave me the willies. Momma was feeding it - but I think it fell out of the makeshift nest I made. It was only days from fledging. Maybe it made it. I'll never know. I don't cope well with that. Little too much National Geographic in my back yard. I know it goes on, but I don't need to see it. Later when I was feeding a young raven, Pepper, I made sure he had PLENTY of dog food. Doesn't need to eat my baby birds. (grin) I agree about the building out. We have lots of deer around here. We're trying real hard not to build so hard that we decimate their area. They're so beautiful.

Dragonladytoo, Sounds like a pretty smart dog! I have nothing good to say about HOAs so I'll just say I could NEVER live in a home in an area "ruled" by an HOA. They have FINALLY passed a long-needed law in Texas saying HOAs cannot make or enforce any rules that interfere with conservation-type projects.....so, now people in Texas in HOA neighborhoods can xeriscape, have rainwater collection systems, etc. Since the law passed, many Texas homeowners can finally garden in a way that makes sense to them ecologically. Annie, Sorry about the loss of your little pullet. It is just so frustrating, I know. Some years we lose a few, but so far this year we haven't lost any. (Crossing my fingers and hoping I didn't just jinx us and the birds.) Our original bunch of guineas from 2000 has dwindled from 20-something to 3, and we've lost most of them to predators like hawks. We're currently raising 17 keets in a brooder cage inside the chicken coop, so soon we'll have more guineas, but with all the hawks, I don't know how long they will last. I let them free range every day in the summer, but have to keep them in their enclosed bird run (with a bird netting top) a lot more in the winter. We have a fairly young Heinz 57 dog that our DS rescued and adopted last June after the Gainesville, Texas flood left her homeless. I have no idea what breeds are combined in her, but she is a long, lanky hound-dog looking bundle of energy who has made it her mission in life to chase every hawk, owl, kestrel, kite, egret, and heron that attempts to land in the yard. She doesn't bother the songbirds or the free-ranging poultry, but she doesn't tolerate any bird that is going to prey on anything on land or water on our piece of property. I'd love to have ducks, too, but we have too many wild animals that prey upon them. We tried having some after we first moved here, and some of our neighbors did too, and they just don't stand a chance because our woods/pastures are full of bobcats, foxes, ringtailed cats, coyotes and the occasional panther or cougar. I do think that our birds survive longer nowadays because the tiny trees we planted after we moved here finally have gotten large enough to provide them with some cover around the house. Dawn