Northern Cardinal with a large tick on his face
8 years ago
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8 years ago- 8 years ago
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What happened to the cardinals?
Comments (9)Dorothy, I'm inclined to think that the long, cold spring was hard on them. We still were having freezing temperatures sporadically as late as the first week in May, and I am willing to bet that had a negative impact on their population. Bird populations do fluctuate naturally on their own too, although I think that the cardinal population here at our place does not fluctuate nearly as much as the population of some other birds. Other possibilities would include: ---heavy spraying of chemical pesticides aimed at pests like grasshoppers in your geographic region, even if you are not using chemical pesticides yourself. When the farmers and ranchers around us spray their pastures heavily because of a severe grasshopper infestation, our bird populations drop fairly quickly, and I feel certain the two are linked. ---as odd and counterintuitive as this will sound, some bird populations drop during years in which there is big cicada hatch. You'd expect the population of birds to soar since there are so many cicadas to eat, but that's not what happens. So, if you had a large number of cicadas this year, they could be responsible. Discovery magazine had a blog post about the relationship between the cicada population and the bird population back in either the summer or the fall. If I can find it, I'll link it. I don't think it offered any conclusions about the relationship between an increased cicada population and a decreased bird population, but it was an interesting article. As for the question of diet, I put out a blend of several different kinds of seeds and have cardinals there eating no matter what is in that mix. If I only put out cracked corn for the doves, I'll find cardinals eating the cracked corn. If I put out sunflower seeds or a wild bird mix that includes sunflower seeds, though, I'll have tons more cardinals. So, I find it hard to imagine that they are staying away because you've been putting out only sunflower seeds. If I don't put out anything at all, they go to the chicken run and eat hen scratch. While they seem to prefer sunflower seeds, they will eat whatever is available. I've never had them disappear because all that I put out was sunflower seeds. We had a lot of cardinals this summer, as we almost always do, but seem to have fewer now. One odd thing I have noticed is that the males are feeding at a spot on the edge of the woods where I normally feed deer, rabbits and squirrels. The females are feeding at a spot just outside my kitchen window where I put out a general songbird blend plus extra sunflower seeds. They are not always as segregated by sex as they have been this fall and winter, and I don't know why it is occurring. I guess the male birds did something stupid (grin) and the females are mad at them and are refusing to be seen in public with them until they straighten up and fly right, pun intended. Some years when we have a higher population of small predators, like bobcats and foxes, the bird population really seems to drop I don't know that the bobcat and fox population is up this year, but the bird population seems like it is down a little bit. We're having more trouble with the population of predators that are larger than bobcats, but I don't know if those larger predators bother with birds. If they are not showing up to eat anything/everything you have out for them in this cold, snowy, icy weather, I am inclined to think the population is at a down cycle and not that they don't like the food you are offering. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Discovery Blog Post: Cicadas/Birds...See Morecardinal attacking window
Comments (5)We had the same thing happen to us, but it was a male. We put in a new window on the side of our house, and a male cardinal flew into the window and 'attacked" it repeatedly... it went on all day long for months. I printed out a picture of a hawk and taped it to the window... that didn't help. Perhaps the size wasn't right or I picked out a wrong hawk... or my cardinal was too smart. My husband eventually put up some chicken wire on the outside of the window.. that stopped him. We left it on for a few months. The cardinal stayed away. We thought we were ok to take it off and when we did the cardinal came back, lol. I am not sure what was the reason... I thought perhaps the male saw his reflection and thought he needed to attack another cardinal? Not sure.. but in any case, he hasn't come back in the past year and I"m happy to not have chickenwire on my window....See MorePaint shade for large north facing room
Comments (20)Jeannie01 offers a great example of how any hue family can work in a north-facing room. It's so strange what's happened with the north-facing room and white paint commentary on blogs. There's no scientific basis or reasoning for any of it. In fact, there's actually plenty of examples like Jeannie's to counter what I consider "new urban legends of color". Donald Kaufman said something in one of his books about white paint and dim rooms. And it is true to a certain degree. A can of white paint base with one or two shots of colorant is not going to have a very interesting spectral reflectance curve - or color fingerprint to work with and partner with the unique quality of light in a dim, north-facing room. The solution is to find the right white. Maybe easier said than done. Quality of light refers to spectral distribution - the bundle of wavelengths that make up the light in a space. So, you have two parts that need to work together. Spectral reflectance - a color's fingerprint and the spectral distribution - the bundle of wavelengths or atmosphere. North light is spectrally balanced when you look at its fingerprint/spectral distribution. It is typically heavy in the blue wavelength department but it's balanced out enough that north-facing rooms is preferred by artists in the know about color. Artists like north facing rooms for the spectral wavelength balance but also because north light is indirect light. Natural, north light never beams directly into a space. Rather it bounces, tumbles and spills in. Any hue family can work in north facing rooms. Including blues, blue-greens. The secret is nuance. Nuance is how light or dark plus how vivid or dull. Nuance is about considering those two color characteristics at the same time. How that shakes out is light to midtone colors that lean more clear and crisp are usually good candidates for north facing rooms. Paint colors that are midtone to deep are good candidates for north facing rooms if you want to create some drama and moodiness in the space. Lastly, I never recommend looking at color formulas because they provide no tangible direction whatsoever and it's a complete waste of time. The only thing that matters is what the color looks like when it's dry. However, I have one exception. And that's yellow paint colors for north facing rooms. You want to avoid yellows mixed using black colorant. When you mix yellow colorant and black colorant you (can) get olive green. Yellow paint colors with black in the formula tend to have a green-yellow hue bias. No black will land you squarely in the yellow hue family neighborhood and/or more towards an yellow-red hue bias....See MoreAnother thing you can get from ticks: Anaplasmosis
Comments (6)Hello people here is the story that is currently unfolding as of 6/12/17: My 72 year old mother was telling me during a Mid June phone convo that her allergies had gotten the best of her. Headache, chills, nausea, bones hurting, etc. I told her, "mom that really doesn't sound like allergies." She then said, "well maybe I have the flu then?" I told her it would be really strange to be getting the flu in the middle of June. Mind you, just a few days before this I had read a news article online about a little girl who died from Rocky Mountain spotted fever and the rise of the powassun virus due to tick bites. I warned mom about prevention since she is always out in the woods and became a bit paranoid myself about those creepy little black legged ticks. I saw her a few days later and she was still out of sorts : fatigued, couldn't eat dinner, sunlight bothering her, and a bit loopy. I told her she better go to the doctor asap. She was now claiming that she must have gotten food poisoning. I asked her if she noticed any ticks on her lately and she said yes but the bite didn't have a red ring around it so she was not worried. I told her I was worried because the symptoms she was suffering from seemed a bit out of the ordinary even for the flu or what not. I told her how she was feeling sounded a lot like Lymes disease and she sort of agreed. I saw her the next morning and she seemed really out of it and had developed a red rash on her legs. I begged her to go to the doctor that very minute but she gave all kinds of excuses like....have to take a shower, have to sort my pills, etc. I told her I would call her in 2 hours and if she was not already in the waiting room i was gonna call the paramedics on her ! (but that was just really a joke to show how concerned I was and that she really needed medical attention) she went to the hospital, got her blood tested, received negative results, and they sent her home saying she probably just had little virus or something. she said she was feeling a little better next couple days but still fatigued and could not eat. I told her she better go see another doctor because there was clearly something amiss and I had heard too many stories of people thinking things will be just fine if they wait it out and end up really needing help. we live on a reservation so she decided to go to the IHS for a second blood workup... this time the doctor clued into the tick info and sent out for a bunch of additional tests. Results : she has had anaplasmosis for at least 2 weeks now and just started taking antibiotics. It is a serious tick borne disease and people can die from it (very few do but still very scary) morals of this long winded minimally punctuated re telling of my poor mom's run in with a disease carrying tick: 1. If you are feeling sick for more than a couple days with all kinds weird intense symptoms and you got bit by a tick: GO TO The Doctor ! And tell them you were bit by a tick! 2. Just because the word "hospital" seems to carry more clout than the word "clinic" don't believe the hype. Sometimes smaller is better. Always ask for a 2nd opinion if you are not feeling comfortable with the diagnosis or lack of diagnosis. Healthcare professionals in all environments no matter what background can misdiagnose even if they mostly give stellar care. Find a doctor with a good reputation and one who cares more about you than the ten minute rotational schedule or fiscal parameters they are forced to navigate due to a broken American healthcare system....See More- 8 years ago
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