Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

No Justins, No Peace

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

He really is that stupid.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / That Was Kind of Cool

That Was Kind of Cool

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We just had a great thunderstorm with lots of mean looking purple clouds and loud cracking thunder and great bolts of lightning at the forefront of the show, highlighted by heat lightning in the distance, and I sat outside and watched it because my two favorite things to do when it is raining are to sleep or watch the storm. At any rate, after the storm passed, there was this beautiful reddish-pink sky (obligatory Red Skies at Night link):

backporch

I’m hoping the color comes out, because it was kind of amazing. At any rate, there was a male mourning dove perched somewhere singing his perch-coo, and after I had been out there a few minutes, I noticed he was doing it with perfect timing, so I started counting. After the end of the final coo, I did the one thousand on1, one thousand two, etc. I counted for ten minutes, and it was always eleven one thousand when his perch-coo would start again.

Oh, and this is what a mourning dove sounds like if you have never heard one. They are just awesome to listen to, especially in the morning when the other chirpy birds are flittering around and in the background yet you hear the constant soulful refrain of the dove. It’s the AM aria around here.

Reader Interactions

166Comments

  3. 3.

    gbear

    If you want to have a flock of happy mourning doves near your yard, put some safflower seed in a tray-type feeder. They’d hang around all winter in MN and there were mornings that I would have 3 dozen of them sitting in the trees across the street waiting for their safflower. They just love it.

    Edit: Sorry John, there were no comments on the thread when I started writing mine, but I was too slow.

  4. 4.

    Renie

    Those are my two favorites in the rain; sitting on the porch watching or listening before going to sleep.

  6. 6.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    I’ve been trying to catch a storm under the awning outside for a week now and it won’t freaking rain. It starts to look like it’s going to rain and then it blows on through without raining.

  9. 9.

    Violet

    We had doves nest above the window on the porch. Then we had baby doves. So cute!

    I love dramatic skies. My favorite is the green sky you get when a hail storm is near. Don’t like the hail, but the sky is so cool.

  11. 11.

    MikeJ

    Just had a thunderstorm here with actual thunder. We never get thunder here. Our rain is usually just a constant drizzle from October to May.

  14. 14.

    PeakVT

    I can’t believe Cole is posting about fuzzy-wuzzy shit instead of my favorite topic. This blog needs to get serious.

  16. 16.

    Poopyman

    That was a good idea to put the mourning dove audio there. Being a Pennsylvanian/Marylander I just take it for granted everybody knows the call.

    I sure hope the storms make it to the Bay. We can use a break from the heat, although yesterday I did exactly what you described above when we had our light show.

    I wonder if somewhere online there’s a woodthrush call, complete with reverb from the echoes in the deep woods.

  18. 18.

    Dclaw1

    I absolutely love the call of a mourning dove. So with you on that one. Was always one of my favorite sounds during childhood, hearing it on a cool Pennsylvania night through my open window as the summer light faded.

  25. 25.

    Jerzy Russian

    @raven: Yup, that is a lot of rain. It is probably more than we get here in San Diego all year. I can imagine that building shit in the mud would be hard.

    Also, that is one cool looking owl. Are its eyes that red, or is that an artifact of the photo?

  26. 26.

    Violet

    @PeakVT: Cole’s post proves he’s a firebagger and/or a Republican who loves drones and doesn’t care about blah people/women/Latinos.

  38. 38.

    red dog

    I moved to CA from CT 20 years ago and the things I miss the most are thunderstorms, old stone walls and sarcasm. Every one is way to uptight about themselves out here. Big ole cracking loud boomers and a good downpour seems to cleanse the mind too.

  45. 45.

    raven

    @Steeplejack: I’ve bored people to death with this story but we tore down half the deck and started grading for an addition when we hit the sewer line and were shut down by the city. They are going to move the line but it’s going to take months. When they do it the garden that is beyond the ditch is going to be destroyed.

  46. 46.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @MikeJ: When I lived up there, there were t-shirts that said “Seattle Rain Festival, July 1st- June 30th”. But then again, that was 30 years ago, climate change I guess.

  47. 47.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    We just had a hell of a thunderstorm go through, it was banging and clattering like hell, and now the frogs are singing up a storm in my back yard, it is like a Paul McCartney song out there.

  48. 48.

    gbear

    @schrodinger’s cat: I’ve got a neighbor cat that comes up on my porch and taunts my two indoor cats. My cats get upset and wind up fighting with each other when they can’t get at the visiting cat.

    When my cats start yowling, I know now to go over to the window with a spray bottle. I’ve managed two direct hits on the visiting cat, and he really HATES it. This is good. I want him to get the fuck lost.

    I celebrated my birthday today by buying myself a walking cane. Somehow I fucked up my knee last week. The xrays look OK but I don’t have an appointment with the podiatrist until after the holiday. Hurts like hell to walk.

  49. 49.

    IowaOldLady

    Friend of mine hiked the length of the Appalachian Trail (for real as far as I know) and he says that in the evening, the bird song gradually changed from day sounds to night sounds, but in the morning, there was a break of absolute silence for the switch. He says it woke him up every day. That sounded magical to me.

  54. 54.

    Redshirt

    Heh. I was just thinking Morning Doves are my least favorite bird of the many now gathering daily at my bird feeder. Some are brave, and will hang out on the feeder even if I’m walking nearby. The doves, on the other hand – and there are 5 – will scatter like a shot anytime they hear my step, crying like little bird scaredy cats all the while. Wimps.

    Look at those chickadees, checking me out!

  56. 56.

    Zapruder F. Mashtots, D.D.S. (Mumphrey, et al.)

    I love watching thunderstorms. When I go back to Honduras, I always like to stay in the Hotel Tela. It’s the kind of place you’d think of if you were thinking of an old hotel in a small town on the Caribbean. It’s big, always only half full even though it only has 12 rooms, and it’s kind of seedy, in a colorful way. It has huge, high ceilings, they must be 12 or 15 feet high, and big huge windows and transoms, and because of that, it’s always cool, even on the hottest day.

    Anyway, it has a big open porch on the top floor, no roof. I’d sit out there in the evenings, way up above the skeeters, and watch the hills off to the southwest. Every night, there was a terrific thunderstorm way off to the west, beyond the hills. It was always too far to hear anything, and we’d have no clouds at all over us in Tela, but the lightning was something to see. Those little towns in the Ulua Valley, southwest of the ridge south of the coast that runs southeast-northwest, man, they get pounded every damned night. It’s a hell of a show.

  59. 59.

    Redshirt

    @efgoldman: I’ve got a crew of 4-8 Bluejays that visit my feeders regularly. I don’t like ’em. They’re pretty, but aggressive, big, and screechy. Also, they steal other bird’s eggs. No other bird likes them, but I will note I saw a Morning Dove pushing a couple away on the ground, so maybe a few Morning Dove’s aren’t total fraidy cats.

  60. 60.

    schrodinger's cat

    @gbear: We had a similar incident a couple of years ago. One of their fights became so ugly, that I felt I had to intervene to save my orange kitteh, big mistake. Boss cat bit me and the bite got infected. My hand was swollen to twice its size. Very painful.

    Your injury sounds painful, take care of yourself.

  61. 61.

    Yatsuno

    Good job Massholes. Hopefully Gomez will be reduced to crying about cheating and ACORN now. But he’ll get some sweet sweet wingnut welfare too.

  62. 62.

    beltane

    My favorite bird call is that of the white throated sparrow, it captures the essence of the north woods like no amount of peotry can.

  63. 63.

    gbear

    @Redshirt: That’s not the sound of Doves crying. That’s the sound of air passing through their wing feathers.

    This is what it sounds like when Doves cry.

    I’ve got a nesting box full of chickadees right now. I can see them coming and going just over the top of my monitor. I’m waiting for the day when they’re all out of the nest and visiting their feeder.

  66. 66.

    Poopyman

    @Redshirt:

    The doves, on the other hand – and there are 5 – will scatter like a shot anytime they hear my step, crying like little bird scaredy cats all the while. Wimps.

    Are you talking about the whistling sound? That’s the wind through their pinfeathers.

  67. 67.

    eemom

    I guess it’s as good a time as any to announce that henceforth I shall be citing John Cole for all my legal opinions. And probly all my other opinions too.

  68. 68.

    PeakVT

    @raven: Send those birds over to mob Scalia or Alito next time. That owl isn’t trying to trash our country.

  69. 69.

    Redshirt

    @gbear: LOL. Nice follow through. :)

    Is that true though? That little cry when they take off and fly is the wind, not them whimpering like fraidy cats?

  70. 70.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    @efgoldman: Or … maybe not. Our son had one in the woods near his house. The owl kept swooping down, trying to grab his head. It succeeded one night – no stitches needed, but a fair amount of blood.

  72. 72.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    @Litlebritdifrnt: Exactly what we had here in Iowa yesterday, with four and a half inches of rain – the most in whatever time period since 1993.

  73. 73.

    Poopyman

    Once upon a time we went to Carmel, CA for a wedding and stayed in an old inn downtown. There were no bugs anywhere, and no screens on the windows. There were no birds, either, except for pidgeons. The dusk was totally silent except for the occasional coo. Totally weird, and I was glad to get home.

  78. 78.

    Redshirt

    I need to buy a bird book – any recommendations? Northeast birds only, though. Maybe some other flora and fauna if possible.

    Needs to have great pictures.

  80. 80.

    AnonPhenom.

    @John Cole:
    Thanks for the link to the BirdJam website. Truly awesome stuff.
    Can’t wait to show it to my better half who is a lover of all of nature’s winged children.

  83. 83.

    burnspbesq

    @eemom:

    henceforth I shall be citing John Cole for all my legal opinions

    If you don’t want to practice any more, just quit. No need to get disbarred.

  84. 84.

    Redshirt

    @gbear: Thanks for the learning! I just got into the birds, so my knowledge is limited. But wow, do I enjoy it. I’ve got a regular crew of 10-12 types of birds showing up these days. It’s busy most of the day – yellow birds, red birds, a black and white bird, a beautiful little bluebird just started stopping by. Lots of chickadees and juncos. The doves, the jays, and the occasional woodpecker, who’s also woken me up 2 of the last 3 days by pounding on the wall just outside my bedroom. Not cool, woodpecker!

  86. 86.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    @raven: I dunno – big f’kn owl, with delusions of grandeur. There must be a Latin name for that.

  87. 87.

    Yatsuno

    @raven: Heh. Heard lots of interesting tales about Marine officers from a, well, Marine officer. His opinion tended to vary but erred on the side of are you kidding me stupid.

  88. 88.

    AB

    The mourning doves are cute, but I’m not sure there are stupider birds. Convincing them they don’t want to be run over is sometimes a challenge.

  89. 89.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    @gbear: The guy who rents our farmland is still trying put soybeans in (June 18 is usually the absolute last date for that, as I recall). The fields all look like ponds and lakes. So different from last year … and so not good

  92. 92.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    @Redshirt: I’ve been keeping a bird diary since we moved to the country ten years ago – 64 species so far. I am so hooked. We’ve even had pelicans fly over.

  95. 95.

    p.a.

    @efgoldman: hmm. I’m in Prov. and the jays are back strong here after being MIA a few years. The scrub woodlot behind me is overrun with oriental bittersweet, which I hate, but trees covered with it do become bird condos. One tree overhanging my yard had mocker, catbird, cardinal nests pretty much at the same time. Is there a handsomer bird than a catbird? Understated elegance.

  96. 96.

    Emma

    BBC Radio 4 has a show called Tweet of the Day. Lasts 90 seconds. A different UK bird each day, sounds plus some facts about the species.

    British radio is a joy.

  97. 97.

    Redshirt

    @The Fat Kate Middleton: That’s my plan too. I need to learn their names first, so I got to get a book. I’d also like to take better photos, but it’s hard to get close, my lens is too small, and I don’t have the patience to hide out in a blind for hours. Yet.

  98. 98.

    gbear

    @Redshirt: I worked part time in a store that sells wild bird food, feeders and houses for a couple of years. It was actually about the most fun you could have in retail. No one came in unless they were interested.

    My two favorite books are the Golden and National Geographic bird guides because they have the map of the bird’s range on the same page as the bird description. It saved a lot of time. They don’t have the best illustrations though. I would also recommend the Sibley bird guide and I know there are a couple others that are favorites for their photos and graphics, but I can’t remember their names now. I think Peterson was one of them…

  101. 101.

    seaboogie

    @John Cole: Here’s some positive for you John. We’ve had an unusual few days of summer rain here in Sonoma too. On my way to my car from work (in an Italian style villa that houses a winery and an olive mill and is surrounded by vineyards and wetlands at the entrance to Sonoma valley) I had to stop to watch and listen to a mockingbird in a small Sycamore tree, because she was working it! What a delight!

  102. 102.

    raven

    @gbear: I’d explore iBooks. The one I got on skulls was much richer than any paper book.

    “This book is nothing short of fantastic. Stunning visuals, a kaleidoscope of sounds that introduce the range of songs and calls of each of the twenty species, and really interesting bits of natural history thrown in.”
    “

  104. 104.

    Roger Moore

    @Redshirt:

    I need to buy a bird book – any recommendations?

    Get the Sibley Guide. It’s expensive and covers the whole country, but it’s fantastic. Or, if you have a smart phone or tablet, get the Sibley App. It has all the information from the Sibley guide, but with recorded calls rather than the inadequate descriptions and indecipherable charts in the print version.

  107. 107.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    @Redshirt: Well, I just have the standard Audubon Society Field Guide – the photos are good, and the information thorough and easy to access. I actually have a decent camera and lens, but I’m such a goober when it comes to photography – so far just a handful of middling pix. Nothing near as spectacular as Raven’s. Speaking of woodpeckers, we have a pileated guy who keeps trying to eat from our feeder. He’s so big (at least 18 inches) he keeps tipping it – and himself – over. The indigo buntings returned this year, and it looks like they’re here to stay for at least a couple of months.

  109. 109.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    @Poopyman: No, def pelicans. We have a good-sized lake/reservoir just down the road that attracts mob of them.

  110. 110.

    Mnemosyne

    For some reason, I was attracting bluejays everywhere I went for a while there. Different species in different locations (Steller’s jays in the mountains and Western scrub jays in town), but all definitely jays.

    But, then, I’ve always had an affection for bluejays thanks to Mark Twain, so I didn’t mind too much. It was just odd to have them suddenly land next to me when I was sitting outside at Huntington Library.

  113. 113.

    lamh35

    OT, but now maybe bigger news for a filibuster that NOT about grandstanding. I DIDNOT stand with Rand, but I sure as heck #StandWithWEndy

    RT @barackobama: Something special is happening in Austin tonight: http://OFA.BO/CBZ6c7 #StandWithWendy

  114. 114.

    currants

    @scav: Second that: note they have a larger version and a ‘field guide’ version. The latter is not quite pocket-sized, but much easier to handle on a hike than the other one (which is great to keep on a table near the sliding glass doors that overlook the wood duck pond).

  115. 115.

    Kevin

    This seems like a great thread to get in a plug for the book “The Big Year” and the pleasantly low key movie they made of it. I loved both; read the book and watched the movie three times each. Even though the movie starred Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson, the actors played it fairly straight and let the book’s humor get the gentle laughs. I think the movie is still available on Netflix, it is well worth checking out. The book is great, too. Made me appreciate the birds around my little isolated ghost town.

  116. 116.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    @raven: Well, not so much nice as just true. I have the same lens, but not nearly the same quality photos you have.

  117. 117.

    currants

    @Roger Moore: iBird Pro is also an excellent app for birds. Terrific search function that lets you search by where you are, time of year, habitat, and any markings you may have noticed (that eliminates lots of choices in most places), and is really helpful if you don’t know what you saw but you know something about what you saw.

  118. 118.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    @Kevin: So many of our friends who know about my bird obsession have told me I need to watch this. Thanks for the reminder.

  120. 120.

    SuperHrefna

    Bird Jam is the best! My cat Luna is hunting all over the room right now, trying to find the birdies :-)

  121. 121.

    Poopyman

    OK, so Markey is up by 10% with 99% counted, and that’s quite a difference from what the polls I saw were saying, which was Markey at +3%.

  122. 122.

    Redshirt

    I’d like to formally apologize to Mourning Doves for calling them fraidy cats. They’re still far more skittish than other birds, but I was wrong to question their bravery. For that, I am sorry.

    Anyone have any success with bird water feeders? I put one up weeks ago but have to yet to see a bird drink from it. I change the water frequently, so I don’t think it’s that. But, no drinks.

  123. 123.

    mdblanche

    @MikeJ: With only ~50 precincts to go, Markey’s victory margin is now 10%, better than Elizabeth Warren’s or John Kerry’s vs. Bill Weld.

    @Poopyman: Missed it by that much.

  126. 126.

    currants

    @The Fat Kate Middleton: Have fun! You’ll know when you get the right call…the birds call back (assuming you’re outside). Also had a little unplanned fun in the library at Vermont Law last summer, with people looking all over (a little nervously) for the birds they could hear. *grin*

  127. 127.

    geg6

    I love, love, love storms! And mourning doves too!

    We had the same storm. I went and stood on the covered part of the deck and the dogs were freaking that I was out there. They think storms are the devil. I love these pups! They entertain me endlessly and love me unconditionally. How lucky am I?

  129. 129.

    Yatsuno

    @The Fat Kate Middleton: Pelican populations often spread after being misdirected by a big storm. That’s the theory as to why they exist on the upper Columbia River, since that would not be part of their hatural territory otherwise. Turns out pelicans aren’t too picky about their fish.

  130. 130.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    @Redshirt: I just set a standard lipped water bath flat on our deck and keep it filled. It’s about eight feet from the feeder – and our deck is a high one, as in a second story deck, so you might not be able to do this, but the birds go crazy bathing and drinking in it.*

    *When we’re not getting FOUR AND A HALF INCHES of rain!

  133. 133.

    Redshirt

    @The Fat Kate Middleton: I avoided a bird bath because of cleaning issues, and instead got this water cooler looking feeder. It’s got a flat dish with a rung for the birds to grab and the water drizzles out into it. But nothing. I guess they’re drinking elsewhere.

    I’ve heard that the birds love the bird baths, though, so I’m going to reconsider. I saw a solar powered bird bath that has a little pump that keeps the water moving. But kinda pricey.

  137. 137.

    Botsplainer, fka Todd

    Getting excited about picking up my puppy Saturday. I’ll spend the next couple of days puppy proofing the house – and I guess there will be the cries of a little guy first away from his mama and siblings.

  138. 138.

    danielx

    All good except the lightning; my sister-in-law’s house got hit by lightning Sunday while Mrs. X was there. Blew bricks off the front of the house, knocked out the power….fun.

  142. 142.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    @Redshirt: I don’t find the bird bath to be as a big a cleaning issue as our feeder – they do leave the poop piled up on top. As far as the waterer, I just put the hose on jet and spray a couple of times a day like crazy. The birds are so used to me, they just step aside and wait for me to finish.

  144. 144.

    ? Martin

    Jeff Sessions says that he unaware of any kind of racial discrimination in Alabama. I take it that was the result of an extensive survey of Republican voters in Alabama.

  145. 145.

    Steeplejack

    @Redshirt:

    “Bird water feeders”? You mean a birdbath? Sometimes it takes them a while to get used to a new thing in their environment. Keep the water fresh and topped up and see how it goes. But not too deep. Most backyard birds like to splash around in the water a bit.

    One of the nice things my brother did with his big backyard renovation was to have a small copper pipe run so that it hangs over the birdbath. He adjusted it to drip about every two or three seconds, and the birds love it. They love the sound and the movement of the water.

  146. 146.

    jayboat

    I recently set up a feeder in the back yard and have about a dozen mourning doves that are regulars- love the cooing. Scrub jays are all over it, as well- they aren’t afraid of humans and will let you get almost close enough to touch before flying off.

    A couple years ago, a mating pair of great horned owls with a youngster set up in the neighborhood- at the time there were a lot of rabbits in the area and they fixed that problem in about 3 weeks. Every afternoon about 5 or 6 they would set up in three trees and hoot at each other. Caught this shot of the female in the tree by my front door. What a magnificent creature- when she dropped out of the tree and spread those wings… damn- nearly a 6ft wingspan.

  148. 148.

    Redshirt

    @Steeplejack: No, it’s actually a water feeder. Looks like a water cooler at work – the big five gallon blue tank version. Except of course this is shrunk down. You fill it, screw on the lid, then flip it over so water fills the tray, and then hang it from a pole. It’s a good size perch for the smaller birds, but like I said, not a one I’ve seen has had a drink.

  149. 149.

    danielx

    @? Martin: Why would he be aware of it? It’s not like Republican senators from Deep South states have much contact with black people – excluding waiters, hired help, etc etc – you know, Those People.

  150. 150.

    Elie

    @raven:

    that is just way cool… what type of owl?

    I was totally enthralled with a website that followed a Great Horned Owl Nesting pair and their owlets this spring. Every day and at night (they set up infrared so we could see them), one could check out the parents feeding and sitting on the ever growing owlets. Eventually – actually very quickly, they fledged then started flapping and practicing flight. First one then the other flew the coop so to speak and the parents went with them. Apparently this is normal owl nesting behavior and the parents stay with the owlets another 6 months teaching them to hunt. Since the owlets have all left, I have attached the link to the Ospreycam, which is following a nesting pair of Ospreys in Maine.

    http://explore.org/#!/live-cams/player/live-osprey-cam

  151. 151.

    Steeplejack

    @Redshirt:

    Yeah, no. I don’t see them going for that. In my experience, birds will put up with some weird-ass feeders, but they like their water plain and simple.

  153. 153.

    Elie

    @The Fat Kate Middleton:

    One of our friends down the street had a clan of crows use the birdfeeder as a washing station for various fleshy kill items. Martha thought they were pretty fastidious and washed their stuff (kinda like raccoons) before eating. Unfortunately it left gross “floaters” in the bath but what the hey… Needless to say, not too many other birds hung out for a drink there.

  154. 154.

    PurpleGirl

    @raven: I’ll have to spend some time there tomorrow, so I bookmarked it. I do spend watching the kitten cams of people fostering kittens.

  155. 155.

    pat

    @raven:

    Wow. What equipment are you using? Those are awesome pics.

    And condolences on your swamp…ah.. yard. What a mess.

  156. 156.

    burnspbesq

    @? Martin:

    Jeff Sessions says that he unaware of any kind of racial discrimination in Alabama

    “Unaware” and “clueless” are not synonyms, and I think we both know which one more accurately describes ol’ Jefferson Beauregard Sessions.

  157. 157.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    @Elie: Ehh. Gah. I presume you mean birdbath, as opposed to birdfeeder. Nevertheless … that bath would be so gone from my deck. I read your post just a short time after hearing the very distinctive sound of a mousetrap snapping shut under our kitchen sink. I though I’d talked my husband into not using those… and he’s gone, which means I need to gather myself together and actually search for … for … ehhh. I told him it’s going to be simply flung out in the yard, trap and all. I won’t take the little beastie out.

  158. 158.

    Elie

    @The Fat Kate Middleton:

    LOL- I can appreciate your situation although I became desensitized when we lived in Atlanta and had a bit of a rodent problem. We had their larger cousins, rats in our lovely mid-town bungalow. I got pretty good at setting and baiting the large traps. Meanwhile, we had to find the access point to plug up, which turned out to be two places – one where the contractor who put the deck on the house caused a hole in the brink and the other under the eaves. In our neighborhood, we had no alleys and the large pecan trees was an attractor and the city couldn’t lay down warfarin like they can in alleyways. I used to love the sound of the large traps springing in the night cause I knew we got another one. I totally liked picking them up by their tails and throwing them trap and all into a paper bag. Never re-use traps. Rodents have all kinds of diseases and the less you mess with them the better. My favorite bait? OMG peanut butter with little sprinkles of unpopped popcorn — they could not resist and rats are pretty damned smart.

  159. 159.

    Anne Laurie

    @Yatsuno:

    Heard lots of interesting tales about Marine officers from a, well, Marine officer. His opinion tended to vary but erred on the side of are you kidding me stupid.

    Joseph Wambaugh quote: “He had a room-temperature IQ, which made him an excellent artists’ model and a pretty fair Marine.”

  160. 160.

    Anne Laurie

    @Redshirt:

    Anyone have any success with bird water feeders? I put one up weeks ago but have to yet to see a bird drink from it. I change the water frequently, so I don’t think it’s that. But, no drinks.

    My ‘bird water feeder’ is a big old plastic pot saucer on the ground next to my tomato planters. I refill it whenever I water the tomatoes, but it’s far from sterile. The local birds come by to use it on a regular basis, and during drought summers, they’ll be a couple waiting for me to refill it in the evening. I don’t worry about possibly sickening the little buggers, these are tough urban-industrial survivors (robins, catbirds, bluejays as well as sparrows & the occasional starling) who are used to drinking from puddles on asphalt.

    Is it possible you’re just “disturbing the watering hole” too often for your birds to feel comfortable using it? Maybe try sitting on your hands for a week or two, let them test things out and be sure you’re not trying to trap them?

    ETA: I didn’t intend my saucer as a bird waterer, just a way to keep the chipmunks from taking one bite out of every just-ripe tomato looking for fluid. The birds don’t mind sharing with the chippers & squirrels, at least in our neighborhood.

  161. 161.

    seaboogie

    @Poopyman: Don’t hate me for my job, Poopyman. Even here in a beautiful sitch, it’s pretty much the same old struggle. My boss is a clueless control freak who is driving our business down while never failing to promote herself. It is quite a spectacle to observe. That little mocker was the bright light in my day of feeling like I was Alice down the rabbit hole. It’s really a challenge to deal with unlimited unreason with unlimited power. Or, as we know them – Republicans.

  162. 162.

    Kris Collins

    I love mourning doves, they are so delicate and lovely. The call is beautiful but I’m always glad when it stops because it is the call of a single male looking for a mate; when it stops, everybody is hooked up and happy. The crazy thing about that weird noise they make when they fly off in a rush is that it is something with their wings, don’t know how that works.

  165. 165.

    Trinity

    Growing up in the countryside of Michigan, I heard Mourning Doves every morning outside my bedroom window. They were my alarm clock on lazy summer mornings. I hear them rarely out here in Maryland but whenever I do…my heart aches for my old bedroom at my parents house.

    Thanks John. You gave stirred up some great memories this morning.

  166. 166.

    Maude

    @The Fat Kate Middleton:
    The owl attacked because there was a nest with babies in it. They protect those babies with their lives.
    Other kinds of birds will do the same.
    Cat birds can take a dislike to someone and they are nasty dive bombers.

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