MagiStream

Pshawraven wrote:This is a "small" encounter, but one that made a distinct impression on me nonetheless.

I worked on the 2000 Census, based in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. Our crew did such good work, we often got sent to other parishes to re-do their address listings or update their maps. In 2000 we were still using paper maps in the huge black binders and having to key everything into the computers back at the office. But anyway, I was sent up to Assumption Parish, to a small town called Vacherie. It's right on the water, and much of it was still old-fashioned looking and very Cajun. There was also a lot of very lush vegetation and many thriving gardens, so the place was alive with insects in the spring when I went.

I'd never seen so many dragonflies at once in my life. And I'd had no idea they came in so many colors - not just red and blue, but gold, purple, and all kinds of mixtures. I parked my car along a wall of hedges and got out, leaving my binder and stuff behind just to walk down this clamshell road and look at them. Eventually I reached out and, very carefully, caught one.

For a moment it was amazing - holding a living jewel in my hands. I just stood there hardly daring to breathe.

Then, it bit me. I yelped, the dragonfly escaped, and I beat a retreat back to my car. That HURT!

While I was driving around, I also carried binoculars in my car. They sent us all the way to Iberia Parish, and sometimes the bird watching was great. That's still all I use for wildlife watching aside from a digital camera. I had an ancient pair from K-Mart of all places, and about five years ago upgraded to a pair with these lab-grown ruby lenses. What I would really like is a good optical zoom lens for the camera.

wow....it bit you...ok

Hathor wrote:We live only twenty feet from a very wooded area, and see lots of different sorts of animals. During my time here, I have seen several dozen deer, my favorite sightings being mothers with their young, because we live only twenty feet away from their habitate, they feel very comfortable coming close to our home. I've stood at the back door, and looked at deer that were standing only fifteen feet away from me, mother and her two yearlings. They didn't even notice me. Then there was the time I saw a hawk in a tree that was only twenty or twenty five feet away from me. It was on the lowest branch, and very easy to see.

its yin and yang dragon form iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooovvvvvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee dddddddddddrragonssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss :

TxCat wrote:

Batty wrote:Is it possible to tame a wild-born coyote? Captive-born dingoes get used to people and become quite tame, but wild dingoes never do.

In fact, wild dingoes that become used to people become very dangerous because they see young children as prey.

Research leads me to believe it can be done. This guy is also young, looks like a half grown pup. The alternative is just unspeakable. I can't shoot him and the neighbors will. I don't expect him to ever be a pet, but I'm hoping that he'll live out his life in the enclosure we'll build for him.

http://www.wildsentry.org/Hybrids.htm This site tells about hybrid and pure wolves, but it would be similar for coyotes. Please read it before you put any more consideration into penning up the coyote. Not to mention, where there's one, there's probably more. Shooting is a distasteful option, but please be well aware of what you're getting yourself into.

Fallingleaf wrote:I've been having problem with the wild life where I live.

Recently I've been having mongoose problems they keep eating the bird and cat food!
I've been thinking about trapping the creature and handing it over but they will kill it of course.
I don't know what to do!
----
Other than that I've had a couple of cardinals I love how the male feed the female one.

Your best bet is to keep the pet food indoors. Or, don't free feed. Start putting your pets on a feeding schedule. They get fed twice a day (once if you have to, three times if you can) and if they don't eat it all right then while you're supervising, it gets taken away until the next scheduled feeding. Where do you live that you have mongoose and cardinals?




For Hawke, it's been a fun summer of sightings...
There have been Western Tanangers, tiger swallowtail butterflies, gold finches, some kind of sparrow I haven't identified yet, fox sparrow I think. I had a screech owl swoop down on my kittens and send them skittering back into the house. I had oriels mobbing my raven down at the creek one day (I took him home before he REALLY got mad and decided to eat one). There are turkey vultures, red-tailed hawks and swainson's hawks out at the river. Starlings have raised two nests of babies under my porch roof.
I discovered that Twin Falls has a huge population of feral ring-necked doves along with the native mourning doves.
I've seen both the second largest bullsnake I've ever seen and the smallest! I saw the largest one twice- once in the hands of a guy who caught it, and once a quarter mile or so away a few days after we let it go. Then, the local kids found and caught a tiny baby one. He was SOOOO cute! They wanted to keep it, but I pointed out that they couldn't just toss it in a tank and hope it would live, so they let it go again. I also saw a tiny newborn baby garter snake. He was so young he was having trouble figuring out how to slither across the pavement! (yes, baby snakes have a clumsy toddler stage, and I've had newborn baby garters in captivity, so I've seen this before)

the most epic sighting though... I was riding my bike home from work through the college campus one day, and heard a bunch of robins giving the alarm call. I was looking for robins, but didn't see them- instead I saw that they were alarm calling about and practically came face to face with a great-horned owl! I was within 10 feet of him- a couple feet away from the trunk of the tree he was in, and he wasn't up very high. We looked at each other for a few moments, but when I reached back to grab my phone for the camera, he took off- so no pictures. But it was SO cool!

*edits*
OH! Totally forgot to mention...
Thursday, while riding home from work (yes, I ride my bike every day), I saw a car hit a ground squirrel a few blocks ahead of me. The driver got out, and obviously felt bad and moved the rodent out of the road before moving on. I got up there and the squirrel was very dead, mostly internal injuries/ bleeding, but one of his front legs had also been mangled. Overall though... he wasn't too messy. So... waiting for the cars to clear... I tossed it into my backpack to take home as a treat for the raven. Sam LOVED it. He ate most of it over Friday, and I threw out what was left, because by that point it was smelling pretty ripe. Not sure what species it was.
That same day, when I was almost home, I noticed a bird struggling to fly in a person's front yard. So I got off the bike and went to investigate. I found a juvenile starling with a broken wing. The damage is in the wrist, and he was bleeding and swollen- VERY recent injury. Not sure what happened- if he hit something like a car or wire or what. I had to carefully hold him in one hand, and steer my bike with the other the rest of the way home!
He was a little shocky by the time we got home, so all I did was wrap him up in vet wrap and get a little water, and then later a little food in him. (if he'd been cold I wouldn't have even given him water until he'd warmed up) The next day, he managed to take the wrapping off (NO idea how!) so I finished cleaning up the injury and then wrapped just his wing with vet wrap, and that bandage has stayed on. He's not quite old enough to feed himself yet, but he's old enough to be all "YOU ARE NOT MY MOMMY!" so I have to force feed him. He's survived the first 48 hours, and we're actually going on 3 days now, so I'm pretty certain it wasn't a cat injury. So long as he survives the next 4 days, I'll be able to call him officially on the mend. I have no idea if he'll ever fly again or not. I'm hoping he will. I think I caught the injury early enough, and got the wing stabilized that with a bit of stretching and exercise in a few weeks, he SHOULD be able to fly. If not... then I suppose I have a pet starling!
I'm actually a little apprehensive... I've NEVER had much luck with starlings before, but he's active and feisty, and not crawling with mites or acting sick... so I have hope for this one.

dragonhatcher34 wrote:Mod edit: No Egg Spam!

Mod Edit: Don't feed the trolls!

On-Topic: Saw a a bunch of birds while I was on the lake yesterday. My favorite were the ospreys. Those are the big grey and white birds, right?

Ospreys are the fishers, and they are big, white and gray

That reminds me, my mother and I were driving along next to the beach down here [Cocoa, I think] and an osprey decided to fly along next to us. It was so amazing, I forgot about our camera xD

TNHawke wrote:Please read it before you put any more consideration into penning up the coyote. Not to mention, where there's one, there's probably more. Shooting is a distasteful option, but please be well aware of what you're getting yourself into.

I'm aware that hybrids can occur, but the footprints, scat, and behavior do not match. Additionally, we think that the pup's family has already been eliminated. One of the neighbors was talking about having poisoned a large den.

I did contact our Department of Fish and Game and they gave me two solutions: either trap and keep it (per the class 3 permit, which I am already qualified to have) or shoot it. I would not be making a 'pet' out of it, simply saving its life. You can't really make pets out of wild animals, you can only share space with them and respect the fact that they ARE wild animals. I wouldn't make the mistake of treating this little guy like a dog because he isn't one, no more than I would treat Merlin like a domestic house cat. Merlin DOES have free roam of the house, but I've also had him since he was a kitten and he does have domestic genes. Even so, handling of that particular animal is different than having a domestic house cat. He gets meat, not cat food, has to have it or he doesn't maintain the proper weight and color. He goes to a zoo vet, not a pet vet, and they put him under if they have to work on him. He bites. HARD. The last person who tried handling him ended up with severe tendon damage in his hand.

Thus I maintain a wildlife license, attend any of the classes I can audit regarding wildlife management and wild animal keeping...and I don't treat them as pets.

Also --- it's mushroom hunting season, which means digging through leaf litter. Just GUESS what we ran into! IT was a beautiful full grown pygmy rattler with lovely rust colored markings curled up in the leaves:



Don't worry, we're not as close as the photo makes it appear. I was about 25 feet away and used maximum telephoto to take the photograph. Pretty, isn't he?

TxCat wrote:Also --- it's mushroom hunting season, which means digging through leaf litter. Just GUESS what we ran into! IT was a beautiful full grown pygmy rattler with lovely rust colored markings curled up in the leaves:
*snipt* Pretty, isn't he?

That is a very pretty dangerous animal!

How dangerous are they?

Batty wrote:That is a very pretty dangerous animal!

How dangerous are they?

According to the UofF reptile site, the pygmy rattler is venomous and can inflict a very painful bite but the bite is not dangerous or illness inducing for most people unless you happen to be one of the population which is sensitive to venom in the first place. The pygmy is non-aggressive and shy toward people. He will not advance or strike unless cornered or stepped upon.

Our most dangerous down here is the eastern diamondback, followed by the copperhead. Water moccasins as a group are aggressive and their bite painful but not life threatening. I've had one or two chase me across the yard and clear up to the porch.

Needless to say, we keep a snake bite kit in the truck and on the property within handy reach. Just guess who has venom sensitivity....

Tx, I pointed out that site, because it covers things like necessary space and feeding and care and such. Not that I was particularly worried about you trying to treat a wild coyote like a puppy dog. I know you've got some acreage, and feed your bobcat mix meat foods and stuff. Of all the places the 'yote could end up, yours would probably be among the better ones. I meant it more as a resource- and a warning to other readers. Sorry that I was wasn't clear about that.