Whatcha doing today?

[addy1]

We are getting some work done at our house, unreal lumbar prices, 77 a sheet for plywood used to buy for 23ish. So far 8000+ just in lumbar.

 

[GBBUDD]

Welcome to the next 4 years

 

[j.w]

Everything is going up, thanks to someone we all know and I don't like!

 

[JBtheExplorer]

They invade. They put their eggs in other birds nest. That is the only reason I totally dislike them.

That's just nature working properly. They aren't evil or anything, they're just living the way they know how.

 

[addy1]

That's just nature working properly. They aren't evil or anything, they're just living the way they know how.

True but I still don't like them.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

True but I still don't like them.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

That's just nature working properly. They aren't evil or anything, they're just living the way they know how.

Yeah. I'm going to admit to being conflicted about the cowbirds. I realize they are native & therefore I tend to allow them to do what they do. But.... I'm still sad that I can't watch my porch phoebes raise their babies because of (what I am pretty sure was) cowbird 'parasitic action'.

I actually admire them for their wonderful natural adaptation to a nomadic life, following the food & prairie residents. I admire them less when they run off my resident song birds.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Yeah. I'm going to admit to being conflicted about the cowbirds. I realize they are native & therefore I tend to allow them to do what they do. But.... I'm still sad that I can't watch my porch phoebes raise their babies because of (what I am pretty sure was) cowbird 'parasitic action'.

I actually admire them for their wonderful natural adaptation to a nomadic life, following the food & prairie residents. I admire them less when they run off my resident song birds.

You do bring up a good point, and probably without realizing it.

"my porch phoebes"
"my resident song birds"

Even I've incorrectly used the term "my" from time to time. We as humans tend to think that nature is ours, or at least, the parts of nature we like. We see something we enjoy visiting our yards, and we see it as ours. We root for it, and we want it to live a full and happy life. We set ourselves up for disappointment, and we create our own enemies when we don't need to. It's perfectly understandable to be disappointed when nature doesn't play out like we'd want it to, though it's important to try to channel that disappointed through an unbiased perspective toward all wildlife involved. Plus, those songbirds aren't so innocent, either. They actively murder endless amounts of butterflies and moths. MY butterflies and moths! MURDERERS!

 

[addy1]

lol I never chase anything away, even nessie the snake and the copperhead, and the deer and the groundhogs that live under our garage, the rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, even the mice, etc etc etc Anything that moves in can stay (no mice in the house though), but I still don't care for the cowbirds, they come they go. The starlings come in droves, the herons still fly over, but never stop since I put up the pond nets.
Everything is prey or a predator, all part of life. I supply food, a place to live, water to drink then you are on your own. Even the plants are prey to some of the critters,

 

[BKHpondcritters]

I agree & definitely understand the entire 'circle of life' thing that goes on in the natural world. Living on ten very rural & heavily wooded acres means I'm surrounded by more wildlife than I could possibly manage to control (even if I wanted to, which I don't!) I do try to give the wildlife that visits my yard a bit of a helping hand at times, though. We put snake baffles up to help protect the nests & do have bird feeders. Nothing is harmed, although some critters aren't encouraged to visit (we do try to keep the deer out of the garden!) The only wildlife that gets relocated are the copperheads and one time a snapping turtle - I must draw a line somewhere, right? But when one of "my" snakes is found eating one of "my" frogs? I just grab the camera & enjoy the show. (I'm a bit weird that way, I guess! lol)

 

[addy1]

lol I forgot I did relocate the snapping turtle from the pond. Refuse to have my toes bit.

The copperhead is around here somewhere with its buddies. Only saw it once.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

We have copperheads here all. the. time. But then again, we did build a reptile condominium out front (60' long, 4' high natural stacked stone wall) Right now only one is hanging out there regularly. If I can catch him far enough out of the wall & it's safe to do so, we'll relocate him. Until then, I just say "Hi" on my way past.

 

[JamieB]

Yeah, venomous snakes are a no go here. I’ve got cats and dogs and humans who panic at any kind of snake, so dad and I have to check when any snake is found, and remove the danger noodles, and calm the panicked ones to explain it’s no danger. We’ve got a big old black rat snake that lives in the trees around here. It fell out of a tree onto my step son once, he screamed like a girl and ran. His wife would probably cry if that happened to her. I, however, like snakes and love to find the ring necks, and garters. I’ve only got to see the black snake a few times, and once I had to relocate it from where we were working and placed it in a tree, and got musked. The other snake I saw a lot of last year was plain bellied water snake, which is why my pond will be fishless for a full year.

 

[Mike in Vermont]

My wife is deathly afraid of snakes. 3 years ago we came back from the store to find a Water Moccasin sunning itself on the swim platform of our boat. Right where we get on. I saw it way before we got there and warned my wife, and grabbed a boat hook off a neighbors boat. It was large. I had it pinned, and someone headed to their boat to get something to kill it. It didn't appear to want to attack me, and was just trying to go back in the water. I felt I was being mean to it, and let it go. It wasn't a popular decision with others.

I have told this story here before. One night at 1 in the morning, my wife came flying into the bedroom, screaming there was a snake in the living room. I was sound asleep but, went and checked. I saw the snake crawl under the couch. I went back upstairs, and said you are all set, babe, and went back to sleep.

 

[j.w]

Let me just say this one thing again.........................I am sooooooooooooooo glad no poisonous snakes on this side of the mountains!