trad bow
wooden stick slinging driveler
I have two pair nest around the yard every year.
My wife and I took a ride about Saturday over some country we used to frequent. Lots of places we didn't recognize. What had been woods was now cleared for a pivot. What had been a field was now in pecan trees. That's the stuff we see and know it has some impact on wildlife here in USA. My brother lives in Guatamala (big birder) and recently was bemoaning changes to habitat down there and the effect on local and migratory bird populations. Anti hunters "worry" about habitat management for game animals and its effect on non-game critters. Fact is something gains and something looses no matter what you do or don't do. Have seen those pictures of what the NC mountains looked like back in the day around the Biltmore House. Scary! I'll sure take what we got now!We used to have a lot of scarlet tanagers around here, but you don't see near as many as you used to.
Yeah, it's a wonder there's anything left here after the big corporate loggers came through in the early 1900s. They cleared half the mountains from top to bottom, burned hundreds of thousands of acres with uncontrolled fires, silted and poisoned the creeks, and left the bare ground there to erode.My wife and I took a ride about Saturday over some country we used to frequent. Lots of places we didn't recognize. What had been woods was now cleared for a pivot. What had been a field was now in pecan trees. That's the stuff we see and know it has some impact on wildlife here in USA. My brother lives in Guatamala (big birder) and recently was bemoaning changes to habitat down there and the effect on local and migratory bird populations. Anti hunters "worry" about habitat management for game animals and its effect on non-game critters. Fact is something gains and something looses no matter what you do or don't do. Have seen those pictures of what the NC mountains looked like back in the day around the Biltmore House. Scary! I'll sure take what we got now!
Were the chestnut trees already gone by then?Yeah, it's a wonder there's anything left here after the big corporate loggers came through in the early 1900s. They cleared half the mountains from top to bottom, burned hundreds of thousands of acres with uncontrolled fires, silted and poisoned the creeks, and left the bare ground there to erode.
They cut a lot of the chestnuts, but the blight didn't hit hard here until the 20s and 30s. I have a wardrobe that my grandpa made from a dead chestnut he cut on the farm that I use as a pantry. The doors are single chestnut boards.Were the chestnut trees already gone by then?
Have you ever seen any pictures of the original old growth lonleaf pine forest?
There's a plantation in Thomas County (GA) that has a remnant but managed old growth LL stand. Riding through there with the noted LL pine "ecological forester" Leon Neal (RIP) I asked how old are some of these trees? He replied 400! 400 year old trees!!
Crested flycatchers are funny in the confines of a bb box and they like that snake skin in their nests don't they?In the last two or three days, I`ve noticed a pair of great crested flycatchers around one of my old bluebird boxes that has been used by the birds in the past. There`ll be a piece of shed snakeskin in it again probably. Chimney swifts are back too, along with the kingbirds. A pair of crows and red shouldered hawks both have nests within a couple hundred yards of my barn.
Fixing to go see if the creek has dropped out enough for me to get to a particular ridge where the turkeys like to roost.
Most of our trees aren't leaved out completely yet. Just starting to turn green.35! Yikes! 60 here. Our red buckeyes bloom way too early for the hummingbirds to enjoy. They got here in time to enjoy the coral honeysuckle. Now it's red salvia, society garlic, and sugar water time!