Texas

[NickyPick]

Saw this guy on the fence for about 4 hours yesterday. Cute little juvenile red shouldered hawk. It was too cold for frogs, so I'm not sure what he was looking for. That pole he's sitting on has a 1 inch square top. I'm impressed that he can sit so comfortably for so long on such a tiny perch!

 

[hungnguyen]

Hung - I thought maybe you were frozen.

Not quite there yet, I had breakfast with my big boy at 11am (Pho King) and we ate Bun Bo Hue. Upon coming home, I fell in sleep .. all the ways till 3:30pm. I got to rush to the ranch , and very little daylight left, so cloudy. Well, a big mess at the ranch, i had 1 killed, 1 injured, my partner had 4. Still could not trap the coon yet. Sunday... sleep was so long and warm, I will have to be back at the ranch, maybe by noon time. Then when Sunday is over, I have to get ready for a long Monday and Tuesday with a big audit at work. Hopefully, the auditor will be frozen and late.... hahaha

 

[TammyTX]

We love Pho King. I remember that Bo is beef, right? I can't remember what Bun is...and I don't remember ever seeing the word Hue.

I'm sorry for your losses!!

My brother would use a mostly empty tuna can to catch raccoons in a live trap...then kill them. Maybe you can put your auditor in the trap and use him for bait.




Everyone around Austin prepare their coops because it is supposed to get down into the 20's on Wednesday!! I'm going to get an extra heat lamp and some more cedar shavings for the youngsters to burrow down in.

 

[galanie]

The new tractor Is supposed to be here tomorrow or Tuesday....

I have sooooo many plans for the tractor and my husband. The husband isn't real thrilled, but oh well, he is the one that said he "needed" a tractor.

NICE! You'll love it. I have a similar one but it's a Yanmar. About the same size and with the front loader. Have brush hog and box blade too. Absolutely love the thing. It's been invaluable for digging, carrying, mowing, you name it.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Saw this guy on the fence for about 4 hours yesterday. Cute little juvenile red shouldered hawk. It was too cold for frogs, so I'm not sure what he was looking for. That pole he's sitting on has a 1 inch square top. I'm impressed that he can sit so comfortably for so long on such a tiny perch!

Great picture! Raptors are so hard to identify. I have books and books on identifying hawks. I rarely get to see them sitting still--it is usually just a two-second miscellaneous brown blur I see.

I think the bird you pictured is an adult--juveniles have a barred chest. The adults have the orange chest and belly.


I have a resident pair of Red Shouldered hawks nesting within 100 or 150 feet of my house. They defend their territory from other hawks, and with their distinctive call, I know if all is not well in the area.

I had what I think was a Red Shouldered giving chase to one of my smaller macaws (500 grams) this year. It was either a Red Shouldered or a Coopers. I was impressed at how easily the bird stuck with my bird as my bird dodged in and out of the trees--just 18 inches behind and just off my bird's hip no matter which way my bird zigged or zagged. I don't think the hawk was actually intending to catch my bird; it seemed to be just an instinctual chase or a curious bird. When my macaws first moved in, we had a lot of curious vultures that kept flying over to see the big brightly colored macaws. They were a real nuisance for the first year I flew here because they would come from miles around to have a really close look. My macaws freaked and the big Scarlet would fly off over the horizon for a few hours. She doesn't seem bothered much by the vultures now, but early on she just panicked.

I've seen one bird kill a dove this year--don't know what kind of hawk, just a brown blur and an explosion of feathers from inside the tree. I would suspect a Coopers, but I have yet to see one or hear one. I hope my Red Shouldered pair keep the Coopers out of my area. A big female Coopers is a formidable adversary for my macaws--ambush predators, incredibly fast and agile but like a Cheetah, not good for anything other than a sprint. Out in the open, my macaws are safe, but in the trees on my property? Not so sure. Hopefully, my falcon-expert friend is right that no hawk is going to be stupid enough to tangle with my macaw.

 

[jab2you]

Hankamer Tx., Male,41. New to the fowl life. Raising RIR's and Orpingtons. On a split two acres. Planning on doing more self sufficient farming. Anyone around let's have a meet-up.

 

[jajeanpierre]

What nasty miserable weather!!! I moved to Texas after 8 years in the Caribean and before that, 11 years in Saudi Arabia. I am NOT used to the cold. Anything under 80 is really cold to me. I am going to freeze to death!

I've had to bring the two pathetic double-copy frizzles into the house. I was afraid they were going to freeze to death. The pullet's feathers have all broken off and she is basically naked. The rain just goes right through the cockerel's feathers. I found him shivering today so he, too, is in the house.

 

[NickyPick]

Yeah, I don't identify birds. I just take pictures and send them to my friend, who is a wildlife biologist for the NFS. She specializes in birds, so I tend to take her word on these things. she did say young, and I interpreted that as juvenile, so he may be a young adult. In any case, he was pretty cool. The cardinals, sparrows and titmice weren't spooked by him, though, or maybe they were just too distracted with that fat orange squirrel that was stealing their seeds!

 

[jajeanpierre]

How do you tell if an egg is fertile?

The egg pictured has a very small creamy patch on the yoke. It is just to the left of the center--I hope you can see it.

Is it fertile?

 

[showbarnmom]

When I did my fertility research, I read that the small spot you see is always there. If the egg is fertile, that small spot expands into an obvious bullseye. Now every time I crack an egg I check. I've seen both obvious, and less obvious bulls eyes, and then nothing at all. I'm not an expert, but I would say no on that one, but Its hard to tell really.

Then 50% of people say the only real way to tell fertility is to incubate them. *shrugs*