Washingtonians

[Stumpfarmer]

Do we have falcons in Washington state?


Scroll to :11 on this video. 



Oh, yeah: there's a growing number of Peregrines near big cities, too, as they breed on skyscrapers (notably the Columbia Center), [URL=http://mynorthwest.com/?nid=129 Merlins are becoming more common, and kestrels (sparrowhawks) are hanging on in rural communities on the west side but are most common in the Willamette and Eastern Washington. Prairie Falcons are more rare than when I went to WSU and saw them every morning, which makes me sad.


I'd be a lot more worried about owls, though (and have participated in raising chicks to feed captive falcons, so am very biased).[/QUOTE]



So what kind is the light grey/whiteish falcon in this video?  Every bird of prey I've looked at up until now was too dark.

As for the today's screech-off... DH found an audio.  It may have been the two eagles.  Darn it.  DH said Salmon are running now and until after the winter steelhead run is finished, my girls should stay locked up in the run or the chicken tractor. 
[/URL]

[URL=http://mynorthwest.com/?nid=129 Merlins are becoming more common, and kestrels (sparrowhawks) are hanging on in rural communities on the west side but are most common in the Willamette and Eastern Washington. Prairie Falcons are more rare than when I went to WSU and saw them every morning, which makes me sad.


I'd be a lot more worried about owls, though (and have participated in raising chicks to feed captive falcons, so am very biased).[/QUOTE]


It's a Gyrfalcon, which is mostly found in the Arctic but occassionally comes to NW Washington to hunt wintering snow geese. They're huge, nearly twice the weight of Peregrines and with a wingspan over a foot wider, bigger even than a Redtail hawk. All falcons look a lot alike, with curved beaks, round heads, pointed wings and long tails, but there's a great difference in size, from the slender ten-inch tall Kestrel to the heavy-bodied 20-25" tall Gyrfalcon.

We have Bald Eagles here all the time, but they never go after the free-ranging chickens, unlike the Redtails and the Cooper's Hawk. One went after hallerlake's chicken and she fought him for it, but that was a resident bird in an urban area (where it may well have specialized in crows and gulls, like the Baldie that nests on Capitol Lake in Olympia), not vagrant fish-hunters. The behaviors which it takes to successfully hunt birds on land are very different from the water hunting/scavenging of a salmon run bird, and Eagles are not great at switching things out.[/url]

 

[Stumpfarmer]

I did not know that.....and I could hit Molbak's on the way home.

Have you ever been to Flower World? just slightly north-east of Woodinville Twice the size of Molbaks, doesn't have the gifty areas but is all nursery stock...really awesome. Best to google directions but just off highway 525......eliz

Flower World is a very short distance from me.  Since mom really likes plants, I tend to go when I need a gift for her.  I agree, it is a nice place.

My favorite out that way is Cottage Creek Nursery, on Avondale Rd. Haven't been there for ages, not exactly short of plants, more short of places to plant them.


I am busy here: got my HD list filled and a bunch of other stuff done, need to go hang out another load of laundry and figure out where I need the package of cheap asphalt shingles put that's both out of the way and easily accessible to places where I'll be using them. Decisions, decisions.

I believe that is now a feed and garden store. Called Keep it Simple. Just opened up this summer. Sorry

What I'm getting is that it's now "The Gardens at Cottage Creek" which is sad; it was a funky little wonder, and always had roses nobody else carried. I hope the new owners at least respected the 70YO Chinese Wisteria which shaded the perennial sales area.

I'm having trouble shaking out any definitive information about Keep It Simple: they have a big social media presence but no readily locable physical address.

 

[Stumpfarmer]

So, I got home from the doc & have strict orders.....................ha ha ...........Me & T-Hi.....
None the less I am saying HI and may not be around much more here...

Anyways I mean for a while I will be gone.

This displeases me. You are supposed to be made of tungsten carbide, yo!

 

[Nikki99]

Do we have falcons in Washington state?

Scroll to :11 on this video.

That's EXACTLY what the bird looked like that tried to pick up my 7+ lb Brahma a while back.

That was crazy impressive!! I thought for sure that the goose would get away at any moment!

If things are getting really yucky, the deep litter's not working and that's what I ran into when I used the DE with it. I mean, fresh chicken poop is always going to smell like fresh chicken poop no matter which method you use, but the underlying litter is where I used smell and texture to figure out what's going on. When I used DE with my first attempt at deep litter, it smelled fine after I added DE and fresh shavings, but in between it smelled funky like old poop-covered shavings and if it got wet, it was rancid. When I pulled out a handful, the old poop would still be visible, squished on and powdering the shavings. Nasty stuff. I scrapped that whole batch because I don't know how long DE keeps working and I didn't want to keep adding to it hoping it would eventually take off. My current batch, all I do is stir in more shavings if it starts looking a little mucky and pull out any spots that have gotten really wet (I found a leak with all the rain ). I can tell it's working this time because the litter is turning out totally different...it mostly smells like pine shavings but with a mulchy undercurrent. When I pick up a handful it has a somewhat spongey texture and the poop (other than the super fresh stuff on top) isn't visible. When it gets wet, it smells like wet pine chips and wet potting soil. The difference is huge.

So I guess my advice (hopefully taken with a grain of salt since I'm still learning too) would be to scrap the bedding with the DE in it and start fresh, depend on the natural absorbance of the shavings to take care of things, and don't be afraid to keep stirring in more bedding whenever it needs freshened up. With the cold weather coming on, I don't know how well the bacteria will take off and since mine just started getting nice and smelling right after my failed attempt, I have the same concern for myself...it's not really deep and warm yet and I don't know if these bugs freeze or quit working if the layer isn't warm enough. So if it stops working this winter, I'll switch over to a more normal cleaning schedule, and then start again in the spring to build up enough to make it work year-round next year.

It's not really yucky...yet. Lol. This all sounds very familiar to me though. What you described as your first DL experience, sounds like mine. It's not nasty but it's not (by your description) doing what it should. The old poo has that squished, powdered look to it and I don't smell wet pine and potting soil. It smells like I have chickens. Lol.
Oh boy, DH is gonna be excited to go spend more $$ on critters this week after I tell him we need new shavings.

Thanks for all this info. It's nice to be able to learn from someone who's been there, done that.

 

[itsren]

Pay attention here:
FYI: Better to do a little every other day, than a major muck out.............I am hurting enough.
I prefer the CLEAN 5 minute system...easy, lightweight, and I can easily handle it.
Last time I did the deep litter system, it took me & a few guys, and I am not sure how many wheel barrels of CA CA out...Juts like poop swept under the rug...sooner or later you will have to deal with it.
The question is:
Do ya wanna keep adding & adding & end up with 5 tons of CA CA.....I am happy (ick) just dealing with my 1 ton of caca.

I agree with you on this. Since I scoop coop poop in the morning, before the girls have decided to dig it in, I just do a few little scoops in the coop and I have a perfectly clean coop. I scoop the run next - just a few scoops. Check the water and food, and we're good. I scoop poop in the grass when I go out to watch the girls around lunch time. I talk with them. They follow me and coo at me. It's fun. It's my bonding time.

When we came back from Yellowstone and I had 10 days worth to clean on the dirt floor of the run...

. I couldn't believe how long it took me to clean up that little run. I would so rather do a tiny bit each day, then a whole bunch every once in a while.

 

[itsren]

My annoying pen is almost done! Just need to put corner bracket on the inside of the door, put the last of the trim on, use concrete screws with washers to attach the hardware cloth under the floor to the concrete patio, and fill the floor with sand. I'm putting off the last paint until spring; it's just too cold and wet. Yeesh, what a total pain. But it should be as tight as Fort Knox:

Yay! It looks wonderful!

 

[itsren]

Quote:
Thanks.

DH finally found the screech. He found a bald eagle screech that sounded exactly like it. Man, when I was out there and it got so quiet, then the screeches between the two trees - whew... that was eerie!

 

[Chicken Rustler]

Quote:
Thanks.

DH finally found the screech. He found a bald eagle screech that sounded exactly like it. Man, when I was out there and it got so quiet, then the screeches between the two trees - whew... that was eerie!
Baldies are most commonly a kind of high pitched chatter. Speaking of the other day we had a pair teaching a juvie to fly/hunt right over our house. DW and I stood there watching for quite a while. Such a beautiful sight!

 

[itsren]

Quote:
So what kind is the light grey/whiteish falcon in this video? Every bird of prey I've looked at up until now was too dark.

As for the today's screech-off... DH found an audio. It may have been the two eagles. Darn it. DH said Salmon are running now and until after the winter steelhead run is finished, my girls should stay locked up in the run or the chicken tractor.

It's a Gyrfalcon, which is mostly found in the Arctic but occassionally comes to NW Washington to hunt wintering snow geese. They're huge, nearly twice the weight of Peregrines and with a wingspan over a foot wider, bigger even than a Redtail hawk. All falcons look a lot alike, with curved beaks, round heads, pointed wings and long tails, but there's a great difference in size, from the slender ten-inch tall Kestrel to the heavy-bodied 20-25" tall Gyrfalcon.

We have Bald Eagles here all the time, but they never go after the free-ranging chickens, unlike the Redtails and the Cooper's Hawk. One went after hallerlake's chicken and she fought him for it, but that was a resident bird in an urban area (where it may well have specialized in crows and gulls, like the Baldie that nests on Capitol Lake in Olympia), not vagrant fish-hunters. The behaviors which it takes to successfully hunt birds on land are very different from the water hunting/scavenging of a salmon run bird, and Eagles are not great at switching things out.

The bird that left Drama's feathers on the ground was very large. I watched it soar up from my back yard from about 15 feet away. It is so strange to suddenly start seeing so much wildlife in my tiny urban back yard.

We have been told by neighbors we have an eagle nest in a tree across the street (just over the edge of the cliff). I was just naive enough to think they wouldn't cross the road. Since the river is below us, DH was thinking that was bringing them in. We see them soar across the valley frequently or high over our house. Never as low as yesterday - and never, ever, ever looking like they were going to come at me.

 

[Chicken Rustler]

Hey it's a matter of who can pass up a free chicken dinner !!!!