Wildlife; Fauna and Flora! Hosted by Oiseau

From William Webb,
Your Guide to Birding / Wild Birds.
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Windows Kill Birds

Even when we're stuck indoors, we can at least enjoy outdoor views through clear windows. Unfortunately, a loud "THUMP!" can often be heard coming from these windows – evidence of bird collisions. Most window collisions cause instant death, fatal injury, or stun birds sufficiently to make them easy prey to predators such as pet dogs and cats.

Windows represent a major source of bird mortality, and just about every species is vulnerable to window collisions. A single window can kill or injure dozens of birds every year. Windows collisions kill an unbelievable number of birds – at least 1 billion annually in the U.S. alone!

Why Do Birds Fly into Windows?

Birds evolved without glass or glass windows – and so they do not always recognize this relatively recent human invention. Most of the time, birds do recognize glass windows, but under certain conditions, they are unable to detect glass windows.

Birds often fail to detect glass windows if they can see into one transparent window and out another – say on the opposite side of a room. Birds will often mistake this window arrangement for a clear flightpath – when obviously it is not.

Birds frequently collide with glass that reflects an image of the surrounding habitat. Birds detect the reflection, and not the glass – and think they are flying to similar habitat – but tragically they are not. In the spring, birds establishing or defending territories sometimes mistake their own reflection for a competitor. These mistaken identities sometimes result in window collisions, but they also waste the birds' valuable energy as the bird unsuccessfully attempts to repel their imagined rival. Sometimes a birds' failed attempt to repel its own reflection causes the bird to unnecessarily abandon their territory.

Simple Solutions
Large unbroken panes of glass represent the greatest hazard for window collisions, but even small windows sometimes kill birds. Below is list of simple steps for reducing window collisions.

Feeder and Fountain Placement
Many bird strikes occur when birds become startled and flush from feeders. Proper placement of feeders in relation to windows reduces collisions by increasing the chance that birds will perceive windows as part of a building. Feeders and other bird attractants such as fountains should be relocated at least 30 feet (10 m) from the nearest window.

Bug Screens and Bird Netting
Bug screens placed on the exterior of windows reduce transparency and reflectivity. Fine mesh netting also reduces window collisions by providing a physical barrier. Most garden stores sell mesh netting, sometimes marketed as bird netting, mainly intended to keep birds off fruit trees. However, this netting prevents collisions if stretched tightly across windows and held in place with tacks or similar fasteners. The netting breaks transparent views through multiple windows and reduces reflections. In addition, if birds mistakenly fly towards the window, they bounce off the netting before striking the glass. Fine mesh netting produces little visual obstruction of windows because it is so thin.

Window Decals or Items Hung Near Windows
Objects that adhere to windows, or objects placed very near windows reduce multi-window transparency and reflection. Ribbons or cloth strips placed very near windows or window decals or cutouts of any design stuck on windows will reduce window collisions. Keep in mind that ribbons or cloth strips and window decals or cutouts must be spaced densely (at least 2 inches apart horizontally and 4 inches apart vertically) for maximum effectiveness. Common interior window dressing such as shades, blinds, and drapes also reduce window collisions, but only when drawn.

Additional Solutions
Homeowners and property managers installing new windows or replacing older windows should consider new innovations that reduce transparency and reflectivity. These innovations for reducing window collisions included granule-infused fritted glass, opaque plastic window films, and window tilting which causes the ground to be reflected.

Took this picture this afternoon.

Silent Change

We all see things about ourselves, our relationships, and our world that we want to change. Often, this desire leads us to take action toward inner work that we need to do or toward some external goal. Sometimes, without any big announcement or momentous shift, we wake up to find that change has happened, seemingly without us. This can feel like a miracle as we suddenly see that our self-esteem really does seem to be intact, or our partner actually is helping out around the house more. We may even wonder whether all of our hard work had anything to do with it, or if it just happened by way of grace.

As humans, sometimes we have relatively short attention spans, and we can easily lose track of time. We may worry about a seedling in a pot with our constant attention and watering for several weeks only to find ourselves enjoying the blooms it offers and wondering when that happened, and how we didn’t notice it. Nature, on the other hand, has infinite patience and stays with a thing all the way through its life. This doesn’t mean that our efforts play no part in the miracle of change—they do. It’s just that they are one small part of the picture that finally results in the flowering of a plant, the shifting of a relationship, the softening of our hearts.

The same laws that govern the growth of plants oversee our own internal and external changes. We observe, consider, work, and wonder, tilling the soil of our lives, planting seeds, and tending them. Sometimes the hard part is knowing when to stop and let go, handing it over to the universe. Usually this happens by way of distraction or disruption, our attention being called away to other more pressing concerns. And it is often at these times, when we are not looking, in the silence of nature’s embrace, that the miracle of change happens

For more information visit dailyom.com

Dan Steckenberg Tue, 1 Apr 2008 09:25:00 -0500 Subject: Registration System Changes

Hi,

My apologies for being out of touch for a few weeks. There simply wasn't any big news to report for a while, but I do have some news for you now.

Because the new site will be based on a completely different programming language than the current site, we need to update our registration system. Now, I know that all of you have usernames that you use in the Discussion area, and which you may have used for Chat and Homepages as well. We want to make sure that you'll still be able to use those usernames even as we overhaul the back end of what we call the user management system.

If you go to http://www2.thirdage.com/user, you'll be able to reserve your current username for the new system. Simply type in your current information in the username/e-mail and password fields and follow the on-screen instructions. When it tells you that you're logged in, you should be all set for the new system. When we move over to the new site, this username and password will get you into all the new member areas, including, of course, the discussions area. Unfortunately, if you currently have multiple usernames for your e-mail address, you will have to choose just one username per e-mail address.

In the meantime, you should still be able to post on the current discussion boards with no problems. Let me know if you experience any difficulties.

Dan

back 1 hr this weekend......so now we will be only 17 hrs ahead of the Pacific Coast of the Continental US :-)

Saying 'Hi'.

5 years ago on August 20 I left my family in Canada knowing there was a distinct possibility that I'd not see my parents alive again.

Mommy passed away the following January 2nd

The following are floral offerings, planted almost immediately, from loving friends here who knew of the sorrow that is part of losing a Mother.

These flowers have since bloomed always (in the last 5 years) around her anniversary of leaving us.

I took these photos a few minutes ago - 8AM - in the side Court Yard still in White long cotton nightgown. :-) Good thing it's very private ha ha ha

The forecast for New Year's Eve is 41C - that is HOT

Before a 'change' comes through there is little relief during the night. The temps may come down a little but without a/c or/and a fan it's quite unbearable.

Find out the conversion between Celsius to Fahrenheit. Use these equations to figure it out!
Converting Fahrenheit to Celsius: Converting Celsius to Fahrenheit:
((°F-32)x(5/9))=°C (°C x (9/5))+32=°F

Check out the chart!
Celsius °C Fahrenheit °F
-30 °C -22 °F

-20 °C -4.0 °F

-10 °C 14.0 °F

0 °C 32.0 °F

1 °C 33.8 °F

2 °C 35.6 °F

3 °C 37.4 °F

4 °C 39.2 °F

5 °C 41.0 °F

6 °C 42.8 °F

7 °C 44.6 °F

8 °C 46.4 °F

9 °C 48.2 °F

10 °C 50.0 °F

11 °C 51.8 °F

12 °C 53.6 °F

13 °C 55.4 °F

14 °C 57.2 °F

15 °C 59.0 °F

16 °C 60.8 °F

17 °C 62.6 °F

18 °C 64.4 °F

19 °C 66.2 °F

20 °C 68.0 °F

21 °C 69.8 °F

22 °C 71.6 °F

23 °C 73.4 °F

24 °C 75.2 °F

25 °C 77.0 °F

26 °C 78.8 °F

27 °C 80.6 °F

28 °C 82.4 °F

29 °C 84.2 °F

30 °C 86.0 °F

40 °C 104 °F

50 °C 122 °F

60 °C 140 °F

Winter

In fall, the earth begins the process of releasing all the things she has been holding onto throughout spring and summer, and by midwinter she has let everything go. She sits clean and undecorated in her simplicity, free of the frenzy of life that defines her in the warmer seasons. There is a quiet humility about the earth in the winter months, as animals and people retreat inside to escape the wet and sometimes freezing cold that takes hold. Inside our homes we create abundance and warmth in response to being effectively kicked indoors by the dark and cold that permeate the outdoors.

We burn fires in fireplaces and make heavy, hot foods to keep our bodies warm and insulated. We may find ourselves sleeping longer hours and yearning for downtime, just like the animals deep inside their caves and warrens taking a winter-long nap. Even if we live in a warmer climate, the longer nights and shorter days have the same effect on our cycles. If we surrender to this time as nature intended, we allow ourselves to slow down, sleep more, and lower the volumes on our busy minds. At the same time, we crave company in our dwellings, and the insulated warmth of the hearth tends to bring people together, creating more warmth and fostering connections that last through the coming year.

We laugh, eat, and talk, sleep, or catch up on reading, while outside our windows the earth grows dark earlier and stays cold longer, accepting as always of the process of change and her place within it. We might remember to learn from her as she so gracefully surrenders to the emptiness that precedes all form, the peace that precedes activity, the darkness that precedes the light. For everything she gives and teaches, we might offer a blessing, extending a goodly portion of the gratitude of this season her way, holding her in our hearts and thanking her for our very lives

For more information visit dailyom.com

Amazing slide show

FFI is a legitimate conservation vehicle. Article follows.........

To celebrate the third year of FFI’s operations in the United States, Fauna & Flora International organized an evening with Sir David Attenborough in Washington D.C. on the 23rd of April.

Photo: Sir David Attenborough speaks for Fauna & Flora International at the Cosmos Club, Washington. Credit: Robert Visser.The event was held at the Cosmos Club, an establishment described by U.S. conservationist Wallace Stegner as the closest thing to a social club for Washington’s intellectual elite. More than 100 Fauna & Flora International board members, staff and distinguished guests gathered to hear Sir David’s remarks on “Are We Changing Life On Earth?”

The evening concluded with a question and answer period. You can view videos of Sir David’s speech and some of the questions and responses via YouTube: Watch the footage, read the transcript.

Sir David was clear that the explosion in human population is taking its toll on natural lands and resources, wildlife, and the fragile balance that is required to sustain life on earth - climate change being a case in point.

In his travels to some of the most remote corners of the planet over the last 50 years, Sir David has intimate knowledge of these changes. He shared his observations with Fauna & Flora International's U.S. board, supporters, policy makers, conservationists, educators and others gathered that evening. Millions of people have watched his television documentaries and learnt about nature and people, far removed from the urban settings that are home to most of the planet’s six billion inhabitants. Knowing the natural world, Sir David said, is the key to harnessing our ability to appreciate and protect our precious planet

Our thanks again to Sir David Attenborough and all who made this exciting evening such a success in Washington, D.C.

Why birds fly

Cockatoos etc

Once I uploaded the shots to the computer I only then noticed the huge difference between the status of these magnificent animals.

After doing some research I discovered that they suffer from a parasiotic malady, quite common,in these huge flocks.

They converge in groups of close to 100 in some areas. The ones near my house usually run around 25.

It was so exciting to be able to get close enough {with a zoom lens} and get such great souvenirs of their visit.