Rain Gryphon

The snow was wildly uneven, which seems to be the way of it around here. The county to the east of us (Whitley) got way over a foot. Their roads are closed, and everything is shut down. We ended up with around 7 to 8 inches, and our roads are in reasonably good condition, all things considered. Main roads are mostly clean, secondaries are fairly clean with a bit of drifting. I saw one poor guy earlier digging his FWD truck out of the ditch in front of his house. It looked to me like he just misjudged where the driveway was, and missed it. It's days like these where I'm grateful for my ancient concrete bollards. They do at least show you where to aim.

Because it's largely flat and open here, most of the snow blew away, but collected in dunes in the lee of any obstruction. Some of the more impressive ones are over my head.

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Today I had three Crows visit to dig peanuts out of the snow. And they're back again as I write. Peanuts seem to be the keys to their hearts :)

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My Amazon package just came. To my absolute delight, it was the crows who alerted me to the presence of the deliveryman.

So, I know the exact locations of two Robins' nests, and I'm pretty sure where the Cardinals have nested, although I prolly won't ever find it exactly. One Robin is in the big shrubbery/tree at the NW corner of the house. I found her accidentally the other day while clearing out grape vines. The other one is set up right outside the bathroom window, of all places, in plain sight from the window, although well-hidden otherwise. She started sitting her eggs Monday, so ought to hatch around the 27th or so. The other one is probably a few days in advance, although I'm unsure how much. The Cardinals are somewhere inside the shrubbery, probably right outside the picture window.

I found a predated Robin's egg Monday alongside the feeder. I'm pretty sure it's the work of the Cowbirds. I haven't checked either nest to be sure. Definitely carried there by a bird, as there was a hole in the very middle of the shell, and the yolk eaten out. For whatever reason, I've had absolute hordes of Cowbirds at the feeders this year - that's a very new thing. Lots of Sparrows, Grackles, and Blackbirds, along with many Doves (also new) and Cowbirds. We've also got a pair of Housefinches who are probably nesting nearby, possibly across the road among the Blackbirds, as well as the usual Woodpeckers.

I found a Song Sparrow's used nest while trimming back the shrub under the kitchen window. I was pretty sure they were in there, but I never knew for a fact. I've also started to attract Crows, although I'm not the least bit sure why. I've put out unshelled peanuts for them, although the Grackles seem to eat most of them. Crows are very, very wary about coming to eat with the rest, and the smaller birds are very cautious of the Crows. I may put something down at the end of the yard for them. There's at least one pair of Juncos as well. The other day, when I went to refill the seed tube, everybody flew away except this little cock Junco, who stared me down until I got about three feet away, when he lost his nerve.

Lots of bird sex, and mild mating fights, Cowbirds and Blackbirds especially. I also saw earlier today three cock Sparrows with one hen. Her actual mate (I think) was trying to keep the other two away, while she kind of circled, using him for a shield. She suddenly flopped onto her back with her wings spread, and he mounted her that way (which I've not seen before), and it was all over in a few seconds. Also one poor Dove, trying to impress a hen who wasn't really ready yet. He ended up finally just kind of posing before her, and puffed up his feathers to look big and impressive, but she wasn't having any.

This is really seriously the most activity I've ever seen at my feeders, lots of new birds, and constant action. I wonder how many grew up here, and are come back now?

Totino's frozen pizza - the Breakfast of Champions!

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So, I could hear some sort of foofaraw going on out back, and I thought one of the actors was a baby Crow. I'd hear a lot of that weak, high-pitched caw, and an occasional adult caw (only that even-toned double caw that I think is more of a social thing than an outright alarm call, though). I could hear excited Starlings too. I finally decided that maybe there's a baby Crow in trouble, and went out to see. I startled about ten Starlings and one adult Crow, all in a group. They were all doing something together, but I haven't a clue what. Way, way more vocalization than hunting food would require, plus I have to think it was the adult Crow making that baby noise.

And, as I type, here comes a cock Grackle with three juveniles, leading them across the lawn toward the spillage beneath the seed feeder. They're old enough to fly, and to peck food up themselves instead of having it handed to them, but still young enough that they follow dad around in a little group, learning the things he knows about finding food, etc.

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No matter how fucked up your hobby, there's always someone who'll make you look normal.

Mother of All Bombs! I love that it's got an American flag on the nose. I really, really hope that one of the ISIS guys looked up and saw that American flag at the last second. :D

I honestly thought we'd used a couple of these before during the second Iraq War. I distinctly recall reading a story about a huge bomb going off in the distance, and the journalists initially thought that it was a tactical nuke.

All the news outlets are falling all over themselves to characterize this as the "biggest conventional bomb ever used", but it really isn't. The British "Grand Slam" bomb that was used against the Nazis was slightly larger, although probably not as powerful, since it had to penetrate the ground before exploding, hence had a lot of steel in it.

A nice discussion of why the MOAB explodes just above ground level.

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News about Enceladus. When I was a child, no-one even knew for sure what the surface of Mars was like. These things just astound me when I stop and reflect on them.

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More evidence for the self-awareness of elephants. If we're willing to do completely insane stuff like granting personhood to rivers, why on earth do we still tolerate the abuse and exploitation of elephants, dolphins and apes?

Elephants comfort distressed friends. I've seen something similar with crows. I was watching a family group foraging. They had the usual lookout perched on a lamp post, and then three or four adults and two juveniles working their way through the grass in a loose line abreast. One of the juveniles had something happen - I think possibly stung by a bee. He screeched in distress, and everyone immediately came swarmng over to protect him, even the lookout.

There was a lot of confusion and vocalization, and one of the adults flew back up to take the lookout post (I'm not sure if it was the same one or not), while the rest kind of calmed and reassured the juvenile. After about a minute of that, they spread back out into the forage line again. The juvenile gave a little forlorn squawk and just stood in place as they moved off. I think he was afraid that it was going to happen again. One adult came back and then walked right beside him as they continued searching for food.

When you see stuff like this, it's just so very, very obvious that their emotional life isn't that very different from our own, and that to at least some degree they're reasoning about possibilities based on an internal model of the world. I have very little patience with the type of ethologist who attributes all animal behaviour to instinct.

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Someone's built a working spike engine for a single-stage-to-orbit rocket. Last I knew those were just test-bed curiousities. Time marches on.