In Defence of Crows

[spacesailor]

I don,t know that one.

BUT

Most cars With electric starters also had That BACKUP Cranking Handle !.

spacesailor

[Yenn]

The calcium carbide gas was acetylene, which is used in oxy welding and cutting. It is also used for other things, such as determining the moisture content of road base material. This is done by measuring the pressure produced when the carbide is moistened by the material and produces acetylene.

[Bruce Tuncks]

I think it is aborigine stuff to be satisfied with " let there be light" with no understanding of what light is physically. Who attended to the boring details of quanta and electromagnetism etc?

[Yenn]

Funny stuff light. I have recently had a cataract removed from one eye. Now that eye sees things as if they were a higher colour temperature than the other eye. Left eye sees blue, right eye sees green.

[old man emu]

3 hours ago, Yenn said:

Left eye sees blue, right eye sees green

My missus didn't need any cataract surgery when I came hoe three sheets to the wind. She saw red immediately.

[spacesailor]

I've just been told , l've got a cataract,   not too bad, and just made that eye test, so still not wearing specs. LoL

BUT

 they also said Next year, GLASSES FOR DRIVING./

spacesailor

[Bruce Tuncks]

Cataracts are the best op ever...  I woke up refreshed and could see the leaves on the trees again. Not to mention other aircraft in the sky.

I was too chicken to get one eye near-sighted and the other one far-sighted. Apparently the brain learns to adjust and you no longer need glasses at all.  So I still use reading glasses but they are now much weaker ( 1.5 to 2.0 at the cheap shop instead of 3's). I guess that this means I don't trust my brain huh.

 

[Yenn]

Thoughts on cataract surgery. I had one eye done because it was definitely fuzzier than the other. The surgeon really wanted to do both eyes, but the one I didn't have done is still as good as the operated on eye.

You are in the hands of the medical profession with anything to do with eyes. Once you depart from your local GP, they use an electronic screen to check your eyes and you have no idea how they really are. I know that if I see a screen in the GPs surgery, I can work out what my vision is like, but the experts can get you trying to read a much higher standard so you think your vision is poorer than it really is.

I wonder if crows ever suffer from catatact, I know they have woderfull eyesight and a brain to match. just watch a bird fly through tree branches at high speed. I couldn't do that.

[Bruce Tuncks]

My thoughts exactly Yenn. Yesterday,  I was watching a white cocky flying through branches and wow their brain/eye/manoevering is wonderful.  And when they climb off speed to stall at just at the right time to land on a branch.. yep I couldn't do it.

[willedoo]

I'll never forget the sight of those big pelican flights I saw about twenty years ago. We camped for a couple of weeks on a waterhole on the Cooper at Durham Downs in SW Qld.. It was just south off the road to Innaminka. There were three flights of about eighty birds each and they would come in late every afternoon and land on the waterhole very close to our camp. They would glide in on the final approach then flare and make quite a combined noise when they all touched down on the water and de-accelerated.

 

Up in the air under power they were a sight to see. Flying in a V formation, each alternate row abreast would take turns at flapping while the next row glided. So row 2 flaps, 3 glides, 4 flaps, row 5 glides etc., then they swap around - 2 glides while 3 flaps, 4 glides, 5 flaps and so on right through to the rear. While they were doing this, when viewed side on, the flight also had a Mexican Wave type of shape happening to maximise slip streaming and airflow.

 

I don't remember the name of the waterhole but it had one. And nice Yellow Belly as well.  The image is from Google Maps but they don't have the waterhole's name on it.

 

 

[Yenn]

Magnificent bird the pelican, but I was directly in front of one coming in to land on a sand bank in gladstone harbour. When he was about ten metres from me and still coming head on I decided it was time to move. Then he saw me and banked away. Neither of us would have fared well if he had hit me.

[Marty_d]

On 02/02/2021 at 4:49 PM, old man emu said:

My missus didn't need any cataract surgery when I came hoe three sheets to the wind. She saw red immediately.

 

Not sure whether that was a Freudian slip, but either interpretation could cause marital discord.

[Bruce Tuncks]

I've shared a thermal with a group of pelicans up to  cloudbase of 12,000 ft near Waikerie.

There was a bunch which commuted between the lower lakes and the riverland, about a 150km distance. They would spread out between thermals and then tuck in under the ones which found the thermal and climb high, then leave on track and spread out again.

A magnificent sight, and this lot too were very sparing of flapping. Those who joined the thermal last would do a few flaps to catch up.

 

 

[onetrack]

Had an amusing 10 or 15 minutes late this morning, with some little New Holland Honeyeaters, and a large locust.

 

We have a big standard rose right out front of the house porch (along with numerous other big bushy shrubs and trees) - and the small birds love this area for the protection it affords.

We have a tribe of NH Honeyeaters who live out front, and also in the backyard, where there's more big bushes and shrubs.

 

They're noisy and constantly active, and they hammer the bugs, as well as sipping all the flower nectar from the various shrubs and trees.

 

The performance this morning started with a VERY big locust feasting on a standard rose stem. He was having a wow of a time, chewing up this stem.

 

But the Honeyeaters spotted him, and then came the performance. It was like an aggressive little bloke trying to figure out if he could take down an opponent, that was much bigger than him.

 

The locust just sat there in the rose bush, and defied the Honeyeaters to have a go at him. There were two Honeyeaters in the rose bush, but only one was sizing up the locust.

 

He'd flutter from stem to stem, and then had a couple of quick pecks at the locust - with no result. I reckon the locust kicked him in the face, and he retired to think up a different approach.

 

He fluttered from stem to stem again, and sat and eyeballed the locust, as if eyeballing him was going to weaken him.

 

I tried to get a photo of the Honeyeater attacking the locust, but they're very skittish, and I frightened him off, by raising the phone to take a photo.

 

He came back again and fluttered around, and eyeballed the locust again. But the locust just went on chewing, unconcerned.

 

Sort of like, "have another go, mate, and I'll kick you in the face harder, next time!"

 

The honeyeaters finally decided to call it quits, and flew away. Locust = 1, Honeyeaters = 0.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 11, 2021 by onetrack

[onetrack]

I'm waiting for the magpies to find the locust, I reckon he'll be breakfast then. But funnily enough, the magpies rarely appear to feed at height, or in trees or bushes.

They're content to peck at bugs, on and in the ground, continuously.

I've seen a magpie reach up, from standing on the ground, to peck at a bug on the bark of a tree, but they never appear to go after any likely prey that's any higher.

The locusts seem to practice staying off the ground and in the tops of bushes, so the bigger birds can't get them.

I was also interested to see the locust align himself with some of the fading rose buds, so he was well camouflaged.

 

We have Red Wattlebirds here, and they are tigers on bugs, spiders and most insects - as well as getting flower nectar.

They flutter from branch to branch, and hang upside down, and look under virtually every leaf for food, they're amazing to watch.

I'm really amazed at their flying dexterity, at how they can fly from one branch to another in a tight area.

 

Here's a short video of the Honeyeaters having a party in the bird bath outside my office window. They're unbelievably noisy for little birds.

 

https://streamable.com/l5t2y9

 

 

[old man emu]

Magpies are ground feeders. If you see them standing still, bending their heads from side to side, they are sound locating the bugs in the soil. They seem to have excellent vision. If they see you throw out a tidbit of meat onto your lawn, they rarely miss where it landed when they swoop in from their high perches.

 

Gotta love the Magpie. 

[onetrack]

Yes, I reckon magpies have superb hearing. I often notice them listening for rustles under leaves, or movement in the soil - then they pounce!

Around my house, they get into the bark chips and leaves, and hurl them everywhere, looking for grubs and worms and slaters!

 

The researchers reckon that magpies can recognise up to 75 different faces. I don't know how they managed to work that out. But I reckon they rapidly work out who it is, that feeds them.

My old Italian neighbour Barney, feeds them on a fairly regular basis, and you see the magpies drop in and land on his Hills Hoist, and check out whether he's got something for them.

 

If there's nothing there, they will sit there and warble, obviously letting him know they'd like some tucker. But if he doesn't turn up within 5 mins, they fly away.

Magpie life is obviously too short, to sit and wait around for humans to supply tidbits!

[willedoo]

Last year I had a strange magpie show up on my verandah rail. He had one injured leg which he couldn't put weight on. He carried it tucked up under his belly and couldn't walk around to feed himself. He kept showing up and hanging around, so he must have been smart enough to know I fed the crows and a kookaburra regularly and could help him. I fed him on the verandah rail for about a week until he could use his leg again. Then he flew off and I didn't see him again. Clever bird.

[Yenn]

Magpies and also kookaburras seem to need to be on the ground or perched in a stable position to spot their food. They like to spot it, drop down alongside and then look again to finally locate it. I have seen magpies wander along under our verandah, looking up to the ceiling and then fly up to get a spider or other insect. they don't spot food while in flight it appears. Others such as the hawks, spot their food from a long distance and can swoop down and take it at high speed.

Crows seem to like to eye off their food and check it out for safety for a long while.

[old man emu]

The best thing about magpies is their song. But that's typical of Australian bird, because Australia is the birthplace of the songbirds of the world.

https://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/where-birdsong-began/11015700

[nomadpete]

Thank you ABC

[red750]

Digging up an old thread for this one, and not about crows.

 

Cockatoos.

 

Why do cockatoos have to make such a god-awful racket? I was out pruning the roses in the front garden this afternoon, and a flock of about 15 cockies were circling around, each making the raucus screaching noise over and over. Anyone would think they were caught in a rabbit trap or something. They settle in the tall gum tree next door, and also waken the dead with their racket early in the morning. They make a mess by tearing bits off the trees and dropping them on the ground below, and tear up the neighbours lawn.

[onetrack]

I have an industrial block in a little town (200 people) about 130kms NNE of Perth. The block is opposite the school oval.

 

There's a flock of around 300 cockatoos on the school oval most days, and the constant level of screeching is deafening.

 

If it wasn't for the school, and being in the middle of town, I'd be letting off a few shotgun rounds to break up the party.

 

I'm sure they just make noise to try and outdo each other, like people yelling at each other at a party, to overcome the noise of the others.

 

Edited April 17, 2021 by onetrack

[old man emu]

Flocks of about 50 to 100 tend to spend all their time — whether sleeping or feeding — in the same small 5-square-kilometre area. They've got a tight network, like a township of humans. Just like in a township, the birds hang out in various combinations, including gangs of 5 to 20 birds who are best mates.  The screeching behaviour evolved as a way of terrifying away would-be predators, even though there are few of those left around these days. They have other shorter calls for communication

 

When not feeding, birds will bite off smaller branches and leaves from trees. These items are not eaten, however. The activity may help to keep the bill trimmed and from growing too large.

 

Source: https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2020-10-18/what-do-you-know-about-sulphur-crested-cockatoos/12721398?nw=0

 

 These cockatoos are no dumb-dumbs.

 

 

[onetrack]

The cockatoos have an extremely powerful bite and are pretty destructive at times. In W.A., Telstra had a huge amount of problems in the 80's and early 90's with their East-West microwave communication link dishes breaking down as a result of cockatoo damage.

They would fly in and chew up the dieleletric windows in the dishes (which windows collected the signal from the dish), and Telstra had to increase the thickness of the windows to deter the birds.

 

https://walga.asn.au/getattachment/Policy-Advice-and-Advocacy/Environment/Pest-Birds/Environment/Pest-Birds-Portal/Information-and-Resources/Victoria-Ministerial-enquiry-into-corella-damage.pdf.aspx?lang=en-AU

 

I never cease to be amazed how Galahs and Cockatoos can chew up Caltrop seeds without damaging their mouths and tongues with the deadly-sharp spines.

But they love Caltrop seeds and will spend hours in a patch, eating the seeds. They're apparently highly nutritious, as are doublegee (three-cornered Jack) seeds.

 

Edited April 17, 2021 by onetrack