California (of course?) once again considers disarming its citizens. As Reid says, “you can have all the guns you want but no ammo”. Yale goes further. Shakespeare with nerf bats and boffers? Maybe they can do an adaptation of the Maltese Falcon with squirt guns… The always thoughtful Steve Browne provides sensible and serious advice, …
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Guest Post: Dr John on Cal Spay- Neuter
John Burchard writes: There are many valid reasons for opposing California AB 1634. Perhaps the mostimportant are these: 1) It won’t work. Mandatory s/n does not reduce shelter or euthanasia numbers.On the contrary, it makes them worse. It has been tried in many jurisdictions,always with the same effect: an *increase* in shelter intake and euthanasianumbers, …
Decline and Fall (with Hawks & Pigeons!)
Rebecca sends this item from England. It needs deconstructing. All emphasis mine… “The mechanical birds — called “Robops” — have been placed on rooftop locations around the British city of Liverpool and will flap their wings and squawk loudly to scare the problem pigeons away.” Yeah, that’s what falcons do.. “The initiative was launched to …
A Springtime Run
My friend Jonathan Millican, falconer and Marine helicopter pilot, passed through Baton Rouge last weekend and stopped for a visit. It was uncharacteristically cold, which is hard to tell from the Springtime look of the field we slipped into for a stroll with our dogs. But days like that are some of my favorites in …
Spring Snow
We had a couple days of rain early in the week that of course fell as snow in the mountains. That gave a fresh coating of white to Mt. Evans (14,264 ft.) west of us… and Pikes Peak (14,110 ft.) to our south. We have also been having some wind, which if you look closely …
Bat Falconry?
Couldn’t resist posting this re comments below…
More Dog Food Recalls…
… here. I am disturbed by the refusal to name names– the brand I use contains rice. Patrick has commented on dog food with his usual curmudgeonly good sense, but I am beginning to wonder if the more sensible versions of the BARF diet might be a good idea, at least for those of us …
Egregious– and Hilarious– Error
Do editors (as opposed to acquisitions people and Spellcheck) exist any more? First, visit Pluvi’s post, appropriately titled AAAARGH! For non- birders, the cover of The Peregrine does not show a Peregrine or even a falcon; the cover of The Goshawk shows a Gyrfalcon. Now, go here. See the long bio of Nobel Prize- winning …
Bird- Eating Bats
Dr. Hypercube was kind enough to unearth Darren’s old post on bird- eating bats and my additions re New World hoary bats: “The hoary bat, Lasiurus cinereus, has some very strange “spatial” habits. In the summer, the males live in the southwest, while the females range as far north as the Arctic circle. In the …
More Vadim
You can get a print of this, in true color, from the REF– see Reid’s post below.