January 10, 2009

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  I've been watching the darkness lift up it's shade to reveal the white blanket...not enough white yet.    Snow is not normally one of my favorite things but if I have to endure winter than I will take snow rather than ice or just plain old cold....as long as I don't have to drive in it.  I was up before 5am with Will...he is out hunting today.  I bet his view is so pretty up 15 feet in his tree stand.  My view is just not white enough...too much brown peeking out.  But this morning there are birds galore at the feeders.  They are calling away and flying to an fro.  I love to watch them. 
  

  
  

  Last evening Will and I went to a lecture given by a game commission officer about his study of Barn Owls.  It was very fascinating and eye opening and only added fuel to my fire against development of precious farm lands and pastures...and this newfangled way of farming.  Here is something I just never realized....the old barns are disappearing and being replaced by metal barns and a metal barn may keep out the pigeons but it does not help the slowly disappearing barn owls.  Barn owls are the farmer's friend because they eat the rodent population...mainly voles but also mice and rats.  Each chick eats 4 to 5 rodents per day!  A clutch averages 6 chicks.  That's a lot of rodents.  Their average life span in the wild is only 2 years and that may have a lot to do with starvation.  The movie "Oklahoma" came to my mind and that song "The Farmer and the Cowman Should Be Friends..." only my version was "The Farmer and the Birder Should Be Friends."    However, it is not a laughing matter.  It occurred to me that this dilemma could cause a country split....conservationists vs developers.  The statistics were staggering as to the amount of acreage being developed daily.  We see who is winning.  This also means crop loss because of developments.  300 crops are lost per day and in our county alone the number is 2,000 acres each year. This causes a snowball effect for all native animals, native plants and natural landscape...and of course that will in turn effect humans.  This is a very agonizing subject for me...so I will quit and go back to watching the birds at our feeders.
  

  young chicks
  

  
  

  
  

  adult
  

   
  

  
  

  • 9:34 am
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