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hookem2010

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by hookem2010

  1. Cost of freedom. If you don't like it, you can get out!!!
  2. Not much more than a week of legit spring migration remaining here in TX. It's been pretty slow for me this year, although my 11 month-old not allowing me to stand still for more than 5 seconds may be contributing to my troubles. I did hit 100 species at the local park since moving 3 months ago, just not the density of migrants compared to the hotspots in Austin that I'm used to. Hoping for another flurry of activity before things start to wind down.
  3. Cureenrly reading The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by Davids Graeber and Wengrow This book is a bit more philosophical than most of the more strictly fact-based non-fiction I read, but interesting nonetheless.
  4. Spring migration is approaching its zenith here in central TX, and the neighborhood park near my new place has turned out to be a decent migrant trap. I had my first painted bunting today, which will hopefully breed around the park. I've also had both male blackburnian and cerulean warblers, some of the more stunning songbirds, the latter of which is declining and quite rare this far west. Unfortunately, my hummingbird feeder remains unvisited. Hopefully they start showing up when the Turks cap blooms.
  5. As I sit here getting kind of drunk as the storm rolls through, I think how crazy it is that we could be decades ahead on sustainable energy, with essentially all the comforts we currently enjoy, while maintaining some semblance of a natural planet, had a few hundred politicians and rich assholes taken this shit seriously 30 years ago.
  6. I just cannot get over how strange the obsession with gun ownership is. Are y'all really that scared, or are you perpetual children who never got over the thrill of bottle rocket wars and blowing shit up with black cats and M60s?
  7. Hahaha, this is absolutely true. He WANTS to fall face-first into everything. He also has expectations for playthings that apparently do not come to fruition, because he will suddenly very upset with his toys. My current favorite game though is tug-of-war with a spoonful of food.
  8. Probably wouldn't be so much of a problem if dipshits wouldn't feed wild animals.
  9. Clearly if these kids were armed, the good guys with guns could have shot the bad guy with a gun before he beat them to the draw. More guns!!1!!
  10. We're working on #2 now. Should know in a couple days if we made it happen the first month of trying. The first kid was very much a happy accident.
  11. Just had about 75 turkey vultures, a couple dozen hawks (swainson's, broad-winged and probably some Cooper's/sharp-shinned), a falcon and a half-dozen Franklin's gulls stream over my house heading north. Raptor migration in full swing!
  12. 10 month-old boy seems to have hit a developmental spurt after being just a bit behind. 2 months ago, he was barely sitting and definitely not babbling. Now, he's pulling himself up to standing in his playpen and crib, and since he started babbling yesterday, it's his new favorite thing. I'm not sure how I had a hand in creating this handsome devil.
  13. Nice little broad-winged hawk! The next month or so is the best birding all year in Texas. Tens of millions of birds will be passing through between now and mid-late May.
  14. Still waiting for my first to arrive in the yard this spring. I've got my feeder up and my Turk's cap will hopefully bloom any day now. At Reimer's we'd get a couple dozen at a time, and occasionally have to help them escape from the booth.
  15. Turks cap and trumpet vine are good. It's possible Turks cap is what you had.
  16. Oh God, outdoor cats...
  17. Yep, eastern phoebe. They'll perch and flick their tails a bunch, then fly off briefly to catch insects.
  18. Worked in foot and ankle for years. We immobilized bone bruises in a boot routinely. I was in one for a couple weeks due to a cuboid bruise. I didn't see the thing attached to it but would guess bone stimulator to speed up healing.
  19. As mentioned, Merlin is probably the best. Not an app, but Cornell's all about birds site offers pictures of similar species and how to differentiate between them, which is super helpful when you begin to realize that many species are nearly identical. If you care about being that specific with an ID... Between similar species, sexual dimorphism, juveniles and plumage changes to individual birds depending on season, it can be a lot at the beginning.
  20. They can be hard to see without hearing them first. I've had their song described to me as sounding like 'La cucaracha', which is actually pretty accurate.
  21. Tracked down my first golden-cheeked warblers of the year on the Cedar Hollow Trail along Lake Georgetown. This is the earliest I've had them, and they were abundant and vocal!
  22. This one was cavorting with another red-tail the last time I saw it, so I'm hoping it's a local breeding pair.
  23. Absolute garbage binoc pic, but proof that there is a leucistic red-tailed hawk in my hood. I've seen it a bunch so hopefully I can get a closer photo soon.
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