On Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:05:43 EDT, "a425couple"
wrote:

"dkat" wrote ...
Nick Cramer wrote:
- I saw a news story this morning about a town in N- California which
- (-) has been invaded by Egrets and Herons. I did a Google search for
- "egret heron invasion N- California" to find out more about it and
- got 15,000 hits. Many of them come from other continents.
- Their populations are growing everywhere in the US, thanks to
- their protected species status.
- They maim and eat our pond fish. Your tax dollars at work. sigh

-Currently the bulk of American taxes goes to the military.

Being very brief (since it's OT and divisive);
If you count SS, military under 20%,
if you aren't including SS, still under 30%.

- I had to LMAO or cry when I heard someone at the
- convention complain about our country becoming --
- -and -- - we just had to cut taxes before it was too late

The old philisopical debate is valid,
"Who is wiser in spending your money,
you, or some distant person on govt. pay?"
It cuts both ways. Somethings are best done
individually and locally, some best nationwide.

-Odd - --- African egrets came into this country
-naturally and are now well established. They are not a
-protected species as far as I could find. ----
-each cattle egret eats more than 600 grasshoppers and crickets
-a day-- equal to half its body weight --placing the species firmly
-among the farmer's best feathered friends.
-Some competition --- between the newcomers and native herons --
- cattle egrets -- snowy egrets, little blue herons, Louisiana herons
- and other wading birds -- beautiful African heron found an empty
-ecological niche where it could prosper, adding yet another
-chapter to the world's most astonishing avian success story"

OK.

But I do think that Nick's larger point,
(? perhaps, the 'box' we put ourselves in re;
wildlife/pests) is very valid.

Let's get back to ponds. Aside from the cattle egrets that follow my
tractor around when I bush-hog (mow) there is one that hangs around
the pond when I "weed" with my pellet gun. It almost seems to be
attracted to the noise. It stays either well to the left or right of
my line of fire (I don't change suddenly, I work one patch of weeds
before going on to another). I haven't the foggiest why it comes,
maybe the sound of the pellets makes the grasshoppers easier to catch
or something, I really don't know, but the egret shows up so often I
have to think it isn't just a coincidence.

Getting past the weeding with a pellet gun, which
takes a creative mind to come up with, and better
not let DH know about this as he is dangerous
enough with his flamethrower weeder....
maybe the weeds getting blasted with the pellets
stuns the grasshoppers and other insects and makes
them easy pickings.

k :-)

On Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:38:32 EDT, kathy wrote:

Getting past the weeding with a pellet gun, which
takes a creative mind to come up with, and better
not let DH know about this as he is dangerous
enough with his flamethrower weeder....
maybe the weeds getting blasted with the pellets
stuns the grasshoppers and other insects and makes
them easy pickings.

I don't think so. I shoot wasps, grasshoppers, etc. just about every
chance I get, they make good moving targets. I don't see very many
though, so I usually shoot weeds (I don't shoot dragonflies or
butterflies, even though I have a lot of those). I have never had
the egret take any interest in any of the bugs I have "put down."

"Galen Hekhuis" wrote ...
kathy wrote:
Getting past the weeding with a pellet gun, which
takes a creative mind to come up with, --
stuns the --- insects and makes them easy pickings.
I don't think so. I shoot wasps, grasshoppers, etc. just about every
chance I get, they make good moving targets. I don't see very many
though, so I usually shoot weeds (I don't shoot dragonflies or
butterflies, even though I have a lot of those). I have never had
the egret take any interest in any of the bugs I have "put down."

Probably the birds food and safety laws require they
be proven fresh / self kills?? (grin!)

Long time ago I heard tell of a way to really
impress others with your marksmanship skills.
(I never tried this, so I'm not sure.)
Bet them you can shoot a flying dragon fly from the air.
Shoot at them with a BB gun. Suposedly their sensors
detect this inbound moving target, Identify it as food,
and automaticly calculate intercept trajectory,
and move to intercept,,,,
(bad plan in case of BB pellet - weight/mass & speed).
Supposedly the result is you knock their heads off
most times with this trick.
(always nice to have the target move to hit the projectile!)

Recalling with fondness (not in a pond - but big river),
Used to every summer take a kid (or two) on a
canoe camping trip. Recall just drifting in the morning
at times watch the struggle play out.
The dragon flys emerge with their new wings, (from the
cat-tails) that need to dry/cure some before they can first fly,
then the first several minutes of 'flight training' are
not real skilled.
The red wing black birds just loved feasting on
these 'newbies'. Better be quick / not waste time!
Because after just a few minutes of flight training,
the dragon flies are very good at quick side stepping.
The 'matches' were very interesting.
A blackbird against a 'mature' dragon fly, ---
lots of frustration maneuvering, then give up.

Galen Hekhuis wrote:

Let's get back to ponds. Aside from the cattle egrets that follow my
tractor around when I bush-hog (mow) there is one that hangs around
the pond when I "weed" with my pellet gun. It almost seems to be
attracted to the noise. It stays either well to the left or right of
my line of fire (I don't change suddenly, I work one patch of weeds
before going on to another). I haven't the foggiest why it comes,
maybe the sound of the pellets makes the grasshoppers easier to catch
or something, I really don't know, but the egret shows up so often I
have to think it isn't just a coincidence.

The sound of a pellet gun is like the sound a grasshopper makes when it
jumps, I would think.
--
derek

Derek Broughton wrote:
Galen Hekhuis wrote:

Let's get back to ponds. Aside from the cattle egrets that follow my
tractor around when I bush-hog (mow) there is one that hangs around
the pond when I "weed" with my pellet gun. It almost seems to be
attracted to the noise. It stays either well to the left or right of
my line of fire (I don't change suddenly, I work one patch of weeds
before going on to another). I haven't the foggiest why it comes,
maybe the sound of the pellets makes the grasshoppers easier to catch
or something, I really don't know, but the egret shows up so often I
have to think it isn't just a coincidence.

The sound of a pellet gun is like the sound a grasshopper makes when it
jumps, I would think.


Must be something like that. The durn things are almost impossible to
hit with a shotgun.... and don't ask me how I would know that. LOL

--

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Chris Barnes AOL IM: CNBarnes
Yahoo IM: chrisnbarnes
"Usenet really is all about standing around and hitting the ground
with clubs, on a spot where many years earlier a dead horse lay."

Chris Barnes wrote:

[of grasshoppers and pellet guns]

Must be something like that. The durn things are almost impossible to
hit with a shotgun.... and don't ask me how I would know that. LOL

LOL. I can't help thinking the cure may be worse than the disease.

--
derek