Well it looks like I’m going to have to finally start getting ready for winter. I’ll start by going outside and picking up all the litter that’s blown down from the busiest street near my house. Then I’ll move on to cleaning up all my nest boxes. Don’t forget, nest boxes can also be shelters for lots of different animals over the winter, so it’s worthwhile keeping them up! So what’s your favorite bird? And do you have a spark bird? David talks about his favorite birds and explains about spark birds. Mine is the Eurasian Bullfinch which sadly we don’t have here in North America.
The headlines this week have some funny stories about birds being more pests than friends. A company called Bird Control Group has developed a laser to keep birds off crops. Don’t worry, it doesn’t blast them out of the sky, but it works really well at keeping them away. Australia’s internet is getting slower because Sulphur-crested Cockatoos keep eating the phone lines, but they have a fix for that, too. And the Black Swamp Bird Observatory and American Bird Conservancy are taking on the US Department of Energy because they are proposing a windfarm that is directly in the migratory path of many birds
Looking forward to Winner’s Circle next episode. Let’s see those critters!
Have a great week everyone!
View the whole episode here
Backyard Feeding
Envirominute
Ask Dr. Bird
The Headlines
I am surprised David didn’t even mention the Whiskey Jack in his expose. 🙂
How long before the blue berry birds acclimatise to a green laser?
As a luddite, I am in the camp of the Sulfur Crested Cockatoo. 🙂
If I can only pick 1 bird (an impossible task) I would select a Northern Cardinal. There are a few in Manitoba. although I have yet to see one here. What we do have it a lot of snow for half the year, and pictures of male cardinals with a snow background look so nice.
Warren, I think the Whiskey Jack has become a sensitive subject for David… And you are probably right about the birds acclimatising to the laser – they are terribly smart. We had a huge storm here in Knowlton a few weeks back, the whole town was out of power for a couple of days, we had to close the office because we couldn’t work without our computers and internet. It’s amazing how dependent on technology we have become!