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Owls |
Raffertiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 31, 2003
Posts: 1527
From: L.I.
|  Posted: 2005-07-23 12:13 pm Permalink
I've been living on L.I. my entire life, and have never seen an owl in the wild. Now we have a family of 6, 4 younguns, and 2 adults visiting our yard every day at dusk. They put on an awesome show flying from tree to tree, landing on our lawn (15 feet away), and generally hanging out.
Does anyone else have any cool wildlife venture into their yard?
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tikifish
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 2720
From: Toronto,Canada
| Posted: 2005-07-23 1:00 pm Permalink
Owls are cool.
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Shipwreckjoey
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 29, 2002
Posts: 1794
From: San Diego, CA
| Posted: 2005-07-23 2:15 pm Permalink
I wish I had an owl in my backyard. He could eat the rats that've been mooching off my bird feeder. I used have a raccoon that would show up for late night sushi at the fishpond (until I got smarter fish). These city raccoons get fat & lazy and if they have to work too hard for a meal they move on to the next place.
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docwoods
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 29, 2004
Posts: 599
From: outside the windy city
| Posted: 2005-07-23 2:19 pm Permalink
Raffertiki-I can definitely relate!Last winter,we had Mom and Dad great horned owl having a "good time"in the neighbor's tree on a branch that overhangs our yard.It was wonderful to see them at twilight and hear them hooting to each other.We thought that was great,until we saw two baby owls in the tree!What an experience!They were very cautious at first,creeping up the branch,then creeping down the branch.They soon graduated to awkwardly flitting from one close branch to another,with Mom and Dad keeping an eagle eye out for their little ones.What we didn't know was that little owls tend to fall out of trees,and clunk to the ground.They would straighten up,shake their heads,and then head back up the trunk.Time passed,and they all flew off.This past winter,Mom and Dad were back to the "courting tree",but didn't make a nest in the same.Owls are squatters-appropriating another bird's nest,and are very messy,so they don't tend to come to it.They're wonderful,aren't they?Oh,we also have a rooster who lives down the block,but he must be a late sleeper,because when he starts crowing,the sun is already up a ways.If you can,take some pics and post them(of the owls,not the rooster).
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alohabros
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 04, 2004
Posts: 533
From: westernus
| Posted: 2005-07-23 3:11 pm Permalink
the only wildlife in long beach would be the decaying prostitutes trying to creech their way into your locked vehicles at night.
one day, zoos will have polar bear bone 2D exhibits and live crackheads chomping on Krispy Kremes behind 1.000" thick clear acrylic walls.
Karl Rove once said the only real wildlife is a willing group of young boys...
i don't get it... an owl sure would be cool, yup!
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tiki410
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Dec 31, 2002
Posts: 156
From: Tonga Isle
| Posted: 2005-07-23 4:06 pm Permalink
I believe they are called Monk parrots. They have been making their way into the New Orleans area for some time and seem to be holding up very well. Talk about noisy but gives the area a little more tropical feel. They have been hitting the palm trees around the neighborhood.
I have also seen owls out by Lake Pontchartrain. We also have had not so wild ducks show up in the yard.
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Gigantalope
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 01, 2004
Posts: 913
From: Shinola, California
| Posted: 2005-07-23 11:12 pm Permalink
Where I grew up we had owls, coyotes, feral horses, burro, and the odd Coatimuni. There were Romes of huge Gilas, and the odd camel sighting, but I think it was BS.
Not long ago it seemed there was very little in the way of wildlife here in the South Bay, but in the past few months there have been several Cougars in the neighborhood, and I saw a deer(western coastal deer)...sizable for here...maybe 4' at the shoulder just up the street.
Other than that. it's the usual Raccoons on trash night, Opossums, lizards, and a periodical skunk.
The neighbor lady feeds ducks, and most hours of light, there are 15 ducks in her pool, and maybe 5 more waiting for some to leave so they can get in. (they wait on top of our lawn mower shed)
I started feeding crows a few years ago, as their antics are quite funny. The adults seem to know whatever I leave for them is food and will take what-ever the largest object is. The sub-adults only know food if they have eaten it before and thus only take what they recognize...The adults teach them what is food... (nuts, corn, bird kibble, milk bones eggs) they actually line them up and show then how to open nuts or eggs...
Seeing crows fly around with milk bones make my morning.
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docwoods
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 29, 2004
Posts: 599
From: outside the windy city
| Posted: 2005-07-24 05:25 am Permalink
Gigantalope-you HAVE to tell everyone about your chicken!
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finkdaddy
Tiki Socialite
Joined: May 11, 2004
Posts: 2059
From: Wisconsin
| Posted: 2005-07-24 06:00 am Permalink
For many years my parents owned a small home in Eagle River, Wisconsin (I'm sure CongaTiki knows where that is  ). They had a family of Bald Eagles that lived on their lake front property. So in the mornings and evenings we would all sit on their pier and watch the Eagles play in the air and sometimes they would swoop down to pluck enormous fish out of the water! They don't live there anymore, but I will never forget that.
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ZebraTiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 01, 2004
Posts: 530
From: Enchanted Bay Area, CA
| Posted: 2005-07-24 5:01 pm Permalink
There are barn owls all over my neighborhood. They were nesting in a spectacular Canary palm that was installed in front of a model home, and the nest lings were making a spectacular screamfest every dusk for weeks until they fledged. When the home was sold, the new owners took out that palm. I would've paid extra for an owl-housing palm tree! I still can't believe they took it out.
I've seen a great horned owl in the wild once, which landed about 6 feet away from me in a field. I know they're all over the place, because new neighbors are always "losing" their outdoor cats within weeks of letting them out at night.
There are the usual suspects in the area, kestrels, red-tailed hawks, quail, kildeer, barn swallows, but the most amusing are the wild turkeys. Last week a bunch of them (10 or so) were crossing a dangerous street, and most of the traffic was stopped, and a woman was trying to drive around them, and she was so busy trying to get around the turkeys (and causing a bigger traffic mess than the turkeys) that she didn't see the police car nearby. He pulled her over, and I hope gave her a ticket for whatever that category of driving falls under. "Counter-Effective Turkey Weaving" in morning rush hour?
There's an ongoing romance at my stable between a Bantam rooster (he's like a 'Mini Me' of a rooster, 1/4 the size of a turkey)) and a female wild turkey. When she sees him, she comes running out of the shrubs, and will bravely go past any person, horse, mule, cats, anything to follow him around.
The areas around me that have the turkeys have people of opposing viewpoints that dislike the turkeys, and then the other side that I refer to as the "turkey sympathizers", who put out trays of water for them in their backyards, and escape routes through their back fences and such. I can't believe anyone would complain about wildlife when they moved to the area partly because of the open spaces and trees.
I've nicknamed the hummingbird that is the most frequent to our feeder "Renaldo". If I leave the screen door open when I take the feeder in for cleaning and refilling, he darts into the house about 6 feet and out again to where the feeder hangs, scolding me the entire time. He also likes to perch on my passion flower vine at sunset, where he can dart up to the feeder and scare away other humminbirds... I suspect he has a drinking problem.
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AlohaStation
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 27, 2004
Posts: 2072
From: So FL
| Posted: 2005-07-25 10:26 am Permalink
Living in South Florida has provided me some interesting animal sightings in my back yard- Iguanas, cuban lizards, snakes, a nieghbors Amazon Parrot once... The most interesting was not-so-exotic.
About a year ago I had some possums living in my attic. So I borrowed a friends trap and set it up. Early that evening I caught one of the ugly, critters. My family (wife and 2 little girls) was concerned for the animal's well-being because we were about to get hammered by a pretty bad thunderstorms. So, I went up on the roof and covered the cage with a tarp so it wouldn't get wet. Early the next morning, I took the trap down and tried to figure out where to put the trap in my Cherokee. I couldn't put him on top - it would get wind blasted - so I put it inside. Holy crap do those things stink!! I suffered my way out to the Everglades where I was going to set him free. (NOTE: The Everglades are surrounded by a levee and right by the levee was an airboat beach.) I parked on the levee and proceeded to get the possum out of the cage - did I mention that those things STINK!! Great care was taken not to harm or traumatize the possum. It made its way away from me and down the levee to where the airboats park. All the special treatment paid off as the animal made its way back to nature - I was so proud. I grabbed the cage and placed it back in my Jeep when I here SPLASH, SPLASH, SPLASH. I quickly turned around and the possum was gone, there was nothing left but a few ripples in the water. All of the extra care and delicate handling of this animal, and it ends up as breakfast for some Alligator. I WAS PISSED!! Not that the possum got eaten - but because I didn't get to see it get eaten. I caught 2 more possums that week and none of them had the same result. Mother Nature can be cruel bitch sometimes.
Just thought I'd share that you all.
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exotica59
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 17, 2004
Posts: 475 | Posted: 2005-07-25 1:23 pm Permalink
We have all kinds of birds and animals. My backyard is a dedicated backyard wildlife habitat. We have bushes plants and pond all set up just for the critters. We are a bit of a novelty since we live in very close to town. We have have a sweet couple of Mallards that use our pond each spring, and last fall a passing Heron stopped in for a free lunch. Now we have a bats, which I like as they help eat the mosquito's. Raccoons are out in force each Monday night ( garbage night)
I was saddened today to see a squashed red fox in the street.
The school I work at on the other side of town sits next to a natural pond, and a thick oak Forest. We have lots of deer, coyote, and we have just spotted what we think is a very large owl. I'll have to ask our resident natural science whiz what type it is, but we have watched it on break each morning, going at it with a couple of large crows. I don't know who starts the fight, but so far the crows have been victorious, chasing away the owl. We are very blessed to live in an area that has such a large animal population.
It's going to be a hard winter for them though as we have been in a drought situation for most of the year.
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johntiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 31, 2002
Posts: 1525
From: MD
| Posted: 2005-07-25 1:39 pm Permalink
I was reading through this topic this morning and wouldn't you know it I looked out the window and I see this...
...I was kinda pissed because there was a mother and another fawn but the damn battery died on the digital camera before I could get them. We have herds of deer that roam around our neighborhood not to mention foxes, raccoons, opossum, groundhogs, owls, and hawks and of course squirrel... lots and lots of squirrels. This year the wooded section of our property went crazy with raspberry bushes and the deer have been making regular visits to strip the plants clean.
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freddiefreelance
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 15, 2003
Posts: 2987
From: San Diego, Ca.
| Posted: 2005-07-26 10:12 am Permalink
We have a pair of Great Horned Owls in our neighborhood, they're always silent 'til they've both caught a bunny, then they hoot for a while. They do the same early in the morning, just before dawn. We've got plenty Red Tails & a Kestrel that occasionally visits, Anna's & Alan's Hummingbirds, various Finches, and a Mockingbird that screeches all night. I wish one of the Hawks would eat that damn Mockingbird. Four legged visitors are mostly Bunnys, but we get Mule Deer, Coyotes, Ground Squirrels & lots of Skunks (enough for us to call the late spring "Flat Skunk Season").
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mrsmiley
Grand Member (first year) 
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 3163
From: Las Vegas, NV
| Posted: 2005-07-26 12:49 pm Permalink
Almost in my work's backyard;
C Bobby's Owl Tree
(415) 776-9344 601 Post St AT Taylor
San Francisco, CA
a cool Owl Themed bar in SF!! http://www.theowltree.com/
plus it is across the street from the Tiki Bob pole!
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