I Say "Ky-oht" and You Say "Ky-oh-tee"

Coyotes, wolves, and coy-dogs

After hearing the coyotes howl for the last few nights, I read a little about the animal. One bit of trivia I picked up is that the word "coyote" comes from the Aztec word "coyotl", which is often translated as "trickster."

I came across some interesting spellings of the animal's name in old books: "cayute," "cayota," "cayeute," and so on. Today we have standardized the spelling, but pronunciations still vary. According to Merriam Webster's entry for the word, the primary pronunciation is \kī-ˈō-tē\ but in the West, it's sometimes pronounced \ˈkī-ˌōt\.

Coyote in Yosemite National Park
Photo source: Wikipedia

Well, I grew up using the Western pronunciation \ˈkī-ˌōt\ . To me, "coyote" rhymed with "my oat." And I was equally comfortable with \ˈkī-ˌyüt\  (rhymes with "my boot".) These were the pronunciations of northern Nebraska.

On the rare occasion that I heard someone say \kī-ˈō-tē\ , it was obvious to me that they knew coyotes only from watching "Wile E. Coyote" on TV. To me, the three-syllable pronunciation was an overly-fancy version that only a dude would say.

Over the years, I've amended that preconceived notion because I've learned that many rural folks in other parts do say \kī-ˈō-tē\.  However, I haven't changed my own way of saying the word. The three-syllable pronunciation will never feel right in my mouth.

I've also heard lots of people call them "wolves." But in my internal dictionary, the word "wolf" is used only for the larger wild dogs. To me, calling them "wolves" would feel just as silly as calling them \kī-ˈō-tēs\.

I base my mental image of a coyote on the animal I knew during my Nebraska childhood. The average male coyote there weighed  maybe 30 lbs. But in the eastern U.S., the native coyote is a bigger animal -- at least a third bigger on average (10 to 15 lbs. heavier) -- than the Nebraska coyote. DNA testing has revealed that some eastern coyotes carry wolf genes as a result of coyotes and wolves mating with each other.

So my notion that no coyote should be called a wolf is probably wrong, too. I read that these crossbreed coyotes are called "coy-wolves." Now I wonder how they pronounce that first syllable, "coy."  Is it \ˈkī\ or is it  \ˈkȯi\?

Range map of the coyote
Image from Wikimedia

Related:
Website of Jonathan Way, Ph.D., a Coy-Wolf expert

15 Animal and Bird Songs

Ah, do you remember these?

Here's a Fun Friday Fifteen, since I missed the Thursday Thirteen. (Yes, I did just invent the Fun Friday Fifteen!)

1. Old Blue (Bet you five dollars he's a good dog too.)
2. The Old Gray Mare (She ain't what she used to be.)
3. Sweetly Sings the Donkey (At the break of day.)
4. Git Along Little Dogies (It's your misfortune and none of my own.)
5. Mary Had a Little Lamb (Its fleece was white as snow.)
6. Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat (Where have you been?)
7. Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone? (Where, oh where can he be?)
8. Pop! Goes the Weasel (Round and round the cobbler's bench...)
9. Froggie Went a Courtin' (And he did ride, a-hum, a-hum.)
10. Go Tell Aunt Rhody (The old gray goose is dead.)
11. Be Kind to your Webfooted Friends (For a duck may be somebody's mother.)
12. Three Blind Mice (Did ever you see such a sight in your life?)
13. Teensy Weensy Spider (Climbed up the spout again.)
14. Rabbit Ain't Got No Tail At All (Same song, second verse, a little bit louder, and a little bit worse.)
15. The Bear Went Over the Mountain (To see what he could see.)

Now which one of these is stuck in your head? For me, it's "Froggie Went a Courtin'." A-hum.

Illustrations from the Project Gutenberg EBook of Denslow's Mother Goose, copyright 1902 by William Wallace Denslow. http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/18546 ==Us

Angel with Snails

Winter shelter

I don't know when this little angel fell from the rock where he's supposed to sit. I found him with his nose in the dirt a few days ago when I was raking leaves off a flowerbed. When I picked him up and set him back on his perch, I was surprised to see that a dozen snails were sheltering under his wing. It reminded me that I should be careful about picking up rocks, etc., this time of the year, because sometimes there are surprises under them. Snakes, for example.

Butterflies and Coneflowers

Summer sights

As I was photographing these butterflies, they were completely oblivious to my presence. The only thing on their minds was checking each flower for nectar. I really enjoyed seeing them!

Summer in the Country

Seen around Christian County, KY

Butterfly and thistle

This dead tree stands on a hill.

It's a favorite perch for buzzards and hawks.

Last year, cattle were grazing in this field.

Probably the corn will go into ethanol.

Kentucky Tree Frog

Looks like a lichen

I moved some flower pots on the porch the other day, and this little tree frog leaped out of them and stuck himself to the side of the house.

I've seen frogs of this sort before, but usually not on a tree. On a tree, their grayish coloration hides them very well. They look like lichens, and most of the trees out in the country have lots of lichens on their trunks. The tree frogs I spot, like this one, are somewhere that their camouflage doesn't work.

While I was looking at this little frog and taking his picture, he didn't even twitch. I suppose that's his instinctive behavior. If he sits completely still, he looks even more like he's part of the tree.

When I came back to the area a few minutes later, he was gone. He knew I had stopped hovering over him, and he seized the opportunity to get away.

I hope this little fellow found a warm burrow, last night. There's frost on the roof of my car this morning.

Fish Skulls Seen at Stadtprozelten

Horrific trophies of a Main River fisherman

I know that some of this blog's readers  like to fish, and I thought this photo might interest them. I took this picture in 1987 at Stadtprozelten along the Main River in Bavaria, (West) Germany. I've written briefly before about visiting Stadtprozelten on the Main with little Keely.

This photo was taken on the narrow lane that navigates the steep bluff above Stadtprozelten's rooftops.  The fish skulls were nailed to the side of someone's shed. I hope you can see the sharp teeth. I suppose that the teeth didn't protrude quite as far when there was still flesh on the bones. Still, that's not a mouth I'd want to reach into for a fish hook!

The Main River has some big Wels catfish, but the shape of these skulls looks more like some kind of a pike to me. Believe me, I am not offering an expert opinion.

Related:
Wikipedia article about Stadtprozelten
Picture gallery on Stadtprozelten's homepage

Sandhill Crane Webcam, 2010

Crane Cam at Rowe Sanctuary

Carolyn Hall of Bassett, Nebraska, sent the following link for this year's Sandhill Crane Webcam at the Rowe Sanctuary.

http://www.rowesanctuary.org/crane%20cam.htm

I'm writing this at about 9:30 p.m with the webcam running in another window of my browser. It is dark on the river, but I can see the moon and hear an occasional bird sound over the gurgle of the water.

Sanctuary volunteers run the camera in the morning and evening during the hours the cranes are active on the river.  The rest of the time, the camera is stationary. The Crane Cam will be running through April 10, 2010. 

The Rowe Sanctuary is located on the Platte River at Gibbon, Nebraska (southeast of Kearney, Nebraska). The Platte River is an important staging ground for Sandhill cranes on their migration north. The birds spend their days in the fields and marshes near the river. At night, they return to the sandbars of the Platte River, where they are safe from coyotes and other predators.

According to the Rowe Sanctuary website,

In the morning, cranes shuffle up and down the river waiting for the sun to pop up over the horizon. As the sun rises, cranes head out to feed and loaf in the surrounding fields.  During the day, cranes "dance" to relieve the stress of migration and strengthen pair bonds.  Cranes are very "social" birds and in the evening, congregate in wet meadows before heading back to the river for the night. (Source)

More:
► The Rowe Sanctuary has a Facebook page where you can post questions and comments and read the responses of volunteers.
► YouTube has several videos of Sandhill Cranes at Rowe Sanctuary. This one shows hundreds of cranes arriving at the river at sunset.

Credit:
Sandhill crane image from pdphoto.org.

Elk Problems in Eastern KY

Too many car/elk accidents

Elk were extirpated (made locally extinct) in Kentucky before 1850. In 1987, Kentucky's Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Resources began reintroducing elk in 16 counties of southeastern Kentucky. The repopulation project has been (pardon the pun) wildly successful.

The elk were released into the most mountainous part of the state. Mining is a major industry there. Many large strip-mine sites were made fit for wildlife when abandoned, as required by state law. Most of the reclaimed sites are now open, grassy fields -- an abundant source of food for the elk.

The elk have thrived in Kentucky. They are achieving a 90% breeding success rate, and a 92% calf survival rate. The absence of predators, relatively mild Kentucky winters and abundant food sources have not only contributed to the remarkable population growth, but also account for the fact that the Kentucky elk are on average 15% larger than elk found in western states. By July 2000, Kentucky had the largest free ranging, wild elk herd east of Montana.

Source: The Kentucky Elk Herd

Population projections have been exceeded.

Kentucky Fish and Wildlife predicted the population would reach 10,000 in 2013. Kristina Brunjes, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife big game coordinator, said they are starting to get some research data that indicates they may hit that number in 2009

Source: "The Elk's Return to Kentucky", by Carol L. Spence,  published Spring, 2009, in a University of Kentucky College of Agriculture magazine

Black bears and cougars are being sighted more often in eastern KY, but there aren't enough of them to control the growing elk population. In the absence of other predators, Kentucky is depending on hunters. In 2009, Kentucky issued 250 bull tags and 750 cow tags. A total of 765 elk were harvested, if I am reading the figures correctly.

With so many elk in the mountains, it was inevitable that drivers would encounter elk on the roads. Collisions of cars and elk have been a big problem. In Bell County, KY, county officials recently arranged a public meeting with state wildlife officials so local residents could complain in person.

Fish and Wildlife Resources Commissioner Taylor Orr and Wildlife Division Director Karen Wahlberg said they are working on solutions, such as setting traps in problem areas and allowing more... locals to participate in elk hunts.

Bell County Judge-Executive Albey Brock, who hosted the forum as a way to make sure state wildlife officials understood the magnitude of the problem, said another meeting would be held.

"Instead of saying 'if we have a problem', let's agree we do have a problem," Brock said.

Source: "Residents in southeastern KY. angry about elk", Associated Press article published in the Lexington Herald-Leader, January 25, 2010

I hit a deer with my car a few years ago, and I know how dangerous, unsettling, and expensive that was. I shudder to think of an animal several times larger than a deer plunging into the path of my car. On the other hand, I do like to think of wild elk roaming the mountains.

Image credit: Cervus elaphus.(Robert Karges II / USFWS)

Memorable Visits to the Zoo

Talk to the animals

All visits to the zoo are interesting, but sometimes, something happens that is out of the ordinary, even for the zoo.

When we lived in Berlin, we visited the wonderful Berlin Zoo frequently. One dark winter day, Dennis and I were there with the kids. I had Baby Isaac in a carrier on my chest, and I was wearing a cape that went over both of us.

The wind became very sharp, and I tried to keep my back to it to shelter Isaac. Then sleet came shooting through the air, and the wolves began howling. It was such an eerie sound that I imagine that even the pedestrians outside the zoo shivered and walked a little faster when they heard it. We decided to cut that visit short and go home.

Another day at the Berlin zoo, it rained right after we arrived. I had packed some sandwiches, so we went to the monkey house and had lunch on the bench in front of the orangutan's cage. We spent most of an hour there, watching and being watched by an amazingly human-like creature. To this day, I have an affection for orangutans.

At the Berlin Zoo, the tigers had a big outdoor enclosure that was connected to their inside cage. When we visited the tiger house one day, they were outside. We were walking down a long hallway, talking about other things, when a tiger's huge head suddenly appeared in a porthole right beside little Keely. We saw his long, yellow fangs. Even though he was behind glass, his sudden appearance gave us a fright that we won't ever forget. When we looked at him again outside, we saw that the porthole was on the back wall of his pen.

I had another memorable experience yesterday at the Nashville Zoo. When we visited the giraffes, two were standing at the back of their little pasture, but one male was taking a close look at the people. I spoke to him, and he stretched his neck out and looked right at me. I talked to him for several minutes and took some pictures of him.

Keely and Taurus had moved to the other side of the little building, so Isaac and I walked over there. We were telling them how the giraffe had given us his attention, when the giraffe saw us, left the other people, and rejoined us. So we talked to him a little while longer. It was an interesting experience. It's pleasant to imagine that he knew we liked him.

It was Keely's idea to go to the zoo yesterday. She will remember this trip as the time that a dragonfly sat on her hand. Isaac will remember that the little donkey thought his hand tasted like salt. I think Taurus will remember the reptile house. It was a nice day.

A few more photos:
Alligators
Carousel
Crane
Elephants
Fish
Gibbon
Iguanas
Jungle gym
Leopard
Leopard 2
Lizard
Meerkats
Meerkats 2
Pathway
Zebras

Backyard Nature

Wild ageratum and more

Wild ageratum (blue mistflower, Eupatorium coelestinum) is blooming at the edge of some shrubbery where Dennis hasn't mowed closely this year. It pops up every year somewhere around the yard, always in a spot out of the lawn mower's reach. The butterflies like it.

This clump of ageratum is particularly lush. Some of the shoots must be three feet tall. I think it has enjoyed the rainy summer.

Ageratum blooms along the road ditches this time of year, too. It's a sure sign that fall is at hand. It's a member of the aster family, and like many of its relatives, it's a late bloomers.

More backyard nature

While I was working in the shed late this evening, a baby frog hopped in. I thought it was a cricket at first. It was tiny but its hops carried it high into the air -- sproing, sproing! I wanted to put it outside, but it was fast and I couldn't catch it. Finally, I herded it out with the broom.

Just minutes later, a young toad came in. He was craftier than the little frog. He hopped behind some boards where he was perfectly safe from capture. He's still in the shed. I'm going to look for him tomorrow morning.

It was dark outside. I don't know if the little frog and toad were attracted by the lights or by the bugs that had come to the lights.

I finally decided to quit and go to the house. I turned out the lights and started to close the door. Across the driveway, I heard a large animal blow air in a startled whoosh and run away. I couldn't see it, but I know it was a deer that had come to eat fallen apples.

Now the coyotes are howling, and it sounds like they are across the road in the cornfield -- not really very far from my open window. I've heard them close to the house like this several times lately. I suppose the rainy summer has provided plenty of food for them, too.

Their yips and chortles make me feel a little uneasy. I'm glad the cats are inside.

Feral Pigs in American Cities

Free-roaming pigs lived on garbage

In June, 2007, I wrote in my tree blog that part of today's feral pig problem in the USA can be traced back to early farmers. Some pigs escaped into the wild from pens and pastures, but many were deliberately set free in unfenced forests to forage for nuts, wild fruit, etc. (See "Releasing pigs into the forest was a terrible idea".)

I wrote the post about feral pigs in forests after reading an article about raising pigs on mast in an 1864 magazine. Recently, I came across some information about feral pigs living in US cities during the same era (mid-1800s).

European travelers commented on the animals roaming the streets of American cities, eating from the gutter where unwanted food had landed, thrown from doors and windows. Scavenger pigs, goats, and stray dogs had the run of the cities before the Civil War, along with the many cows and pigs whose owners let them loose to graze on the streets... New York dispatched carts to round up pigs in 1830, but to little effect. "Take care of the pigs," Charles Dickens advised Manhattan pedestrians in American Notes, published in 1842; that year the New York Daily Tribune estimated ten thousand hogs on the streets. The roaming pigs consumed so much garbage and furnished so much food for the poor that efforts to ban them ran into political opposition.

Quoted from Chapter One, of Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash by Susan Strasser, (C) 1999 Susan Strasser. ISBN: 0-8050-4830-8. (Login required.)

It is interesting to browse through the results of a modern-day Google search for "feral pigs in US cities". Wild pigs are well-known in some urban areas. I'm amazed that feral pigs have even been caught in Kansas City.

Today's wild pigs won't find as much garbage in our cities as they did 150 years ago, so it's unlikely that they will become as numerous in urban areas as they once were. However, in my opinion, any number of feral pigs is too many.

Wild pigs are wily, aggressive animals that eradicate native species, destroy natural and cultivated areas with their rooting, menace pedestrians and pets, create traffic problems, carry tuberculosis, and spread livestock diseases such as pseudorabies and swine brucellosis. They reproduce at tremendous rates.

The population of feral pigs is increasing steadily in the southern U.S. (1988 map.) I have no desire to ever meet one face to face. I think there should be an open hunting season on them across the U.S., because they are an invasive species.

It can't be denied that pigs are fierce competitors in the natural order. I wonder if feral pigs will be survivors, along with the cockroaches, if the "big one" ever happens and life on earth suffers a major kill-back.

Awwww...

A little orphan deer has adopted a Great Dane for its parent. Isaac and I agreed that it reminds us of the little orphan hippo who adopted a huge tortoise. More photos of the hippo and tortoise appear in the e-book, Owen and Mzee (a pdf file, about 1.4 MB.)

Bobcat Children

"Animal Children" from an old book

The little Bobcat and Canadian Lynx
Just must be related (so everyone thinks).
Except for their ears they're alike as two pins,
And look every whit as if they were twins.

Source: Animal Children: The Friends of the Forest and Plain, an e-book at Project Gutenberg

Big Cat Sightings

Wild cats amongst us

NOTE: If you're seeking information about photos of a big cougar killed on a Trigg County, KY, highway, the e-mail is a hoax. That big cat has been the star of so many bogus e-mails that it has finally been listed by Snopes.com. Also see the March 10, 2008, Kentucky New Era story: "Mountain Lion Exists Only in Hoax," (subscription required). I hope you enjoy reading this article anyway, though.

Dennis has been watching a show about big cats in the U.S. this morning. To be specific, he's watching a "Monster Quest"show about unexplained repeated sightings of black cats that are several times larger than large domestic cats.

MonsterQuest: Lions in the Backyard
Airs on Monday January 21 04:00 PM

Mountain lions do occasionally attack humans, and when they do it makes headlines across the country. However, it has been reported that people are seeing something else--attacks by large black cats. Pictures and law enforcement encounters prove a big black cat is out there, while it resembles a mountain lion, there is no such thing as a black mountain lion. From Texas to Minnesota to West Virginia, follow the eyewitness accounts and physical evidence of these demon cats. Bones from a carcass that eyewitnesses claim was a huge black cat will be put to the DNA test. One-part history, one-part science and one part monsters discover the truth behind legendary monsters.

Source: Upcoming episodes of Monster Quest on the History Channel

It's been an interesting show. Many of the photographs and videos can be explained or dismissed, but a few cannot. At the end of the show, the bones of the "cat" turn out to be a domestic dog. The official verdict is that most of the "big black cats" are mis-identified bears, dogs, or housecats. A few might be exotic cats, escaped or released from private zoos. Of course, these explanations do not satisfy those who have actually seen the big black cats.

Big cats in northern Nebraska during my childhood

When I was growing up in north-central Nebraska, there were reports of mountain-lion sightings from time to time. Usually, the big cat was observed in or near the wooded canyons of a river or creek.

I am sure that some of the reports were true. The mountain lion (also known as cougar, panther, or puma) was once native to Nebraska. Plenty of suitable habitat could still be found in northern Nebraska in the 1950s and 1960s (and still can be found today.) The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission has recently confirmed the return of the mountain lion to Nebraska -- even in and around Omaha, as reported by the Plains Feeder in 2005!

In my childhood, every now and then someone would shoot a bobcat, usually around a canyoned area. Maybe the bobcat was bothering the livestock -- or at least, the rancher was worried that the bobcat might bother the livestock. I think I remember a few photos in the newspaper of dead bobcats laid out in the back of someone's pickup truck. They may have been trophies of an official bobcat hunting season, and I didn't realize it.

Mountain Lions Around Kansas City

My husband grew up near the Missouri River in Independence, Missouri. When he was little, many stories were told of mountain lions along the river, but none of them were ever proven.

Then, about ten years ago, when the Missouri River had a major flood, many reports were made that mountain lions had been spotted in the residential areas near the river. As I recall, a policeman even reported seeing a mountain lion in a little field within Independence.

After so many unconfirmed sightings through the years, many people felt vindicated when a mountain lion was hit and killed on the Interstate in the greater Kansas City area. Even the Missouri Conservation Department has finally admitted that there's evidence of a growing mountain lion population in Missouri.

Bobcats and Cougars in Christian County, Kentucky

Here in Christian County, Kentucky, we occasionally have reports of mountain lions. Of course, they are never confirmed. We have large areas of rough, wooded hills and plenty of streams, especially in northern Christian County. Our over-abundance of deer would be attractive to big cats, so I don't arbitrarily dismiss mountain lion stories.

I can testify that there are bobcats (Lynx rufus fasciatus) here, because I've seen two of them. One time, we were visiting a neighbor who lives near Pilot Rock. As we stood outside his house, a large bobcat crossed the field in front of us, several hundred yards away.

Our neighbor pointed out the bobcat. It was well camouflaged in the tall dry grass, and I probably wouldn't have noticed it, on my own. He commented that he saw that bobcat frequently. I don't know how he knew it was the same one!

It is interesting to note that a couple hundred acres around this neighbor's house was in the CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) so it hadn't been used for crops or livestock in a decade or more. The property also includes a creek that runs through a rocky ravine and associated woodlands.

About six or seven years ago, a bobcat ran in front of my car as I drove home from work one dark winter night. I was caught by surprise, and I couldn't imagine what it was! I knew it wasn't a fox or a coyote.

Just a day later, someone brought a stuffed bobcat into the office for my boss. When I saw it, I immediately recognized the animal that had crossed my headlights. I should have known it was a bobcat, but it was a lot smaller than I had expected.

I suspect that I once heard a bobcat in the ravine that lies between our house and the highway below us. One hot summer night about midnight, I went outside to enjoy the cool night breeze that always wafts up from the valley below us.

As I sat there in the dark, listening to the tree frogs and cicadas, I heard a wild scream from the ravine. It was a little unsettling, so I went in the house and went to bed. It may have been a screech owl, but it sounded like a cat to me.

Related:
PDF map of confirmed mountain lion sightings in Nebraska, 1991-2007
US map: Confirmed sightings of cougars outside their established range, 1990-present
Website that lists "Alien Big Cats" around the world

Black and Yellow Garden Spider, 2007

Argiope aurantia

I've taken dozens of photos of these black and yellow garden spiders over the years. I don't like spiders much, but the bright colors of this species and their big webs are irresistible to my camera clicking finger.

We start seeing lots of these spiders in the garden and flower beds in early fall every year. It's one of the signs of the season.

This is a female. They are much larger than the males. The males approach with caution, and communicate by strumming the threads of the web.

When a hapless insect strays into the web, Her Ladyship springs into action. She injects him with a liquifying agent and wraps him in silk. Then she leaves him to soften up while she waits patiently for the next catch.

It's quite similar to the way Frodo was bundled by Shelob in the Lord of the Rings.

Garden spiders are very interesting creatures. Here are a few websites with more information about them:

Black and yellow argiope
Black and yellow garden spider
Yellow garden spider

Technorati tags: garden spider, Argiope aurantia

Cat Meets Cicadas

Cicadas have emerged in Christian County, Kentucky

Casper observes a pair of vibrating, buzzing, mating cicadas

The loud noise of cicadas is constant right now. I don't know if they ever quiet down. I stay up pretty late at night, but they're still singing when I go to bed.

I've read that cats and dogs sometimes eat so many cicadas that they get sick. Casper doesn't seem to think they are food. He's really not sure what should be done with them. He watches them suspiciously and touches them gingerly. I wonder if maybe he associates buzzing with bumblebees.

Technorati Tags: cicadas, cats, Christian County Kentucky, Christian County KY

Black Bears in Missouri

Where are Missouri's black bears coming from?

My sister-in-law Donna, who lives in Kansas City, MO, sent us an interesting newspaper clipping about black bears in Missouri. I can't find an exact duplicate of the article online, but a slightly abbreviated version of it is still posted at the St. Louis Post Dispatch: "Missouri Counts Its Black Bears."

The gist of the article is that Missouri doesn't know how many black bears it has or where they are coming from. Missouri's biologists aren't sure if the state's black bears are Arkansas-born bears who have traveled north, or if Missouri now has a bear population that is reproducing.

To help learn where Missouri's black bears are from, biologists are setting up bait stations, Barbed wire will snag a few hairs of any bear who ventures in. DNA testing of the hairs will determine the sex of the bears and their relationship to the Arkansas bears.

According to the article, black bears in both Missouri and Arkansas had been exterminated by the early 1900's. During the 1950's, Arkansas imported bears from Minnesota. The Arkansas black bear population is now estimated to be 3500, and the Missouri population may be as many as 350.

Areas of Missouri mentioned in the article as places where bears have been seen include:

• southwestern Missouri counties
• eastern Ozarks along the Current River
• St. Louis area including southern Jefferson County
• Hurley, Billings, Republic and Nixa in southwest Missouri
• Christian County, Missouri

My parents lived in Hickory County, MO, about 50 miles north of Springfield, from the early 1970's through the mid-1980's. Some of their land was rough, rocky, forested hills, part of a long stretch of mostly rough, mostly tree-covered land that extended for many miles.

My father once told me that he had seen an animal that had to be a bear. There was no other animal that it could have been, he said. There were always rumors about "cinnamon bears" in the area. (Cinnamon bears are a lighter-colored subspecies of black bears.) However, the bear my father saw was dark in color.

Black bears were also native to Kentucky (and most of the United States, except for the most arid regions of the American Southwest.) Nowadays, most bear sightings in Kentucky occur in the eastern part of the state, near borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and Tennessee.

Like Missouri, Kentucky really doesn't know how many black bears live within the state, but the population seems to be increasing.

Black bear images in this post are courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The artist is Robert Savannah.

Technorati tags: black bears, bears in Missouri, bears in Kentucky

Pigeon Games

Life in Christian County, Kentucky... More About Birds and Animals...

Our homemade pigeon trap

We made a pigeon trap today. As you can see, it's nothing fancy. It's just a box with a flap cut in the up-side (that is, in the former bottom of the box.)

The idea is that you prop the box up with a stick. When the bird goes under the box to eat the grain, you pull the stick out with the attached string. The box drops over the bird. Then you reach through the flap and hold the bird.

A helper then lifts the box a little and somehow, between the two of you, the bird is put into a cage. My idea is that we should slide something flat under the box and carry it to an enclosed area before making the transfer. We haven't reached that step yet because we haven't caught the bird.

He came close to the box a few times but he didn't go under it. He is finding fallen seed from the feeders and also the rice we threw on the ground for him yesterday. He doesn't seem interested in the grain under the box.

Tomorrow morning, I will rake that area and try to remove some of the extraneous food. Maybe then he'll be more interested in the food in the trap. I hope we can catch him soon because I have other things to do!

This afternoon, he was sitting on the roof (photo below.) I don't know where he is roosting tonight. I don't think he's in the tree where he spent the last two nights.

Dennis and his brother Steve had pigeons when they were kids. They didn't have racing pigeons, but they had rollers and tumblers (named for their distinctive flight patterns), kings, and fantails. Grandpa Netz fixed a pigeon loft in the barn, and the boys took care of them every morning before school.

That's why Dennis immediately realized this stray was a lost homing pigeon. I had no clue. I'd have guessed the bird was banded for some sort of scientific study.

Related post: A Pigeon Is Visiting Us

Lonely bird

Technorati tags: homing pigeon, lost pigeon, pigeon trap

A Pigeon Is Visiting Us

Life in Christian County, Kentucky... More About Birds and Animals...

I'm excited about seeing a pigeon in our yard today. There are several reasons why this is a noteworthy event:

• In 17 years, we've never seen a pigeon in our yard before.
• The pigeon is extremely tame.
• The pigeon has a red band on one leg and a green band on the other leg.
• The pigeon is roosting in the tree outside our living room window tonight.

We think he is a homing pigeon that is supposed to be in a race but has lost his way. I don't know when he arrived, but I first saw him about 2 p.m. He was looking for dropped seed under the bird feeder.

We gave him some water in a dish and sprinkled some sunflower seeds on the ground for him. They are probably not his favorite food, but he ate them.

After pecking around for a while, he nestled against a tree trunk and fluffed up his feathers. He rested there for a couple hours. Then he ate some more. Finally he flew up into the tree late in the afternoon. He's sitting on a little bump on a branch about 25 feet above the ground.

We were thinking about trying to catch him tomorrow to read his legbands, but now I don't know if we should. I've read a page about lost homing pigeons that says the owners want the bird to fly on. Food should be offered just for a couple days, they say.

At least, now I do know what to feed him -- popcorn (unpopped) and rice (uncooked). We'll try that tomorrow.

The pigeon is very jaunty looking -- beautiful, really. He has an irridescent neck, nice markings, and a very smooth set of gray feathers.

I didn't get his picture while he was on the ground. I tried to photograph him in the tree with poor results. So if you want to see what he really looks like, LeggNet has a good photo that looks a lot like our pigeon.

UPDATE (Sunday afternon): We didn't see him this morning and we thought maybe he had flown on. After church, I drove to Murray, KY, to see Keely but my husband came home. He called to tell me that the pigeon was back.

I bought some bird food that has cracked corn and millet in it, and we will try to lure him into a trap with it tomorrow.

Then maybe we can see if any information is on his bands and contact the Pigeon 911 group, as has been suggested in the comments.

There are still several hours of daylight, but he has already roosted high in a tree in the yard.

Pigeon roosting on a bump on the tree branch

The pigeon saga continues: Pigeon Games

Related website: U.S. Navy instructions on carrier pigeon care (from 1912)

Technorati tags: homing pigeon, lost pigeon, pigeon race