A Clear and Present Danger

Occasionally the sun broke through this week, so here are a few happy shots from those moments.

A Black-Capped Chickadee hiding in the shadows.

Pink Clover from the WSDOT peninsula.

A couple of my first Northern Shoveler sightings of the fall.

Cattails southeast of Foster Island.

Sadly a cottonwood tree fell this week and knocked down the Wood Duck nesting box which was also southeast of Foster Island. You may remember we saw this nest in-use earlier this year. If not you can see the spring photos and video here.

On Thursday morning the sun did not shine for these next photos. None the less a Red-tailed Hawk was seen peering from the top of a western red cedar into the fenced backyard of a local home.

Many times there is a small dog inside the fence. Often the dog will sit with its chin on the ground, in order to peer out from under the gate. It will then bark ferociously at those who pass by. It seemed obvious the hawk was aware of the potential food source and was checking to see if the owners would let the dog out for its morning constitutional.

My Aunt and Uncle in Oregon have a small dog that was attacked by a hawk. The vet said their dog escaped by inches. The hawk grabbed the dog and the talons went deeply enough to pierce the heart. However they were in the wrong end of the animal. Then apparently when the hawk released to get a better hold the dog escaped and scrambled under a parked car.

Luckily for our little, Montlake canine a crow spotted the hawk before the dog entered the yard.

Since crows are somewhat socially sophisticated one crow called the next. Soon the "band of brothers" were swooping in from all directions.

Although given their intelligence they did seem to prefer to attack from behind.

The hawk finally decided the potential benefit was not worth the hassle.

One proud crow decided to soak up the victory from the hawk's previous perch.

This morning The Seattle Times posted an article telling how the top scientists in the world believe there is a 95% probability that global warming and ocean acidification is being caused by human activities. While the potential impacts to humans and nature are very large their are things that can be done.

Stewart Brand discusses a number of options in his book, "The Whole Earth Discipline". His change in point of view over time seems very logical and practical. Even though the technical challenges of global warming, etc. are very large and difficult they may not be the greatest challenge we face.

Our greatest challenge may simply be getting everyone to work together.

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2021826582_westneat15xml.html

Let's hope we can learn to be as socially sophisticated as the crows. It is time to band together to address a clear and present danger.

Just a thought.

Larry


PS: By the way Johnson Hur from OpticsPlanet.com asked that I mention a guide they created to help new birders pick their first set of binoculars. It looks like a very logical review of the birding binocular basics. Enjoy! 

http://www.opticsplanet.com/howto/how-to-choose-binoculars-for-birding.html