Archive for the ‘Birds’ Category

Crazy Kuegler Family Mini Farm

Well, as one of the Kuegler Mini Farm farmers, I have seen some of the girls more recent antics. . .and THEY'RE NUTTY CHICKENS!! First of all, there is now a very defensive mother in the coop.  She is one of the Black Wyandottes, and if you go near her when she is on her egg, she squawks loudly, flaps her wings, and attacks you.  Also, she is very nervous when around humans.  To get some pictures for this article, one of my sisters and my brother had to coax her out while I photographed.  Well, she is being a good...

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The Damaging Effects of Feeding Waterfowl

Last week, we looked at how bread can be harmful or fatal to ducks and geese. Wild birdseed is a healthier option – but the best choice you can make for these birds is not to feed them at all. “Feeding them changes their natural behavior and makes them more dependent on humans,” says Michael Kaufman, Farm and Wildlife Director of Green Chimneys in Brewster, New York, which provides animal-assisted therapy and activities for special needs children. This dependency causes multiple problems. The birds tend to lose their fear of people. This not only makes them more aggressive (geese...

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Birds, Bread, and Water: A Potentially Deadly Mix

We know, by now, that we’re not supposed to feed wild waterfowl – there are plenty of signs in our parks reminding us of that – and we think we know why. It’s not good, for many reasons, for wild animals to become dependent on humans for handouts. Still, every time we read about an elderly woman fined for throwing breadcrumbs to ducks or geese, we tend to take her side. After all, what harm does it do the birds? Is the occasional scrap of bread any worse for them than the occasional order of French fries is for us? Unfortunately, yes....

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Local Wildlife

picA few minutes ago, literally, I was watching a deer ramble through my backyard.  In New Hampshire, the deer is on the pinnacle of our very interesting, and diverse, wildlife. Our yard has a variety of features that attract the local animal populace.  First off, we have a good-sized yard (one or more acres). We live along a river, so the back end of our yard meets the river.  The other feature is that we have a mini-farm of fifteen chickens (to read about their latest antics/cuteness, read Spring Is Here) that tend to attract many unwanted guests. We have many guests due...

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Steller’s Jays

Soon after moving to the Pacific Northwest, I began noticing some very striking electric-blue birds with crests. They turned out to be Steller’s jays (Cyanocitta stelleri, if you want to get official). Though they share a name, a family, and a silhouette with the better-known blue jay, there’s no mistaking one for the other. I had trouble thinking of them as “jays” at all. The original Steller was an 18th-century German scientist who sailed to Alaska with the Russian explorer Vitus Bering. He was the first European to document several animals, which later got names like Steller’s Sea Cow, Steller’s Sea...

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