OT:Snipes

Eons ago, a wise person told me that there's always at least 3 ways to do (or say) anything; a corrolary (spelling????) is 'there's a right way, a wrong way, and my way.' This last is quite true of rctn

This is a much more interesting thread than I thought it might be! Thanks to all! (I expected somebody to be writing about the bird -- a Wilson Snipe is about the size of and similar in coloration to a quail, but with a trim, rather sleek body, slightly longer legs, and a long, slender beak -- neat little critter!)

There are also snipes that are wonderful, fast little racing dinghies.

Surely you jest -- there's no such bird!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

it's certainly not an endangered species when it comes to USENET messages

You're a rare one Anne - actually I had never heard Snipe hunt, knew Wild Goose Chase - it was common practice in the navy for newbies to be sent to polish the golden rivet.

Here's a bunch. Take your pick from these.

'm not sure but I think some of them might just fly over RCTN and leave us their opinion.

L

Sigh. I've wanted to see a snipe for years, but so far no luck! We get Japanese Snipe and Painted Snipe - well, at least, other birdwatchers get them. I shall post very loudly when I finally get to see my snipe!

Yes, there really is! Several varieties, in fact. Check a field guide of birds!

"lucretia borgia" wrote

Hey Sheena, did you happen to notice a recent edition of Cross Stitcher (the Brit one, not the American) had a Dalek pattern?? A friend couldn't wait to pass the issue to me, so I can stitch up the little dear. It wasn't captioned but simple enough to backstitch in to complete it. Can't hardly wait! Dawne

If you visit Orkney you'll see snipe. And you can birdwatch at night! See

No I didn't see that but from time to time do see things Dalek, it's amazing isn't it how they have lasted, the eternal baddies everyone loved.

The selection of birds is very similar to the selection here although I do not see mention of Great Blue Herons. We had a heronry near our cottage and they were deafening on a still summer night. Long legged birds such as herons look pretty ridiculous nesting on the upper branches of pine trees.

Y'all or as I used to say, you guys, have mostly seen my serious side. A mental health worker would probably lock me away after seeing the results of a word association or ink blot test.

I sit corrected.

I never watched early Dr Who but the SciFi channel has been showing it for the last few years. There were several episodes featuring Daleks.

LOL! Bruce, I live about fifty metres from the entrance to nearly 1000 hectares of swamp. I'm quite sure it's positively *lousy* with snipe out there, but sadly I haven't got the means to get where the snipe are. Even our horses wouldn't wade into the thick phragmites swamp (possibly on account of the numerous brown snakes that live there). In my dreams, someone will one day leave me a hovercraft in his will and then I'll be able to get right out in the middle of the swamp and see all those elusive birds (like the Banded Landrail I keep hearing at night).

We saw Swamp Harriers hunting over the Minmi Road last week. Swamp Harriers aren't all that remarkable, but it was unusual to see them over the busy road! We had an interesting happening this morning. DH came out of the dunny (we have an outdoor dunny) and saw a 'weird bird' sitting on the ledge of my garden bed. It turned out to be a fledgling turtledove, fallen from its nest!

Not knowing what to do and anxious about our mental dog (who loves chasing birds) and two cats I caught the baby (who could fly quite effectively, just not in the *up* direction in which its nest most surely would have been. I was just about to place him in a cardboard box, when his Mummy came fluttering into the yard. I quickly put the chick back where I'd found him and Mum came straight up and scolded him! After about twenty minutes, during which she gave him a good feed, the pair flew off together over the fence.

This was a much nicer outcome than the one of a few weeks ago! It was one of 'those' weekends. I had had an unpleasant medical procedure done and was feeling somewhat fragile, DS fell and dislocated his shoulder, DD turned over two pages in her Science exam and consequently only got

63% and then a flock of sulphur crested cockatoos came to eat the food I put out for them on the roof.

DH was munching on a peanut butter sanger and called out 'There's a cocky in the ODLA' (OutDoorLivingArea). It was a poor, sad creature whose bill was dreadfully deformed, crossing over at the midline and hopelessly overgrown so that the poor thing could barely feed itself. DH and I cast about for ways of catching the bird, thinking a vet might have been able to help. I didn't have a *single thing* big enough to catch a cocky in and so we locked the dog indoors and put out some hunks of bread. Poor Cocky was so grateful! He waddled right up to my feet and took the bread I tossed to him. After a while, it began to rain and cocky waddled out into the yard and eventually hopped up onto the roof. He huddled under our balding jacaranda and when I later went out to the dunny, appeared to have gone off with the larger flock.

I was wrong. When I let the dog out for a pitstop, she raced straight out behind the barbecue and seized poor cocky, who'd been lurking out there. It took what seemed like ages for DS and me to get the screeching bird away from the blasted dog! There was no blood, amazingly, as the dog just likes to get hold of things and then run with them. DH came a-running with a sheet and we wrapped up cocky and transferred him to a large plastic tub. He nearly severed both my thumbs as I tried to hold him gently but firmly! Owwwwwch! It was like having both thumbs stuck in a large nutcracker! His poor old bill might not have been agile enough to pick up seeds, but it could still bite with a fair degree of force!

Well, it began to storm and by now DS' shoulder was giving him curry (owing to wrangling the dog without thinking). DH and I decided to drive into Town, where there's an after hours vet. Sadly, the vet put Mr Cocky down. Snif! He said the bill was not repairable and euthanasia was the 'best outcome'. Snif! While I know that poor Mr Cocky is no longer cold and hungry and bald, I also know I was willing to devote the time needed to hand-feed him and keep him alive. Our wildlife laws prohibit native animals and birds being kept by anyone except licenced wildlife carers.

And that's why I'm hoping to earn such a licence very soon! I've spent the larger part of my life looking after sick and injured animals of one persuasion or another. It's time I did it officially! I'm hoping to do the basic training next month and then go on to work in bird care, which will involve caring for rescued birds of all species. I'm told I can specialise in birds of prey if I wish (and yes! I can be a specialist owl-carer!!!) I wish I were a few years younger and a lot more agile. I'd be able to train as a rescuer... but I'm happy to just be a carer who nurses creatures back to health and then supervises their release into their proper habitat. Just thinking about it makes me smile!

We're still getting a hundred or so cockies on the roof each afternoon and they're *such* good value! Cockatoos have to be the funniest birds alive! They hang upside-down on the TV aerial and squawk at each other (I'm sure it's the fowlest swear-words they're saying). When it rains, the raise their 'arms' as if to wash their armpits. The park up in the vile, disgusting palm tree and pick dates, dropping them thoughtfully into the neighbours swimming pool (can you see why I encourage the cockies?) One unfortunate thing they do is vandalise the trees around and about. They'll swoop into a tree as one and busily set about stripping every bit of green off the branches. Once that's done, they begin chomping on the twigs until the entire crown of the tree is a chewed-up mess. I don't care: trees grow back. The privilege of having a hundred or so very large white cockatoos on my roof is worth all the mess!

PS. DS' shoulder is good now. He was lucky, as it popped back in by itself and gave him much less discomfort than it might have done.

Sorry to hear the sad story of the bird's deformed bill. There's a starling which has visited our garden quite regularly over the last couple of years; it has a deformed leg which juts out sideways from its "knee" but the bird still holds its own when battling with other birds (starlings, sparrows, seagulls, etc) for the scraps that Maureen puts out for them. Bruce

Yeah, but what do they know about anything ? I have known two psychiatrists (as friends) and both were off the wall. It amazed me that doctors were sending people to them for help lol