GWEN

Ever hear of the G W E N system?  Those tower things that emit a low frequency sound?  They were purportedly set up in 1982 to communicate with those remaining after a nuclear attack or something else terrible.  You know, just in case.  Survivors would need to, you know, be informed.

But isn't it running all the time?  Wouldn't it HAVE to be?  You know, you never know when a big terrible will come.

Two attempts to post a picture of a GWEN Tower were thwarted....by whom....and why?

Anyway.  There is one of these things not far from the Bad Dog Ranch.  A scant forty miles away, it is constantly sending messages.

GWEN is perpetually beaming.  

And now it is violently present at my front window!  A local sparrow has been literally attacking the windows of my home for over a week.  He flies to the window, pecks at the glass, all while peering in with a wild light in his eyes.

Here's a picture of a sparrow taken a couple years ago.  

Of course, who's to say the crazed GWEN sparrow isn't a descendant of this seemingly innocent sane sparrow?  But I digress.

The bird should be focused on raising a brood, not bashing his beak against a living room window.  

Who's to say those mysterious ever-present frequencies haven't driven him mad?

Seems to me, you don't have to be a conspiracy theorist to find this whole thing unnerving.  

I don't know about this GWEN theory of hers.                  One thing's for sure, that bird is wacko.

Spring is in the Air

Well, springish.  It is snowing right now.  March is what you might call a diverse month.

Still, birds are whooping it up out there.

  Soon there will be youngsters and green grass.  

'Tis a time to ponder...

Turkey Walk

 A Turkey struts across the lawn.

A gang of youngsters join in.

Here's a group of adults wandering around.

Now they're marching in the back nine.

Trail Camage 24

 

An All Bird Edition!

House Finch

Robin

Cardinals

Starlings

Turkey

Sparrows

Trail Camage 12 All Bird Edition

 One of these days, I'm gonna put a camera up high in a tree and maybe get a picture of an owl.  Till then, here's this.

Some Robins head south in the fall but many choose to remain.

Rowdy Blue Jays are ever present at Bad Dog Ranch.

Raucous Crows are permanent residents here too.

Action shot!

Wild turkeys are rather quiet this time of year.  They make up for that by whooping it up in early spring. 

The Dark-eyed Junco is not a permanent resident.  We see them twice a year as they stop on their way to where ever they're going. 

Critters of the Night/Trail Camage

One of the fun things about the trail camera is that it never sleeps.  

Thus, we get to see things we slept through. 

Like the activity of possums

and cats

and deer

(probably) bunnies

and whatever this is.

Trail Camage 9

This a fork in the trail.

Here we have a doe minding her own business.

Now she's running with another doe.  From what- we don't know.

Later, another doe and her fawn pass through.

The cute factor on that fawn is pretty high.

Trail Camage 8

A catbird hangs out in this cool sort of grapevine cave.

Here's what it looks like through the "entrance", that is, the opening that can be seen from the trail.

The inside is fairly small- three or four feet in diameter.

You can see the wall of the grapevine cave on one side

On the other side the wall is covered by a wild rose hedge.  (I wish I'd taken this picture a month ago.  It was full of white flowers.)

Skunk.

Groundhog.

?!

!?

A Couple of Cranes

The other day, Lily was barking up a storm.  Why? 

She sighted a couple of trespassers just outside the inner perimeter.

There are many Sandhill Cranes around here but we've never seen them in our yard before.  They makes nests on the ground in grassy areas.  Will this pair make a nest here?  Stay tuned. 

This is what they sound like!  (Just click listen.)

A Rare Sighting

In the nearly four years that we've been here at the rural homestead, we've never seen a pigeon.  That changed the other day,  when this dandy appeared.

He hung out on the garage roof for a short time then vanished.

What do you suppose was on his mind?   Recalibrating his homing, perhaps?