The cutest by far was this downy barn owl. Now, before you exclaim, “But wait, baby season is over,” let me explain that barnies don’t have a set breeding season. They breed whenever the food supply is sufficient. This not-so-wee one was found on the ground in an ag center, but no parents or siblings were in sight, smell or earshot—and believe me, with barnies, even if you don’t SEE them, you’ll likely HEAR them, especially the babies, who like to hiss. A lot. It sounds like a massive gas leak—see the video below.
Of course, the Thanksgiving fish crow also required x-rays, which revealed pellets in both the left wing and left eye. Yeah, what I thought was an eye infection was actually inflammation from a pellet. Luckily, the eyeball itself is intact; the pellet seems to’ve missed it somehow and lodged in the eye socket. Talk about miracles…
And what REALLY infuriates me about this is that right now, it’s crow season in Georgia (every state has a different period designated for crow hunting), so it’s legal to shoot them from early November till late February—with no bag limit.
Yeah.
You read that correctly: crow season lasts for nearly FOUR months with NO bag limit, so idiots who get their jollies killing wildlife for “sport” can decimate entire populations of crows with no penalty. Nah, West Nile didn’t nearly wipe out crows in some areas; let’s just let “hunters” (and I use the term loosely in this instance) finish what West Nile started.
Understand, I have no issue with hunters who eat what they kill. They’re putting food on their table. That’s fine. But to kill a bird just for the hell of it? I have MAJOR issues with that. It sends my blood pressure soaring and reduces my vocabulary to semi-coherent obscenities. Rest assured, I’ll be seeing what we can do to at least reduce if not eliminate crow season in Georgia altogether.
And, of course, we have the flyers, who’ve decided blueberries are their second-favorite treat—first would be acorns!