Category Archives: creatures

North – again

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The weather isn’t going to cooperate forever (in fact, the remnants of Noel are supposed to scream through tomorrow), so we went back north to the covers today.

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I hunted Boone for just a short time – turned him loose in a pocket cover with Dinah. He goes to it with a will, but when we circled back to the truck after 15 minutes, his legs were shaking. I sat down on the ground next to him and we just relaxed for a bit.

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Tamarack (aka The Larch per Python, Monty)

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Janey was wonderful. She can be frustrating – she’s field trial stock and wants to range too far for the kind of covers we hunt. If she doesn’t find birds as quickly as she thinks she should, her urge to range and self hunt grows – thus the e-collar she always wears. But, and it’s a big but, what a nose! What staunchness! She’s one of those dogs that will not release from point if you haven’t flushed the bird she knows is there. If I go in and tell her “OK” and she doesn’t move, I know I need to kick around a bit more – and be ready. She ran one big cover for an hour and a half today. Her final flourish, as we got back to the truck, was to lock up on a bird. I was 150 feet away – not too bad – it was reasonably open – and as I started towards her, a grouse went up to my left (Janey was at 2 o’clock). “Oh, crap”, said I, “the bird must have run.” She didn’t move. I kept walking towards her and a second grouse went up right where she indicated. As I swung on the grouse, I heard a woodcock go up – Janey had managed to line on the 2 birds and not bump either. I never saw the woodcock – only heard it – but I did see the grouse (yum).

The cover, just before it opened up for Janey’s last find (those aspen/poplar/popple are about 1 1/2″ in diameter and 1′ to 3′ apart):

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Dinah has come a long way in two working days. When she first hit the ground Wednesday, she was working on defining “gamboling”. By her second cover today, she was moving pretty smoothly, using her nose (she’s not sure exactly what smell is the most important, but she know it’s one of those scents) and when she bumped her last woodcock, she spun and threw a flash point. I love watching a puppy figure out birds – there’s a fit there that is sublime – the world’s best key clicking into a damn fine lock. Not to get too full of myself – let’s end on a lighter note. There are a lot of moose in the woods where we hunt. You’ll never confuse their droppings with deer turds…

Up North

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I took a day off yesterday and went north to where the pa’tridge (ruffed grouse for non-New Englanders) and woodcock, she run free and wild. When I’m bird hunting, I’m not thinking deep thoughts; one of the many things I love about it is that I’m paying attention to the moment – the dog, the cover and occasionally the bird. So… nothing earth shattering to report – some pictures interspersed with some smells.

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New fallen leaves. Smokeless powder.

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Wood smoke from a distant stove.

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Peat bog funk (very different from salt marsh funk – another fave).

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Goldenrod crushed underfoot.

I wonder if Christopher Brosius at I Hate Perfume could put together a Grouse Woods scent? Anyone who knows me, knows that I am anything but metro- (the phrase ‘lipstick on a pig’ comes to mind), but some of the smells he puts together? Burning leaves? At the Beach 1966? In the Library? Hmm…

A few additional pictures (there should be more along soon) on my ‘bird hunting ’07‘ Flickrset.

Happy Halloween…

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…from Miss Halloween New Hampshire 2007.

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I spotted her this morning, tending her clutch of eggs in the autumn sun. The spiderlings need to get a move on – we are supposed to get a couple hard frosts this week.

Halloween movie recommendations (yes, I know, you didn’t ask):

And a picture of New England fall foliage:

Gaffs

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Curious Expeditions have posted a Flickrset taken at the Haus der Natur in Salzburg, Austria. Included are a bunch of wonderful gaffs – certainly worth a look.

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There’s also a nice group of Papuan skull pix – something that ties back (indirectly) to a project I’m working on.

I wish I could get back down to Brooklyn on November 2 for The Secret Science Club’s third annual Carnivorous Nights Taxidermy Contest – looks like a ton of fun.You can see some work done by last year’s winner, Takeshi Yamada, here.

Snakes ‘n bugs

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Off I went to the semi-annual herp show in Manchester to pick up supplies – frozen mice, calcium powder, tomato worms (treats for the chameleon), etc. As always, a great venue for people watching and great prices on the weird items that local pet stores charge an arm and a leg for – when they have them at all.

I’m not wild about designer reptiles – not a big deal – just a pretty minor matter of taste. That being said, this Gonysoma oxycephala x G. janseni is a stunning creature. In some ways it reminds me of pictures I’ve seen of Green Mambas. It may be just that both snakes are green (duh – though the mamba is greener) and the scalation is striking; I don’t know.

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There was a vendor there with phasmids! Hello, Ms. Stick Insect. This one is a female Eurycantha calcarata. Big and interesting – the size makes her something more that just another bug. You can see joints and jaws and antennae without a hand lens. Very cool.

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Not my arm – not that I would have minded – just didn’t want to take credit. On the subject of stick insects – a bleg – I’d like to get my hands on this – anyone out there with access to it?

Later – the oxy x janseni’s head shape helps a lot with it’s mamba-ness. On a mamba, it gets described as coffin shaped (wonder why?). On the stick insect front, an email today from JM – he’s got some Peruphasma schultei nymphs – beautiful creatures.

Vivarium work

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I just put up a page on some tuning I’ve been doing to the large vivarium. To see it, click here or go to the Pages section in the right margin. I’m liking the results – if the plants agree, woo-hoo!

Lookee what I found!

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Found in my back yard right at the lawn to woods transition. I couldn’t decide whether it was bear or coyote, then I figured out what the triangular things are. Sunflower seed hulls. I vote bear. For those of you muttering, “Ew, gross” under your breath, please refer to the title of this blog *grin*.

Also spotted in the back yard a week ago – the rare and dangerous New Caledonian Laundry Hound. Isn’t she helpful?! I know – what’s cute now will be a PITA when she’s grown. Luckily, the laundry thing seems to have been a one time occurrence – or maybe it’s just that she can’t resist her fave blanket.

Frogger’s BBQ

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I went to a great get-together yesterday – a barbecue for folks who keep and breed poison dart frogs. The food was great, the host’s frog room was amazing, and as always the company was wonderful. Some pictures…

Dendrobates imitator intermedius:

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One of my favorite frogs – the black blotches seem to float above the metallic orange undercolor. They tend to be bold; out hopping around without a care in the world.

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The map:

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G just got back from kicking around Central America. He pulled a map of Panama out of his wallet and I had to take a picture. I love maps, and this one has everything – it’s been used, marked on and now serves to document an interesting trip.

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My new frogs:

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It was a good chance for folks to trade, buy each other’s frogs, give plant cuttings away, etc. I did a trade with a friend – some adult D. pumilio ‘Man Creeks’ for some D. fantasticus froglets. The Man Creeks have produced some froglets for me, but I haven’t been able to bring them past the critical 4 to 6 month old window. My plan with pumilio is to start keeping them in larger enclosures, where I can get a better population of springtails and woodlice established; in the meantime, the Man Creeks ought to be with a breeder who can do right by them. Fantasticus are aptly named – they are in a grow-out tank now, but once they’re in a nicely planted enclosure – yowzah!

More pictures here.

Tuesday morning potpourri for $500, please, Alex

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Stray thougts and links…

On The Pony Rule – like Ms. Phasmid, I have a full dreamspace. There are many classification schemes I apply to the dreams when I’m feeling meta – one that is actually useful is to divde dreams into Pony Rule/not Pony Rule. Not Pony Rule items are those that, with effort and a little luck (and maybe some sacrifice) are attainable – my ‘move into an Airstream‘ idea/dream/plan is a perfect representative of the genre. Pony Rule dreams involve either the suspension of physical laws (superpowerz!!1!) or factors completely outside my control. The ‘what would I do if I hit the lottery?’ fantasy is a good example – I have no control over it and it’s so improbable that it’s right on the edge of suspension of physics (someone does win, so it’s not over the line, but probability-wise, pretty darn close). Thus, that fantasy can be improved by application of “and a pony!”. It occurred to me this morning as I puttered around, that The Pony Rule has a theme song: Lyle Lovett’s If I Had a Boat.

The mystery masked man was smart
He got himself a Tonto
‘Cause Tonto did the dirty work for free
But Tonto he was smarter
And one day said kemo sabe
Kiss my ass I bought a boat
I’m going out to sea

And if I had a boat
I’d go out on the ocean
And if I had a pony
I’d ride him on my boat
And we could all together
Go out on the ocean
Me upon my pony on my boat

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Great APOD today – not so much for the picture; rather for the links to papers on Martian life. Extremophile bacteria using a hydrogen peroxide/water intracellular fluid mix! (Warning – .pdf link) More investigation will be required!

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It’s the time in the northeastern US when athletic fields start to be used by high school teams – practicing and, soon, playing. Here, women’s varsity soccer and men’s cross country have been in evidence. We do not have a football team, but the boarding school I used to work at sure did. I found this compare and contrast post very interesting – concussion vs. smoking dope. I am a fan of NFL football, but as you work your way back down the feeder system (NFL -> NCAA -> high school) things get a little more questionable; the risk/reward variables change pretty dramatically.

Birds ‘n bikes

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This looks like an interesting CD for dreamers like me. “I really need to get this, just in case I end up in Siberia in the next year or so!” Yeah, right…

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How much do you want to bet that the motorcycle in the picture above is a Ural? I don’t think I could fit 3 dogs, 1 hawk, 1 falcon and a yurt into the sidehack, but who cares? Wishes are free! And a pony!

A bit of suspension trivial – until a few minutes ago, I thought all forks like the ones on the Urals were Earles forks. The great Wikipedian oracle tells me that all Earles forks are leading link forks, but the converse is not true – location of the pivot point is the key criterion.

CD via Birding Mongolia.

More pix of the pup

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She’s growing like a weed.

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She has a healthy appetite (understatement). She’s eating almost as much as Janey (middle dog) and is, as you can see, pretty lean. Here’s a really bad phonecam picture showing the serious hoover action she puts on when the bowl has food in it – notice the hourglass shape: