My first choice of animals here at the WV Homestead, was a Heritage Breed Chicken.  I choose the Rhode Island Reds.  They were choosen because of their dual-purpose.  I enjoy having the meat & egg combo.

I now have several more breeds of chickens.  The last count it was like 70 different breeds.

I also have ducks, geese, turkeys, & guineas on the homestead.  It makes foran interesting day to just watch these birds. 

I also have miniature goats here at the homestead.  I had started with 2 goats, and now I have 4.  The 2 are just kids that is 1 month old.  They are such beautiful creatures to watch grow

With the new year fastly approaching, I have been deciding what new breeds I want to introduce the Homestead.  I have decided to add several rare breeds of poultry, 5 breeds of turkeys, 1 breed of geese, several breeds of pheasants, 1 breed of peafowl.

So thats the plan for adding the animals, now I have got to figure the plan out of how I am gonna keep each breed separated.  Thats gonna be the hard task.  How does anybody keep that many breeds separated?  I have several breeds now, and its a tough job keeping enough pens for them to have one for their own breed.

In a rush I remembered, vividly, something I regret from over 30 years ago. A petty childhood cruelty with no reason behind it.

I see no way to make amends at this point- it was more a sin in thought than a sin in deed- but still it troubles me.

At times like this I sort of wish I was Catholic and could seek absolution.

I’m not, and I can’t. Instead, I post this little painting.

“Pea-Hen’s Idée Fixe,” 6″ x 6″, oil on linen.

{ Peacocks at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery / Photography by: Lou}

This is a long overdue post. But what can I say, I have been busy with assignments and exams. Before I left for uni however, I was fortunate enough to make a trip down to the Yala National Park. It was a spontaneous trip. We had just hopped off a boat (which we had used to spy on Blue Whales), when we all decided, “hey, lets go see some leopards!”. So on we drove to the open wilderness to see some big spotted kitties. It was rather late by the time we got to the park. We had about 2 hours to venture within its depths before we were evicted. But on we all trudged with high spirits and praying to God that He would drop down a leopard from the Heavens above, just so that we would not kick ourselves for being just a tad over enthusiastic.

As we entered the park we were greeted by a rather jolly Malabar Pied Hornbill (Anthracoceros coronatus) that skipped and hopped among the branches of a tree-that-I-can’t-identify and seemed to be eating something-which-I-couldn’t-identify-either. He danced about the tree for quite awhile until, everyone in the jeep got highly fidgety and we decided to bid farewell to the bird.

We then drove around and around (quite fast I should add) as our driver was getting calls from his son as to where all the animals were that fine evening. This may confuse you, the reader, a bit but let me clarify. Our driver and his son work as a tight team when they drive people around the park. They feed each other valuable information, which I think is rather dandy! Our tracker on the other hand was sound asleep and would not have awoken even if a leopard sat on his lap and chewed happily on his big  toe!

Bump bump bump we went on the gravel roads, passing a few elephants and a couple of Sambhur (Cervus unicolor unicolor) who were enjoying an evening siesta. We then passed by a Brahaminy Kite (Haliastur indus indus) and an Indian Peafowl (Pavo cristatus) who were having a very intense staring competition, but we didn’t linger long enough to see who won.

We also saw three Sri Lankan Sloth Bears (Melursus ursinus inornatus). A mother with her two cubs. I took some pictures of them but due to low light they look more like three large blurry blobs.

It was about 10 minutes of aimless driving when our driver (I can’t remember his name) got a frantic call from his son. There was a leopard. A big male who decided to follow the Sambhur’s example and was dozing in a clearing just three minutes away from our current location. As if we had an army of Bullet Ants chasing us, our jeep practically flew to where the leopard was. And what a site we saw! He was apparently the largest leopard in the park, and was absolutely stunning! All he did for 15 minutes was pose for everyone. He rolled on his back, and played with his tail. The walked a bit, sat and walked some more.

It was like he knew that we made that trip just for him… Or maybe he just felt a little sorry for the funny looking primates who oooed and ahhhed at his magnificence, and wanted us to feel a little special. After a while we heard another leopard call, possibly a female. That was the males curtain call. He stood up, and walked away leaving a stream of gob struck onlookers in his wake.

So now that I am back home for a precious holiday, I will make my way yet again to Yala. This time for a longer visit. Hopefully it will be as fruitful as the previous visit and I will get to see more than one leopard! I also want to take some better pictures of Sloth Bears. Will write about that adventure later.

-Tigs

So I was checking out the photo gallery on Yahoo, and saw this badass Peafowl.

Just look at it:  The hair. The eyes. It’s total pwn.

This is the type of bird that won’t take any shit from anyone. If it was a gamer, it would kick your ass all over Halo and snipe your sorry soldier right out of Call of Duty 4.  Its gamer tag is probably p3af0w1Sn1p3r.  Respect the pwning Peafowl.

Sanjay Gandhi National Park  is also known as Sanjay Gandhi Jaivik Udyan, it is situated near Bailey Road in Patna. The  park is  one of the 16 large zoos in the country.

The Park was established first as a Botanical Garden in the year 1969. The then Governor of Bihar, Sri Nityanand Kanungo, provided almost 34 acres of land from the Governor House Campus for its creation.

Major Species including  Tiger, Leopard, Elephants, Himalayan black bear, Jackal, Black bucks, Spotted deer, Peafowl, Hill myna, Gharial, Python, Indian Rhinoceros, Giraffe, Zebra are found in the park.

The National Park makes considerable effort to conserve and propagate endangered species from around the world. The park has also been successful in breeding of wild animals which is considered  as a difficult task.

Tüm fotoğraflar Şubat 2008′de Bodrum Kalesi Bahçesinde çekilmiştir. 

All photos were taken in Bodrum Castle Garden on February 2008.

Beyaz Tavuskuşu / White Peafowl

Dişi Tavuskuşu / Peahen

 Tavuskuşu kuyruğu çok güzel görünüyor /

The peafowl’s tail looks beautiful 

Renkler muhteşem / Magnificent color

The handsome peacock spreads his feathers into a gorgeous fan when he courts the female, or peahen.  A peacock is a bird with beautiful, rainbow-colored feathers.  Its range is really “peafowl”.

The male bird is called a peacock.  It is about as large as a turkey and has a long train or greenish feathers brilliantly spotted with bronze blue, green and gold.  A crest adorns his head.   

The feather which grow from the back (and not the tail), are spread out into a gorgeous fan as the bird struts back and forth, “proud as a peacock ,” for all to see.

His majestic parade of flashing colors is actually a courtship display to charm the female, or peahen, and persuade her that he is the most handsome peacock.  The peahen is less brightly colored and has no train of feathers.

As you might imagine, the peacock’s magnificent plumage has made it a favorite parts of the world.  A peacock’s call is so loud it can be heard far away.  It sounds like a human screaming.

Reference:  Dick Rogers

photo courtesy:  edukshun

Me gustaria saber vuestras opiniones, estoy pensando en crear un foro donde sea mas facil poder hablar entre todos.

Saludos.

www.avidelta.com

Incorrect on the number of peafowl. There are seven. Two males, five females. Our novice observation tells us they are of different ages. The older male is most certainly in charge.

Peacock-in-Chief

We’ve seen their plummage in its full glory, but for reasons we can’t quite identify. After they’ve eaten, on the back porch, the younger male, particularly, will sometimes open up and have a shake about the place. His tail dress is small, compared to what i’ve seen. We wonder if that doesn’t have to do with the fact that these birds are wild. Long trains of tail feather aren’t practical when you are scurrying away through the tall brush. Again, that’s just a notion. They may be of a breed that doesn’t get large. Or they may just be young.

Last night, at dusk, Stephen was sitting on the stoop of the chicken house when he witnessed the most incredible routine. Up to that point, we had not been sure where the birds go at night. Despite my having read that peafowl go high to sleep, we suspected that they roosted in the small patch of woods and tall grass at the back of our garden where they sometimes go during the day. We had gone out a few times at night with a flash light searching the roof and the treetops for them, but never caught site of a single feather.

But last evening – at bed time – Stephen watched as each of the seven birds moved from the back porch and flew to the apex of the roof above the garage. A tall, steep purch, their large clumsy talons gripped the vertex, two males first in line followed by the five hens. The first male, the head of the clan, shuffled to the a-framed edge of the roof at the back of the house. He set his sights on a branch he had deemed suitable. Upon receiving the go for take off, he spread his large wings and lept for the branch, flapping furiously a few times before landing on his destination, which bounched vigorously up and down under the weight of his new resident.

Family

Meanwhile, the line on the roof had move up a spot, each queue member inching up one position and the second in line reading for his turn. They did not all seem as confident as the first, some of them needing a little extra time to muster courage to make the leap. The entire clan showed great patience, however, not squawking or honking to articulate a decided ‘Get on with it!’

Each bird was headed for the same branch that the first bird had deemed suitable and, by the end, like crows on a telephone wire, the seven of them were hudled tightly together in a row, ready for sleep. And there they remained all night. Stephen took me out when i arrived home later and showed me the snoozing brood. This morning, it was the first thing i looked for, the silhouette of the cozy family against the sunrise-infused sky.

It was when i was coming up from the chicken coop this morning, about to get in my car and go to work, that i witness the reverse routine of the birds i hope never go away. The head male flew down from the branch, after what looked like a morning regimen of preening and neck stretches. He moved around the porch and checked things out, made sure i’d left food and fresh water for them, just as they have come to expect from us.

To indicate all clear, he did not honk. Perhaps he had some more inspecting to do. The rest of the brood, meanwhile, began to descend, one by one, from the tall branch they’d called bed, to the roof. Landing with a thud, they each moved themselves back up to the apex which had served as their runway the night before. However, this time, instead of facing forward and up, they were all turned to the side and looking down, toward the porch, waiting, i assume, for the All Clear, so that they could make their way to their suburban oasis and enjoy breakfast.

Residents and parents of the Miami Neighborhood, Coconut Grove are being overwhelmed by peafowl—not rats or cockroaches but peafowl. Personally, I’ve kept peafowl, and they are charming creatures, but some residents of Coconut Grove don’t think so. Besides complaints of noise pollution, residents of Coconut Grove complain about peafowl droppings staining their expensive sport utility vehicles, their kids stepping in peafowl droppings, and peafowl mating in public, prompt kids to ask questions, which seem to overwhelm parents (despite all the sex on television and in advertising). Authorities are afraid that some residents of Coconut Grove will resort to “animal vigilantism.” However, the peafowl are considered protected, because they roam in an official bird sanctuary. From the NYTimes.com:

Because this city has designated itself a bird sanctuary, peacocks and peahens cannot be legally trapped or killed. And so far, officials are siding with the animals.

.       .       .

[Guano] frequently ended up on the shoes of their two children, ages 6 and 8. The children like the birds, she added, but they wonder, during mating season, what they are doing.

“We get a lot of questions like, ‘Why is that one on top of the other one?’ ” Mrs. Goggins said.

.       .       .

Before the peacocks arrived as the pets of a neighbor and started mating from January to April, Mr. Conner said, he used to sleep with his windows open. He listened to the crickets, frogs and owls, shutting his book when he heard the local raccoon climb up his oak tree.

“But you know what, I don’t do that anymore,” he said. “I sleep with my windows locked tight shut, in the nicest part of the year, simply because the peacocks on my roof will wake you up out of a dead sleep. And I’m a strong sleeper.”

He added, “It’s degraded my quality of life.”

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Dear careless morons,

I love animals, I really do…this is why I believe it is very important to use the proper containment methods if you keep animals. Cages and leashes are not cruel, they save lives. The only thing saving the life of your free roaming Peacock today was my husband’s compassion for animals and strong desire not to fuck up our car. I know that you use no containment for your Peafowl as I see them roaming all over your yard day after day. While you live outside of town, the state road that goes past your home is VERY busy. We, and many others, drive past your home daily, and typically see your Peacocks running free all over the side of the road, and some times right in the middle of the road! Your Peafowl have no sense of boundries, and will not stay confined to your yard, despite your wish that they do so. It’s as my father told me when I was young, “You can wish in one hand and shit in the other, see which one gets filled first.”

I’d like to suggest that you buy a fence. You could also build an Aviary in which to contain the Peafowl. They are beautiful birds, but when I see them smashed along the side of the road with the deer, coons, and opossums…they are anything but beautiful. If you can not afford to do either of these things, I suggest that you give the birds to someone more capable of caring for them.

I don’t know why you keep Peafowl, nor do I care. I do care however that your gross neglegance is endangering the lives of animals who depend on you to keep them safe. Do you not understand that the only thing keeping them alive is your care? The birds aren’t native species to Indiana, and without your feeding and housing, they wouldn’t survive. These animals depend on you, and you are letting them down.

The next time I see one of your birds in the road, I am going to call animal control and report that you are neglecting your birds.

What is abstract art? Can the image above be called abstract art?

In my opinion abstract art can be beautiful or it can be fun. I love to make abstract art from photographs that I have taken.

The abstract art image above was originally a photograph of flowers.

You can see more of my abstract art designs that I have created at http://www.zazzle.com/biglnet/products/cg-196326463700322810

Here you will find that I have made the abstract art designs into many diferrent products from tee shirts to mugs. Please feel free to take a look at all the abstract art that I have for sale, there is no obligation to buy, though it would be nice if you did.

Thanks for reading my blog and I hope to see you in the shop.

biglnet

Foxes are funny creatures. Back when I had the luxury of not needing to worry about them, I thought they were cool.

But now, living on a property that borders on to a nature reserve, I understand why farmers hate foxes. They devastate fucking everything! Here (in chronological order, spanning a few years) is the story of my family’s adventure with one fox. It’s like the script of an Oliver Stone movie.

• 5 yrs: we move up from Sydney, and find a lovely pair of peacocks sitting on our front lawn. (for the sake of correctness, only male birds are referred to as “peacocks.” The females are “peahens.”) The landlords explain that the peafowl aren’t pets but aren’t entirely wild either. They hang around the house in exchange for seed. This was majorly awesome. We had peacocks in our back yard!
• 4 yrs: one of the birds (the peahen) mysteriously vanishes. She stops visiting the house, and the male is left alone.
• 3.5 yrs: the male peacock also disappears. Around the same time, we find some old bird bones lying in a clump somewhere, with a few tattered feathers. We suspect this was the female’s remains.
• At the same time, we notice a red fox on our property. Our father has photographs. It’s gigantic, almost the size of one of our neighbour’s guard dogs. There was little doubt that it had killed our peafowl.
• 3 yrs: our beloved cat Misty dies of natural causes. We bury her in the valley next to our house. In less than a week, the grave has been disturbed and our cat’s body has vanished. Her remains were never found.
• 2 yrs: to save money, our family bought 6 or so egg-laying hens. Our landlords build a little hen house for them. Because it’s small, we let them free-range over the property during the day.
• Over the next couple of months, our Eiserbrown hens are slaughtered one by one. One night, only 5 of them come back, then later, only 4, and so on. This was distressing but there was little we could do. Eventually, all of our hens are dead. The fox is never caught.
• 1 yr: the red fox is sighted again. We receive a new cat as a gift, and decide to keep her indoors.
• 6 mos: we get 6 new Eiserbrown hens. This time, we build a run next to the hen house. This gives them room to walk, while at the same time keeping them safe from the fox…or so we think.
• 4 mos: one night, the fox gets inside the hen run. We had covered the perimeter with large stones, but the fox pulled them away with its paws and dug its way in. It mauls one hen and carries another away into the night. The injured hen is paralysed and in a lot of pain, so I kill it with my hatchet.
• We realise that if we don’t act, the fox will kill our hens one by one like before. So, we took unorthodox action, and allowed the hens to sleep indoors during the night (the fox wouldn’t attack during the day). We would put them in boxes in the garage overnight and put them back in the pen the next morning.
• 2 mos: this gets annoying, so we spend about 10 hours in one day digging around the henhouse, laying down steel mesh, and covering the mesh with dirt.  Now, we thought, surely the fox can’t dig in and the hens can live in the hen house again.
• Yesterday: I look at the hen house and the steel mesh has been partly uncovered and has also been pulled back and bent in many places. WHAT. The fox is still trying to get in!

It’s like being stuck in one of those nightmares where you run and run but can never get away. Hopefully our hens will be safe, but it’s scary that a single animal can be that persistent and relentless over a five year period of time.

Once, in my father’s time, you could earn money by killing foxes and selling their pelts. Not any more. With stricter gun laws and harsher hunting measures, the population of foxes (and other wild predators) is increasing. They really are a hazard to native forms of wildlife, and as we have discovered they kill and eat practically everything with fur or feathers. We need to find out some way to kill the bastard. How long do the fuckers live, anyway?

One of our favorite places in Bakersfield, California is Hart Park.  It offers a lot of activities.  It depends, really, on what you like to do for the day – from the docile to the extreme.  The last time we were there a speed boat competition was taking place but they had a $12 entrance fee but if you have enough energy to scale a hill you can get a great view of the lake.  There’s another lake, within the vicinity, that’s a great fishing spot!  A few dozen fishermen were casting their rods and were getting a couple of fish to bite.  Poor fish.

So, we decided to feed the wildlife. Yes, we know we shouldn’t have.  We did anyway – blame the rebel within.  We choose the most extreme sport – feeding wild fowl! Behold! The dangerous PEAFOWL!

Seriously, these animals are adorable and very colorful.  They will eat out of your hand, that’s how tame they are.

Yes it is not that far away.

I have lots of christmas card ideas at

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/justbyjulie

Please feel free to take a look.

Also I have gift ideas at

http://www.zazzle.com/biglnet  

from a card to a tee shirt and plenty more.

Please feel free to look around my shop, there is no obligation to buy, though it would be nice.

Thank you for reading my blog and I look forward to seeing you in my shop.

biglnet

Do you call them keychains or keyrings?

Whether you call the keychains or keyrings lots of people tend to collect them. There are all kinds of keychains or keyrings from your souvenir type to the fun and funky.

I have a nice selection of keychains or keyrings for sale at

http://www.zazzle.com/biglnet/products/pt-146

they range from the cute to the funky.

Feel free to take a look at my keychains or keyrings whatever term you use, there is no obligation to buy, though it would be nice.

Thank you for reading my blog and I hope to see you in my shop soon.

biglnet

Cats, Cats, Cats!

Do you love cats? Domesticated cat or wild cat I love them both.

Isn’t the image above adorable? This is of my cat posing for the camera his name is pipsqueak. 

I have some great gift ideas using photographs of my cat at

http://www.zazzle.com/biglnet/products/cg-196457718807175535

I have created the cat on to mugs, tee shirts, keychains and a whole lot more.

Please feel free to check out my cat at the above address, there is no obligation to buy, though it would be nice.

Thanks for reading my blog and I hope to see you in my shop.

biglnet

Summer is the time for weddings. Do you have a wedding coming up? Are you looking for that perfect invitation?

There are so many wedding invitations to choose from. I have some wedding ideas in my shop at

http://www.zazzle.com/biglnet/products/cg-196547023272616211

There is a selection of wedding invitations, that you can personalise to your individual requirements, and matching wedding stamps for that extra special touch.

Please feel free to take a look at my wedding collection there is no obligation to buy, though it would be nice.

Thank you for reading my blog and I hope to see you in my shop.

biglnet

On Tuesday, for the second time in 6 months, I had to not only watch, but clench CheezWaster with all my might while he had stitches removed.  The entire experience was exhausting for him and even though the doctor says he’s not hurting him while removing the stitches, his ear piercing screams would have suggested otherwise.  But, just hours later, he was not only running around like his typical maniac self, but telling people all about his peacock attack with such animation.  There was arm flailing, sound effects, theatricals and all.  It left me in stitches!

Since the “peacock incident”, I’ve been researching peacocks on the internet.  I’ve discovered 2 things – 1) The female is called the peahen.  The male is called the pea’cock’ – now maybe it is because of genitalia, but I think otherwise and 2) pea’cock’s are cocks!!! – recently some other small boy was the victim of an attack at the Oregon Zoo.  Cage the COCKS, I say!!!