Celebrating another successful adoption! It took two tries and a lot of prepared infrastructure, but today our broody hen Auntie Tormenta accepted these two sweet chicks from JAX Farm & Ranch after we snuck them beneath her wings last night.
She is a French Copper Maran and the chix are Prairie Bluebells, but love knows no race.
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Photo © Tina Fields, 2024
Check out this new book of poetic writings about migratory birds. Its proceeds all go to benefit the good work of the American Bird Conservancy’s Conservation and Justice program.
I have a couple of invited poems in here, along with many other stellar humans (not jays, as far as I know – ha ha).
Here is one of them:
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Autumn Farewell Blessing for the Migratory Birds
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Fall Equinox: the leaves turn gold
And you wise birds heed the call to South.
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Farewell, winged beauties.
How we will miss you!
My heart aches upon your leaving.
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All I can offer are my blessings:
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As you journey, may you find
nourishment at every stop:
plants offering rich seeds,
green beds beckoning through built deserts,
respite from predators,
lift upon thermals,
kindness from thunderclouds,
a place to rest on vast dark water.
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May you travel in good company
of kindred flying above and below,
led by stars and the memory maps of ancestors.
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And when the seasons have turned; when the time is right,
may you rise together,
bank your bodies on gentle winds,
speed your way into the northerly sky,
and hear our rejoicing when you return,
heralding Spring.
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— © Tina Asherae Fields, in Dawn Songs: A Birdwatcher’s Field Guide to the Poetics of Migration,
edited by Jamie K. Reaser and J. Drew Lanham, 2023.
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Spoken word events drawn from the book will also be happening in conjunction with Earth Day and the like at various locations this Spring.
You reading this, may your own migrations also be gentle and sweet.
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(NOTE: The asterisks in between lines appear to help you read it with proper flow, because I can’t seem to get WordPress to space my lines as I wish. Argh.)
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Horrors: Somehow our chicken Samantha got her foot tangled in a string, one that possibly came from opening a bag of chicken chow. I found it tightly wound around her foot over and over, and then bound up several toes too.
Her breed, Salmon Faverolle, has numerous extra toes. Sorry I didn’t get a picture of the entanglement to share; when I discovered this, I was totally focused on just getting it off of her. Here she is afterward, though, so you can see her spectacular toes!
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Her foot seems fine now. But being tied up like that must have felt quite awkward and painful when walking or trying to land on a perch. I’m sure it got so tangled in part due to her trying hard to get it off before I realized her plight. It took me multiple cuts with a sharp nail scissors all over her foot to get the string off.
And now I feel so concerned upon seeing these cute capes, sweaters, or ties that people have knitted for their chickens.
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Chickens peck everything apart. There’s this entanglement potential, plus if they eat yarn or string, it can kill them. Something so simple as a string! So please don’t leave knitted items on them for long without watching.
The Chicken Chick offers many other reasons for not putting sweaters on your hens for long.
Sweaters:
She concludes with, “The average, backyard pet chicken does not need a sweater to keep warm. Take the cute photo and then pack it away, with the Halloween costume she undoubtedly also finds irritating.” (ha ha!)
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Thank you for reading my Poultry PSA, and for paying close attention so you can find unexpected hazards like random strings in your coop. May your flock thrive!
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ATTRIBUTIONS:
…This IS what all the fuss is about, right? 😉
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(Lovely photo of Great Horned Owl — the most superb I’ve ever seen — by the San Diego Zoo.)
We now have 12 baby chicks in the living room. It’s amazing to witness how much they change and grow every day – sometimes, it seems, every hour! Only one day after I took this photo, some of them had suddenly sprouted teeny but real wing feathers.
No matter what else is happening, it can help to remember that Spring coming on is the ultimate good ground of our reality.
What loveliness have you encountered in the past few days that remind us of life, warmth and light returning?
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Here’s a report from the ACLU, an organization I’m proud to support. A federal court has ruled Trump’s abuse of executive power to bully his xenophobic wall into existence is illegal.
This is excellent news, not only for the human people, the US economy and the democratic process, but for all of the wildlife who are, and would be, devastated by this ridiculous wall’s construction and existence.
Here are details about a fraction of the environmental devastation it will bring from The Guardian, Dec.29, 2019:
Despite the potential for far-reaching long-term consequences, details about the plans are sparse since the government suspended 28 federal laws mandating protections and oversight, relating to clean air and water, endangered species, public lands and the rights of Native Americans, in order to expedite construction.
The waiver includes the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act (Nepa), considered the cornerstone of environmental protection in the US, the Endangered Species Act, National Fish and Wildlife Act and Migratory Bird Conservation Act. These laws require robust scientific, environmental and costs analysis before projects can be sanctioned.
“With his wall obsession, President Trump has created an environmental crisis at the border,” said the Arizona congressman Raúl Grijalva. “Through environmental waivers and stolen funds, he’s building a wall that will deplete precious water resources, desecrate sacred sites and destroy the environmental treasures and biodiversity that make the borderlands unique.”
Jordahl added: “The wall could not be built without the waiver. Nepa requires the government to choose the least invasive, best option for taxpayers … surveillance cameras could be installed every hundred metres at a fraction of the economic and environmental cost. This wall is an unjustifiable project.”
Thirty-seven federally listed endangered and threatened species live around the Arizona-Mexico border, plus innumerable others who currently are in less danger but who would be added to that list in short order were this operation to go. And according to the US army corps of engineers, the wall would cost US taxpayers roughly $14 million dollars per mile. I don’t know about you, but that’s not a priority for something I want to see the government spend my hard-earned money on.
So glad that sanity is beginning to win out!
Here is the full article text about the federal ruling, which came from this ACLU press release:
DECEMBER 11, 2019
OAKLAND — A federal court today ruled that President Trump’s use of emergency powers to divert $3.6 billion in military construction funds for the border wall is unlawful. The ruling came in a lawsuit, Sierra Club v. Trump, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the Sierra Club and Southern Border Communities Coalition.
In ruling against the use of emergency funds, U.S. District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. stated: “[T]he Court cannot blind itself to the plain reality presented in this case: the border barrier projects Defendants now assert are ‘necessary to support the use of the armed forces’ are the very same projects Defendants sought—and failed—to build under DHS’s civilian authority, because Congress would not appropriate the requested funds.”
The ACLU’s lawsuit on behalf of the Sierra Club and SBCC challenges President Trump’s abuse of emergency powers to build a border wall using funds Congress explicitly denied.
“This ruling confirms that the president has no authority to raid military construction funds for his xenophobic wall,” said Dror Ladin, staff attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project. “By putting an end to the president’s power grab, this ruling protects our democracy’s separation of powers, the environment, and border communities.”
As part of the same lawsuit, the court previously blockedthe administration from beginning construction using $2.5 billion in military pay and pension funds under a separate statute. The ACLU was in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this month to defend that victory.
The district court today also permanently blocked construction of the wall using the military construction funds, but has temporarily stayed that block given the ongoing appeals process in the case before the Ninth Circuit.
“We will be back before the Ninth Circuit very soon,” added Ladin.
A court in Texas yesterday blocked imminent construction of the wall using military construction funds. That block remains in effect.
President Trump declared a national emergency on February 15, 2019, to secure border wall funds Congress denied him. While declaring the emergency, President Trump stated that he “didn’t need to do this” but he’d prefer to build the wall “much faster.” He added that he declared a national emergency because he was “not happy” that Congress “skimped” on the wall by denying him the billions he demanded.
Below are additional comments from:
Gloria Smith, Managing Attorney at the Sierra Club: “Today’s decision is another critical step in permanently stopping Trump’s border wall. The court recognized that Trump’s reckless national emergency declaration illegally destroys our borderlands and border communities. By raiding money from the military for this wall, Trump is depriving service members and their families of essential government services like schools and retirement. The Sierra Club will continue to fight to protect border communities as this administration inflicts its relentless agenda to harm the people, places and wildlife along the southern border.”
Vicki B. Gaubeca, director of the Southern Border Communities Coalition: “We welcome this decision against Trump’s blatant attempt to sidestep Congress. Trump’s senseless wall is destroying our natural habitats, endangering our communities, and eroding the quality of life of the 15 million people who live in the southern border region. The southern border is and always has been a place of encounter, opportunity and hope. We need a responsible border governance approach that begins with respecting the checks and balances in this country.”
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The beautiful painting featured above is by Ron English See his “Welcome Wall” and other art at https://www.vinylpulse.com/2019/05/ron-english-and-friends-build-the-welcome-wall.html
Other full URLs:
Here’s a useful guide to all wasp-like beings.
In my experience, they all ring true.
I’d add one important bit left out: the honeybee gives us (and bears) HONEY! Time to make a new batch of mead…
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Thanks to http://www.greenandgrowing.org for this great graphic.
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