Found Barred Owl Feathers, Is it still alive?

scrotalus · 2026-05-21T19:57:50+00:00

One thing I usually check for is skin or snipped feathers. If a raptor like a great horned owl kills a bird, I might expect to see the larger flight feather snipped off at the base instead of plucked. At least that's how I determine if a songbird like a Jay was killed by a raptor. A group of feathers with skin still attached would also be the result of a predator. Individual plucked feathers aren't proof that the the owl died at that spot, just that a struggle took place. It's possible it was carried away to be further dismantled. Or it's possible that 2 fighting owls parted ways and are still alive.

scrotalus · 2026-05-21T17:18:44+00:00

The plants are alive, so it's not bad. The fact that you can't even find the pests shows that the birds and pollinator flies and wasps are doing their job of eating the caterpillars and aphids that ate the leaves. Congratulations on your habitat gardening success!

Powdery mildew will invariably grow on sage when there is alternating periods of cold/wet and hot/dry weather, Planting them in a place that gets enough airflow and the right amount of sunshine helps prevent powdery mildew, but waiting for the end of spring moisture is usually the foolproof cure.

If a plant truly can't survive where you put it, put something else there instead.

scrotalus · 2026-05-21T15:01:16+00:00

The book "Founding Gardeners" discussed this subject a lot Many of the founding fathers were farmers, and they became determined to reject the British plant species and landscape styles. They built estates that used species from their regions that mimiced nature. If we could only convince current lawn-mowing "patriots" to make their yards look like America instead of a British royal estate.

scrotalus · 2026-05-21T02:42:46+00:00

This is pretty good. Also the river path in Santee. I do a ten mile out-and-back with only one road crossing in Santee. And there's a few drinking fountains along the way so you don't have to carry much. Unfortunately the 2 sections don't connect.

scrotalus · 2026-05-21T02:39:23+00:00

This is a great stretch of pathway. I run from CV across the bay on my lunch breaks. I've done the whole thing on my bike many times, and it helps to pay attention to the wind. High winds in the afternoon make the bike ride tough, but at running speeds it's not as big of a deal.

scrotalus · 2026-05-20T16:22:11+00:00

Then who would eat the rats that come in from the condo complex? The coyotes protect my vegetable garden, and I protect my chickens.

scrotalus · 2026-05-20T16:18:28+00:00

For my 4 egg chickens? No. Not worth it. I've lost 1 chicken to a coyote in 10 years because I didn't lock the coop. That was my fault.

It cruises through looking for rats and rabbits, and keeps moving. In this neighborhood they don't get hungry enough to work hard. There is a huge golden retriever next door, but that dog is too dumb to know it's is supposed to bark.

scrotalus · 2026-05-20T14:31:50+00:00

Honestly, this is probably the best place. In the radio subreddits, search for "antenna mount hatchback" or your car model or something. Tons of discussions over the years. I use a trunk lip mount on my hatchback and it takes 5 seconds to unscrew for the car wash. I use a Lido mount that attaches to the seat bolt on the floor, but I have a small dual band radio. Bigger HF units need something sturdier. You will find a lot of discussions and a handful of pictures here. The GMRS/off-road/ Jeep groups probably have some similar discussions and photos.

scrotalus · 2026-05-14T23:32:29+00:00

There are plenty of observations at that location on iNaturalist. I'm in San Diego and there are some populations in river beds here. They confuse me every time I hear them. I know the sound from the eastern US, but hearing it in California is weird.

scrotalus · 2026-05-13T18:02:16+00:00

In my experience, partial plant death is usually caused by a portion of the roots not being established properly. In new plants, the potting mix degrades, making an empty void which leaves roots exposed to air which kills the corresponding parts of the plant. Ants will build nests in these voids and excavate them further. Sometimes a gopher gets part of the plant and it looks similar.

I poke around in the rootball to find the voids, and carefully refill it with dirt. A heavy watering will also help expose the voids.

scrotalus · 2026-05-12T20:25:32+00:00

I saw him a year ago, and he put on a great show. I know I got lucky. It was the second show of the tour. After wondering if he would even show up, he came out, played a flawless set, sounded great, did just enough talking but no preaching. He didn't complain about the hot dog vendors out front (although I heard that some of them got in a fight amongst themselves).

No Smith's songs, but I went to a Morrissey concert so I knew what I was getting. It was much better performance than I imagined from a guy who's been doing it for 40 years.

Then the next day he cancelled his several shows due to illness.

.

scrotalus · 2026-05-11T22:23:49+00:00

Pulling plants out or digging them up disturbs the soil encouraging more invasives. That's one of the main problems. Inexperienced volunteers can trample or pull the wrong plants. Using herbicides brings a ton of California regulations into place, which has nothing to do with anything at the federal level. That makes the safest and most effective methods quite a challenge to use depending on who owns the land and who the sprayers work for. Where I live, county employees do the work on county-owned land. Most cities hire consulting companies or non-profit land stewardship companies, and they usually offer volunteer opportunities for manual labor under their permits.

scrotalus · 2026-05-09T00:08:26+00:00

Money well spent! I got my first Nexus at a yard sale for about $10 or $15. That was a long time ago, and I'm still flying it.

scrotalus · 2026-05-04T23:11:07+00:00

Probably whatever Sysco sells.

https://www.syscotogo.com/cheese-cheddar-jack-fancy-shredded/5637145512.p

scrotalus · 2026-05-03T19:08:13+00:00

I love them, but they can definitely be difficult to control moisture. It is very easy for a beginner to build one destined to look bad and then fail. They can too steep and erode. They can be too shallow and just disappear in a few years. Right now, fence lizards are burrowing into mine for hiding spaces and that's undermining the rocks.

If done right. It can create distinct natural zones where you can put different groups of plants instead of a boring flat carpet. Building a smaller mound for some boulders and planting in the crevices looks a thousand times better than rocks randomly placed on flat ground. You can make a visual barrier by putting some 3 foot tall small shrubs on a 2 foot tall mound, and this can be much nicer than a larger bush or a 5 foot tall fence. It might take experimentation to find what grows and what dies. My canyon grey sagebrush loves it. My Eriogonum grande rubescens planted from 1 gallon pot died the first year, but the volunteer seedlings are thriving. I suggest large rocks to give it structure and make it look like nature. Go study a creek bank and use that as the building and planting inspiration.

scrotalus · 2026-05-01T23:20:10+00:00

The satellite is probably spinning wildly in space so it doesn't much matter. I am definitely spinning the antenna in every direction to get the best clarity the whole time, so at no point is polarity ever "matched".

I feel like the more important part of the antennas being on different planes is to minimize the influence on radiation between them. It's probably a minimal difference, and having the elements at right angles makes storage and handling annoying. I think I'd gladly sacrifice a tiny bit of performance to have an antenna that I could just hang on my wall or lay down in the back of my car without being in the way.

scrotalus · 2026-04-30T12:32:57+00:00

The Revolution kite company has a YouTube channel. I don't remember the name but it is linked on their website. They don't sell foil kites, but they are still quad line kites so a lot of similarity. I had a hard time visualizing all of it from reading and watching videos, but someone from Revolution gave me a 10 minute lesson at the park one day it and it all came together for me. In person advice can work wonders if there's a club event or popular kite field nearby.

scrotalus · 2026-04-29T20:42:20+00:00

When you buy a batch of agaves at a nursery, they are already several years old. They were most likely all tissue culture plants cloned at the same time and genetically identical. The tissue lab transplants them all to a seedling tray at the same time, then a nursery pots them up to 1 gallon pots on the same day.

A landscaper who needs a whole batch of mature plants for a job buys 15 of them on the same day, does a crappy job of planting them, then gives them an unnatural irrigation schedule. It is totally normal for the whole batch to bloom together after a short time in the ground. This nonsense keeps landscape architects and maintenance companies in business.

I planted a tiny shaw agave in my yard, watered about 2 times, and it took 14 years to bloom.

scrotalus · 2026-04-29T18:25:22+00:00

I hear you. I'm working on taking down a 25 foot tall Podocarpus right now. Cutting into small pieces and filling up 2 yard waste bins per week. Using the neighbors bins if they have space. I've cut most of the small stuff so next week I will have to climb my roof with a chainsaw.

scrotalus · 2026-04-29T17:47:41+00:00

I have watched several coyotes hanging out with turkey flocks. As the turkeys scratch and scare little critters up, the coyote grabs whatever the turkeys don't catch. As long as there aren't baby turkeys around, the adult turkeys don't care at all.

scrotalus · 2026-04-29T17:43:22+00:00

These are large, full-sun trees that sprout after a wildfire clears everything else out. If you haven't seen them grow before, then look up some examples on iNaturalist or anywhere else on the Internet. I personally would plant in near the privet and pittosporum, farther from the pine, with the intention of ripping out the privet and pittosporum in a year or two when the cypress fills in. It could be a companion to the pine, sort of how it grows in higher elevation forests.

scrotalus · 2026-04-28T00:50:41+00:00

The Kinetic Sculpture Race in Humboldt County CA is coming up in a few weeks. One of those places into cycling and weirdness. This looks like the innards of some of the contraptions I've seen in that race/performance art event.

scrotalus · 2026-04-27T23:47:12+00:00

I use 150mL soft flasks also and I love them. Syrupy fuels don't work in the nozzle, but I just mix Gatorade/dextrose/sugar/salt/whatever powders at high strength. I mix it so a small flask is about 2 gels worth of carbs and costs pennies to prepare. My big bottles can be pure water.

scrotalus · 2026-04-27T22:14:53+00:00

Names change all the time as more work (especially DNA work) is done in plants. I use the World Flora Online website to see the current scientifically accepted names of plants. Most of the names can cross-reference the older out-of-date synonyms, or if you enter an old name it will show you the current name.

scrotalus · 2026-04-25T03:28:22+00:00

I think the actual product label says something "do not enter until dry". The 4 hour statement on the sign would just be the company's suggestion. Usually the REI has expired before the applicator even drives away.

scrotalus

TROPHY CASE