Merchandise and Food Shortages in a National Crisis

[Michigan Swamp Buck]

Nice comment.  Spring is the better time for birds at night here, the Pheasant Coucal with it's continuous 'woop woop'  mating call going all night, owls, wagtails, plovers and other life in the trees.  Goes throughout summer too but this year with never ending rain very little is heard.
The Butcher birds, Magpies, Satin Bower birds and parrots still meet us each morning on the back verandah (drying off) for a feed and later in the day.  Lately there's a lot and fights start and we laugh when we watch the top tier birds chase the others away and the minors swoop in for a quick pick.  It doesn't end there though as the crows take to the smaller birds in flight carrying a bit of food attempting to make them drop it and so it continues for about an hour.  Of course the chooks and goose patrol the ground and scavenge up the crumbs and the pecking order goes on in that dimension.
During the day the Butcher birds and Kookaburras follow us as we split wood, perch on the periphery, and go for the grubs and wood insects as each log is split open.  Some good sights at times.  The birds alert us to any snakes and lizards nearby when they change their tones and dive at the reptiles location.  
One sight I saw, which I think maybe unusual, was when a Peregrine Falcon hit the large white goose in the back yard.  White feathers everywhere but the old goose just got up, flapped and hissed.  The falcon flew up onto the roof guttering shaking it's head looking dazed.  I am not sure of a falcon's perspective and I know they are fast but attacking another bird perhaps three times it's size may me wonder how the 'F' it would carry the goose away.  The were several chickens about at the time which would have made easier targets.  Anyway the falcon then flew up into a tree, meanwhile the chickens huddled under the house but the old goose just continued on as if nothing had happened.
Another sight is the flocks of wood ducks on the property.  Have never seen so many.  They cover the yard and dams at times.  Might be the wet weather.  Lots of little ones hatching.  Making me think I'll restock the dams with fish and yabbies.  
Kind regards,
Bally :)

Not to derail MSB's thread, but your post reminded me of the time, about twenty years ago. I was on the back porch, talking to the water guy. I was pointing to where the well is, when all of the sudden this hawk swooped down and tried to pluck a squirrel from the side of a tree. The tree was right behind the well, so we got a grand view of the whole thing.

He was either young, had poor sight, gauged wrong, or was drunk. He caught the squirrel, but it got away, after he knocked himself out by hitting the tree. He was out for only a couple of seconds, and flew off, minus one squirrel, dazed, and with a headache.

I always smile when people talk about how quiet it as to be living in the woods. They have obviously never spent any time in the woods, because quiet it is not. The only time it is quiet is when danger is around.

When it rains the fifty different varieties of frogs hold a concert, and they battle for the title of "The Finest Frog Group In The Woods".

It is loud, Damn loud.

You present a nice personal story that does relate to the thread. The natural balance of nature is most stable when humans stop interfering. The environment settles into a rhythm, something the deer hunters call a pattern. That natural pattern changes when firearm deer season comes around. The deer change their habits to avoid the hunters that invade the woods that time of year.

Now expand that concept to entire populations of game animals after hungry people are over hunting an area. I read an interesting article in a hunting magazine that talked about the disappearance of white tailed deer in some mid western states during the depression in the 1930s. Poor game management with little enforcement of the laws drove surviving animals into a perpetual state of altered patterns. It wasn't until the 1970s or later before the deer came back and could be hunted again. Not all animals get hunted out under that type of pressure, but they change habits to the point you will have a huge problem trying to hunt them. I believe the same thing can happen to wild edible plants as well, except on a different time scale. If people eat up most of the edible weeds in their area, common weeds will become hard to find after awhile.