Mark – indeed they did alert the incumbent to the incoming of incomers, but then (some) would welcome the visitors with lengthy korero, beautifully pronounced (by all accounts).

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mmm…interesting…I may have to sleep on that one….they would almost certainly have warned of tresspassers, and sibilance has a lot to do with distance – mayhap one call alerts the whole tribe? Particularly if it is localized – which it sounds(!) like they were.
Cats can mask their intent rather well – unless you watch what their tails are doing – a certain sweep is an unfailing sign of imminent attack – but having said that I think it’d take a Brave person to fool round with them anyway – or assume they’re tame….certainly I’ve run across animals in the wild that get nothing but respect (and a prayer they’re not hungry) from me.

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Early Maori taught tui to speak (i te reo tuturu) and shaved the ‘bristles’ off the bird’s tongues to make the words clearer. I wonder if the birds improvised and shared any avian secrets?
Surely the keepers of the big cats knew cat-sign and cat behaviour, knowing they would be in there with them?

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Oh well – they’re long stories; um (Sapient: don’t go NEAR a lion with anything less than a .50 cal. and 200 bullets – I saw one being shot on th telly lately, and it was the saddest sight).
Simple; when the Black Cuckatoo’s start sqwuaking – there will be a significant rainstorm in exactly 18 hours (not much use in NZ) – they fight for the most sheltered pozzy on the tree I think.
The other stories can be a bit personal…ah; one day in the Whitsundays, the local Farmer found a white owl dead under the mandarin tree.
He wanted to know what it meant (why ask me?).
It transpired that the Local Council was voting that Day as to whether to concrete his wild bit of Paradise – I told him he’d lose the vote; his land….esoteric I know, but he did.
Practical? Well, I’m having a Coffee with friends in the Garden of a very fashionable Darlinghurst Restaurant….a bushbird(Mix)landed on the fence and wouldn’t take it’s eyes off me – gimme de goosebumps(no joke) – but in six hours a huge fire swept the National Park south of the city and wiped out over 2 million (estimated) wildlife. I knew there was something wrong – but at that time – couldn’t guess what.
Six Black Swans flying into the Sunset. By this time I was so startled by unusual bird life, I actually stopped and got out to watch – they looked for all the world like pall-bearers to me.
So I gets to town and phone Home. Little Brother is hysterical -
“Your Father had turned blue when the Ambulance arrived half an hour ago Mark; How did you know?”
I didn’t, but if I hadn’t noticed the swans (half an hour ago) I’d not have called home either…..go figure.
Oh there’s more – but I don’t live in a Forest anymore – have lost a lot of those sensibilities.
But science says all solids are vibrating molecules – it may be a case of tuning in – of course the World has no use or Value for the World.
I’d rather be out there though – you can trust animals (unless you invade their senses) – did the zookeeper turn his back? – impart a slight? That would do it, most like. Haven’t read the story – but will try to catch up to it.
Science has just taken the top off this phenomena recently – there are lots of dramatic discoveries being made about life all the while

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whispering (sea) grass and all that…
I learned to read birds – can give you several anecdotes of messages that came to pass
listening to those would be a pleasant way to pass the evening. All is quite elsewhere….

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PS if your blackbirds are feeding that way, then you most like have cats, weasels or stoats around.

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Well…they speak a different language than human sonar (they are millions of years ahead in some ways). New Weather patterns have killed a lot and yes sonar is ,ore than a headache – but the west deploys sonic ‘boom’ devices on the ocean floor – designed to discover Oil/Minerals up to 45km deep, their signal is strong enough to kill a wide range of sealife in the area. It totally destroys natural sonar.
Imo the tsunami was caused by such a device being used too close to an undersea fault line.
It’s also a good device for snapping off ice, see current Maps of Greenland and the Poles…..irresponsible yep – but think of all the gelt! Besides I won’t tell if you don’t…

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Sue Bradford is an astonishingly successful and able politician – those inside the beltway know fullwell. Big Bro will be off somewhere bloodying his own nose – put one in for me bro!
Mark – whales have been suffering appalling interference from shipping and sonar for decades. Their ‘world map’ has been badly scribbled-on. Wonder what they think of that?

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Metiria for PM – I’m there! Good choice.
Blackbirds hunt in an extended family, their call changes when one of them finds dinner – but not too much – mynah birds are a pest….but yes – that is a sonar locater call (they don’t waste time).
Communication between members of a species is almost universal – most fascinating are whales which communicate in 3-d holographic imagery

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Next, Prime Minister.

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Congratulations Metiria.

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Mark – bird-whisperer eh! Interesting. can you tell me why blackbirds make a just-audible peep as they fly through the trees, round the corner of the house etc? Are they warning other fliers or is it some kind of ‘sonar’ thing going on.
I’m all ears for your anecdotes.

Sapient – te kiore, the Pacific rat is a different beast from your rattus rattus/rattus norvegicus. Kiore are appealing, small, vegetarian, clean and sweet to eat, plus, they are taonga. Re. weapons, I know of a duck-hunter who uses a ‘black widow’ slingshot and glass marbles! How’s that for giving them a sporting chance! I can hear shotguns right now, out there on the estuary. Steel shot, no finesse.

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Oh that…living in the outback, in a forest – amidst the ecosystem of the families of my victims which I ate (rabbits & the odd obstreperous snake).
Perhaps it comes down to one’s ability to go on destroying beautifull and unique things….watching them die….i felt like a Nazi eventually.
Then someone taught me to read the birds….what their behaviour means….then I started catering to the ozzie wildlife – pet snakes, possums, wallabies echidna’s – tons of birds and many other introduced ‘pets’ as well – I learned to read birds – can give you several anecdotes of messages that came to pass.
Is it a mystery that other life forms can percieve the ether before humans?
That we can in fact, tell the future from them?
Bloody Looney Leftie Greens – but that ain’t what Mother Nature says, and you’ll notice She doesn’t care much What We Think…?

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Greenfly,
I was thinking globally, but it does have application in NZ, just not so much in terms of the profitability for land based-animals. Rats are a pest, the devistate the other species, but then again there is the potential profit that you mention. Though imagine the size of the advertising campeigns needed to deplete the stigma attached; would be rather prohibitive.

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Mark,
Yes, i quite like the structure of Bonobo society compared to that of the common chimpanzee whose society we presently more closely approximate. Though we seem to be adopting the more promiscuous side of bonobo culture, lol.
Cant stand guns; they make it too easy. Anyone can point and pull a trigger. Bang. no skill really needed. A sword, now thats a weapon that needs alittle skill atleast, one that puts you in harms way too. A honourable weapon. A bow is even better; much more skill required, though relativly less intrusion into harms way. If one wants to use a gun, atleast make it sporting, long distance, use a rifle, sniper even, M107, M110, M200; awesome.

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Sapient – I had in mind endangered native creatures, but clearly you didn’t. Large mammals of NZ would restrict you to humans and sea mammals; seals and the likes. Why not rats? They can be raised on a vegetarian diet and don’t require crates when they are birthing. It’s the kind of thing Roger Douglas could make a success of.
Mark – I just came in from feeding my hens; the ducks turned up (they free-range on any slugs that might try to establish themselves in my garden) a fantail flitted in to catch any insects the ducks might stir-up while they fossicked around (I flicked them some grain) and several bell-birds dove and wove about us, stopping to feed on the remaining apples in the trees. Very sanctuary-like.
Will you expand on your epiphany?

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Was going to build a Bird Sanctuary way north – too hard with a busted shoulder – wouldn’t allow hunting i’m afraid.
Shooting things in general has a way of turning ugly – had my epiphany there in ’94.
Guns are all very marvellous engineering – but I saw what they Do often enough – and that was the end of this “Good Keen Bloke”
Besides which we have a lot to learn from animals…..next time I’m down your way – we’ll do a bird-reading!

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I think it was one in the ‘Louis Theroux’ series that covered the game park and one of those investigative news programes that looked at farming endangered animals other than for game shooting.

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Greenfly,
I think it would work best with large mammels, things that are profitable to sell for consumption. Ive never tasted rat so I have no idea what it is like, though I would consider it more of a pest than something we need to be preserved. Kiwi/kakapo/kea would be a problem under this approach, though i would think eels and most non-migratory aquatic animals would do good under this schemme. Whitebait maybe not so much considering the nature of thier life-cycle, certainly worth a go though, would be extreemly profitable if it could be worked.

Mark,
I think animals such as tigers and lions would be better worked for game shooting due to thair value as trophies and perceived value in medicine. One of the programes I mentioned was about an african game park/farm; interesting.

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…well – I like it Sapient; provided you have brave people unafraid to deal with potentially dangerous/fatal/euphoric/golden rewards. Who know the risks going in. But big cats are unpredictable – one would be well advised to give them their space – yer, all of it!

Fly …imhe ….one has enough time to think “FLlCK ! THE TIG…..!
Yep, probably the time given to the shooting victims in Napier – yes it’s unwholesome all right. Proof of a small ‘middle brain’ of the attacker, not that it helps….my cigarette packet says “Smoking May Kill Me!”. What it doesn’t say is “if it doesn’t, something else will”
One thinks of the quote
“To truly live, one must nearly die.”

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