Grousing about Sage Advice

So I have started to hunt for information on the plight of the Idahoan Sage Grouse, a rather large, ornate, and interesting bird.

 

Turns out one does not need to hunt hardly at all before the ugly little head of inept Idahoan leadership pops up among the Sagebrush. I simply visited the Idaho Department of Fish and Game’s website where I found Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter’s Executive Order 2012-02 Establishing The Governor’s Sage Grouse Task-Force which sounds mighty darn serious and impressive. But is it? Turns out that Butch is quite the little rascal.

 

Let’s begin with the man. Here we have an agribusiness guy, a Republican, who soaks his chewing tobacco in Jack Daniels while driving, and says he’d be first in line to shoot a Gray Wolf pending removal from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Endangered Species List after the population was only just brought back from the brink extinction. In fact Butch the Butcher supports a measure to cull Gray Wolf numbers all the way down to 100! Humorously, he was married to a woman named Gay but opposes gay marriage. Anyway, they’re divorced now, but you get the picture, not a real intellect, or a guy who deeply empathizes with or appreciates animal life, or human life for that matter. Guess his ex-wife finally figured that out.  

 

So what about his friends on his Sage Grouse Wonder Heroes Task-Force? After weeding through endless Whereas after Whereas in the document which honestly, not being too up on English, or legalese, I mistakenly thought was an animal related to a werewolf, only a were-ass, one comes to the kind of friends Gov. likes to appoint to a Task-Force meant to advise him on how best to preserve, protect, and perpetuate an abused species in his own backyard. It reads:

 

 

The Task Force members shall be appointed from the following categories:

 

Individuals who:

 Represent agricultural interests; or

 Represent energy or mineral development interests.

 A local working group; or

 A nationally, regionally or locally recognized environmental organization; or

 Nationally or locally recognized wildlife or sportsmen’s groups.

 Hold State elected office; or

 Hold county elected office; or

 Represent the public at large.

 

Did you count the number of Ornithologists, Bird Watchers, Naturalists, Biologists, Ecologists, Conservationists, Hippies, Liberals, Nature Freaks, Vegans, and Friends of Sage Grouse on that list? Did you get zero? Me too. Basically, this list may as well simply read fucking anybody whether they give a flying hoot about nature, or Sage Grouse or not, no experience necessary. It would have saved Idahoan tax payers on ink.  

 

So, the Governor’s a drunk, a good ol’ boy, and he’s quick with a gun. How about the tone of the document itself. One last chance; keep hope alive! I have clipped out the worst bits for your convenience:

 

Duties of the Task Force:

 

to preclude the need to list the species; (Never mind saving the actual animals in question, he is worried most about having to list them as endangered which will threaten every Joe, Jack, and Jane Idaho Shotgun Ranch shoot ‘em up Sage Grouse in a Bucket business all over Idaho.  

 

i. Conserve the species and its habitat while maintaining predictable and multiple uses of private, state and public lands; (In other words, don’t kill all the birds while continuing to blast their brains out for profit!”)

 

iii. Tailor the management recommendations… to the interests of the State; (Again, screw the birds, business come first!)

 

For a Sage Grouse Task Force it sure as hell reads one heck of a lot like an Idaho Agriculture, Business and State Revenue Task Force don’t it? It do.

 

Allow me to remind you that I have started to read up on this topic because Idaho Fish and Game intends to poison 4,000 Ravens in certain specific areas, in what they are calling an “experiment” to see if doing so will boost Sage Grouse numbers.  Let’s have one last look at Butch Boy’s Executive Order and see what it says about Ravens specifically, or even what it implies:

 

The Sage Grouse Task Force will…

iv. Address the following threats to the species as identified by the (Wildlife) Service:

 

 Habitat fragmentation due to wildfire and invasive species;

 Conversion of habitat for agriculture or urbanization; and

 Energy development/infrastructure.

 Disease/West Nile virus;

 Management issues related to livestock grazing;

 Collisions with fences and power lines;

 Mining;

 Prescribed fire and range treatments;

 Water development; and

 Conifer invasion.

 

Did you read anything about massacring Ravens there in? Me neither. Well, at least it is comforting to see that the document mandates the Task-Force to:

 

vi. Identify opportunities for pro-active sage-grouse habitat enhancement projects; and

 

vii. Recognize, encourage and incentivize land use practices that are actively maintaining or improving sage-grouse habitat as evidenced by improvements in habitat quality, active lek routes or stable/increasing populations of the species.

 

Yes, indeed, that last bit there is a ray of hope. Idaho should stick to those bits. Be advised, however, that this Task-Force composed of the Governor’s dim-witted hunting buddies is in the end  solely advisory. This ensures that, should the Sage Grouse luck out and happen to find a friend among the Governor’s pals, that the Governor may simply ignore them, and their advice all together.

 

The document goes on to state that the Task Force may   request consultation, information and technical expertise from  anyone with a brain, an education, a care in the world about Sage Grouse. Phew, thank goodness for that! We would not want to limit or impede the Shoe Salesman, the 7-11 Clerk, the Boy Scout Troop Leader  (no disrespect) in their sworn duty to advise the Governor on this vitally important Sage Grouse Task-Force.

 

I think the case very likely will be that we need to open our eyes and  recognize who we are dealing with if we are to save Ravens, or Sage Grouse, or any wildlife in Idaho. The fact is, in Idaho the people in charge, at the top, look to me like wildlife’s biggest threat. If that were not the case, the Sage Grouse and the Ravens would not be in their respective predicaments today.

 

Pay a visit to Idaho Fish and Game’s website. You have real people writing in with real questions like, May I shoot a fish with a crossbow? And you have real people working at Fish and Game answering back Sure as long as it’s only a carp or a sucker.

 

Isn’t the correct answer, Why? Are you fishing? Are you clearing out invasive species? What’s your intent? What’s your thinking? Are you 10 years old? Are you shooting an animal for fun? Is there some reason you need to bother the fish going about its life? Where is your mommy?

 

People who think, people who empathize, people who care, people who are educated, people who question and seek answers, people who are dedicated specialists, people who understand that nature is first, that it is precious, that it is all there is, no second chances, people who were brought up by kind-hearted parents who taught them to respect, admire, and appreciate all living precious things are the ones we need on the Sage-Grouse Task-Force. They would make a real Task-Force, not merely an advisory façade for an easily fooled public. We the public need to listen to the experts, and the scientists, and the ornithologists because they, simply put, have something to teach us about the birds, and about being human.

 

 

So far, my look into this issue has barely scratched the surface, but things are not looking good for the Sage Grouse or the Ravens. When the Governor and a kid with the crossbow share the same depraved, immaturity and outlook, things really do not look good. Who knows, maybe I'm wrong. I'm simply calling it as I see it. Stay tuned.

Yes Please & No Thank You

Quick note on bird communication.

The word please is not really in bird vocabulary. There is a gesture to express interest where the neck is extended and one eyebrow is raised. Perhaps a step forward, or to one side on a perch is taken to add urgency or emphasis, but there really is not any equivalent to Yes, please, or Please in a bird's table manners.

There is, however, and interestingly so, a very clear No thank you in bird language. Birds say it to birds, and birds say it to their human caretakers. Fig says no thank you to the offering of water, or food, or an uninteresting, or unfamiliar toy with a very gentle double peck to my hand. Aside from affectionate cuddly pecks it may be the most gentle of her physical communications with me. It mirrors a human No no, as one might utter at the offering of more wine or tea midconversation at the dinner table. It is soft, and tender, and warm, and comes with a lot of appreciation and gracious thanks.

 

Cancel the Idaho Raven Cull

It came to my attention recently that Idaho's Department of Fish and Game is planning a Raven cull in 2015 of some 4,000 birds by "corvidocide" laced eggs. That's some pretty clever poison namin'! This is something I plan to dedicate some attention to. Obviously, I am opposed to such activity, but the article, or articles I plan to write will be written from a neutral position. Best to let facts speak for themselves.

For a State with the motto, "Let it be forever." it is confusing to say the least that Idaho would take this action against a specific, native species present in their eco-system. They are not supposed to view our wildlife as a force for evil. They are supposed to be good stewards of the land and all her wildlife; protect, preserve, perpetuate...those are their three P's folks! I got 'em right off their website.

Even more confusing is the fact that they are supposedly planning these culls in order to boost Sage Grouse numbers which have been in decline, prompting the listing of the Grouse on the threatened species list. This is confusing because, unbelievably, Fish and Game are still issuing hunting licenses for Grouse! It has not occurred to anyone in Idaho's Department of Fish and Game apparently that this makes them look rather disingenuous, and buffoonish as far as saving Grouse is concerned. Again, it is obvious that the Ravens are viewed by Fish and Game as a threatening competitor, and a pest rather than a natural asset in their environment which needs to be protected, preserved, and perpetuated along with all the other species, equally, by balancing them properly within the natural fauna. Viewing corvids as a competitor, and a force of evil in the eco-system is not the proper perspective for the State Department of Fish and Game leadership to have!

Incredibly, Idaho Fish and Game are calling the cull "an experiment" (following the lead of Japanese whalers one supposes) while scientists, experts, and even the dedicated Sage Grouse ornithologists themselves are opposed to their plan, and dismiss any claims to scientific ambitions, or effectiveness to the benefit of conservation.  Non-sensibly, Fish and Game is collecting their own data on the results of their so-called experiment when they are hardly able to be impartial, or unbiased, which means we can expect, or rather Ravens and Crows can expect year after year of unjustified, and unwarranted poisonings, and war, and shootings from these government officials run amuck once they conclude that their experiment in mass murder was a terrific success for the much yummier Sage Grouse.

So, something is seriously rotten in Idaho in a way that makes me think of those movies where someone's car breaks down in some back country town, then they slowly discover that the whole town is inhabited by creepy, incestuous, polygamous, nose-picking, cannibal zombies or something. I mean, this is the State Department of Fish and Game that is unleashing a war on a specific species which they are supposed to deeply respect, and help maintain a natural balance in the eco-system, and instead they are thinking they would sure like to have more Grouse to shoot, and Grouse hunting license revenue for their State government. It is a bad case of inbred, good ol' boy government in bed with their hillbilly, hunter brother; it is absolute corruption, and malfeasance.

Something is clearly, and obviously wrong when the hunters themselves are running their own regulatory agency. This is not the way things are supposed to be in the modern, civilized, governed and organized world of checks and balances.

So, Idaho Fish and Game is a few seashells short of a seashore, and eggshells too, but luckily, we have a year to try and explain things to them, and set their little potato salad heads straight. The mere idea of killing 4,000 Ravens, or 4,000 wild animals of any sort, without clear, and severe justification, and without the support of anyone knowledgeable, scientific, or authoritative by poisoning or any other means is just gross, unconscionable, dastardly, degenerate, brainless, heartless, reckless, mean, Cruelty and it sickens me, and any other normal person to imagine it, but what sickens me a trillion fold is my fellow human beings who concoct these vial ideas, then actually carry them out without any concept of what is right or wrong, or simply kind or nice inside their dull and dense little pea-brained heads.

We have a duty to our wildlife to find out WHO is running the circus in Idaho, have them tarred, feathered, and fired, post haste. We will prevail against the common Ignoramus. We must.

As for the lowly Sage Grouse, the $100,000 Fish and Game was planning to gamble on their sick and twisted full-of-craps table will rightly to go to proven, effective conservation efforts on their cute little feathery behalfs, this year, not next. Those funds will be taken out of Fish and Game's salaries as necessary, and the lovely folks at the Federal Department of Agriculture's Wildlife "Services" who are giving the okay to the poisoning will unselfishly match the funds from their pay checks.

As for hunting licenses for Sage Grouse, those will be cancelled indefinitely too. Instead, we will bill every single Idahoan who has purchased a Sage Grouse hunting license in the last ten years $100 retroactively to go towards Sage Grouse conservation, and habitat reclaimation, or rehabilitation until the poor little pheasants proudly reclaim their roost in the screwed up Idaho eco-system that each and every Idahoan human being is ultimately responsible for.

Finally, we will Let the Ravens be, forever!

What's Up of Late

I have been reading up on Crows and Ravens at a fever pitch, so not much time for posting these days. My parents got me two great books on the topic for my birthday, very thoughtfully. The books have been backing up a lot of what I thought I have been learning, and teaching me some new things about the birds as well. Perhaps the most interesting thing has been one author's depiction of Raven's as emotional animals. While that has certainly been something I have noted, and observed personally, I do not think I would ever have thought to use that word. It is an example of the difference between true naturalists, and the rest of us. They have more empathy, and appreciation for the animals than most; it is why we need so desperately to learn to listen to and defer to scientists, conservationist, and the lot; their eyes, and ears, and hearts are bigger; we have something very important to learn from them.

I have been taking good care of Fig. She is spending more and more time outside these days. I changed her anklets to a removeable type of my own inventing, and she is learning to have them put on, and taken off. I use a double grommeted anklet of fairly standard design. A cord passes through both eyelets. One end has two knots to create about an inch of cord to grab. The other end has a length of rubber tubing which slides up and stays in place on the cord, holding the anglet grommets closed, together, by simple friction on the cord. A second rubber tube with greater friction is further along for extra security. Putting them on requires that I bring Fig in to an embrace which we practice, and she agrees too. Removing the anklets simply requires that I slide the rubber tubing back down the cords while Fig is perched. She has gotten much better at relaxing to do this. I am very happy because she does not need to wear anklets all the time which feels a bit freer, and more natural for her, and hopefully the anklets will last a lot longer.  Progress, progress.

Fig's communication, and handling training continue. Everything has gotten a bit mixed up as I have switched almost all of her training time to outdoors on tethers now. She has very quickly learned to adapt what we previously did inside to the outside environment, but the switch has created a progress lag due to all the excitement and distraction that the outside environment brings. I am going with the flow. It will take Fig some time to learn to relax, and focus outdoors. She is making good progress, but occasionally is rascally, and disobedient. We go out at night sometimes still to continue to reinforce that I am her safety zone. During the day this principle is not as evident to her. I am not strict with her, and the focus is mainly on trust and relaxation, and working together to pay attention to the environment around us, and to build our bond. Most of our time is spent walking, sitting for a chat, or a preen, environment observing together, coming close to avoid danger or a threat such as a passing car or dog walker, handling training jumping to and from me, playing, chasing, catch, looking for stuff in the dirt, curiosity practice, all together...basically, I act like another Crow for her most of the time, which is not a bad job. I am always complaining that humans need to spend more time sitting, and looking and just paying attention to the natural environment's natural goings on, so now that is exactly what I am doing...watching the grass Crow, as they say. Walking together is a big part of our time together because Fig needs to learn that as long as we are together, things are okay, and walking is rather a bumpy ride on a person's arm for a long legged bird, so Fig needs to acclimate to the activity, plus I could use the exercise. It is fun for her to walk into the wind; she presses herself down and assumes a Falcon dive pose so she feels a bit like she is soaring along. We start and end every walk with a chat to connect, and debrief. Usually she starts time outside a bit wired up, and overly excited, and by the end she has preened, and mellowed out, and is interested in a close lovey snuggly chat.

The outside environment is dangerous, with cats, dogs, hawks, bicycles, cars, and other surprises, so we are focusing on being a team at paying attention to everything, and communicating about staying together, just like a pair of Crows would do. We even go through people's garbage, and strew it about all over the street.  I communicate with Fig with gesture, voice, head movement, eye movement, eye contact and body stance. I am trying hard to get her to understand that she and I are to be thinking, and acting as one, as a pair, in tight coordination. It is all too keep her safe. Dogs, cats, hawks, they come out of nowhere, and I am all too aware that Fig could be gone in an instant if we are not tuned in to the task at hand. We are Team Safety, just like two kids on their way to school, a pair, watching for the inevitable one crazy driver who comes along when you least expect it.

I am paying more careful attention these days to Fig's language. Little by little my ear is able to catch the nuances and minor pronunciation differences of her calls. If I had never studied a bit of Japanese, I never would have noticed the differences in her utterances at all. They would all likely sound identical to me. Most people probably agree that a Crow says Caw Caw Caw, but in fact they say aw, gwah, wah, wrah, rah/lah, ha, hfwa, awa, hya, hwah, al, ar, yao, yar, yaw, and a whole slew of things which I am only beginning to hear, and start to be able to distinguish. Fig uses her tongue, the air in her beak, and her neck, and her diaphram to create sounds which are so slightly different in such a variety of ways, I am having a very hard time hearing them, and an even harder time trying to reproduce them with my own vocal apparatus. It is going to take a lot more very serious listening to hopefully figure it all out.

Blah blah caw.