31 October 2024
Good Morning,
It is Halloween. It is also Diwali, the Festival of Lights. Will you be celebrating either of these holidays? In years past, we used to get at least 75 children at the door wanting treats, and that all changed. I am thrilled that some of the streets in our neighbourhood are being blocked off so that the children can run from house to house and cross the street without worry of being hit by a car. On Saturday, there was the walk at Bird’s Hill, and CPAWS put on all the games and treats. There have been events at many of the community centres. Everyone is trying to make it safe for the little ones to be outside. The biggest Diwali party took place at our convention centre a couple of weeks ago.
I remember several years spent celebrating this holiday on the Indian Subcontinent eons ago. The food was delicious! It was the same later in Singapore. We have put up extra lights in the garden this year and will be thinking of our friends in India and Singapore as they celebrate good over evil and light over darkness.
“Divali 2011” by npmeijer is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
National Geographic Kids gives this information on Divali: “Diwali, or Dipawali, is India‘s biggest and most important holiday of the year. The festival gets its name from the row (avali) of clay lamps (deepa) that Indians light outside their homes to symbolize the inner light that protects from spiritual darkness. This festival is as important to Hindus as the Christmas holiday is to Christians.
Over the centuries, Diwali has become a national festival that’s also enjoyed by non-Hindu communities. For instance, in Jainism, Diwali marks the nirvana, or spiritual awakening, of Lord Mahavira on October 15, 527 B.C.; in Sikhism, it honors the day that Guru Hargobind Ji, the Sixth Sikh Guru, was freed from imprisonment. Buddhists in India celebrate Diwali as well.”
Now, ‘The Girls’ are wondering how much you know about Halloween. They consulted Good Housekeeping and it says, “If you think Halloween is a uniquely American tradition, grab a mini Snickers and settle in, because you’ve got some learning to do. Dressing up in a creative costume, traipsing around in the gathering dusk to collect the best candy or throwing a monster bash with friends are all time-honored holiday traditions. But Halloween didn’t start stateside at all.
In fact, the origins of Halloween go back thousands of years to the Celtic celebration of Samhain (pronounced “sow-win”), a festival that marked the end of the harvest season and ushered in a new year. During Samhain, the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead was thought to be especially thin, so people could communicate with loved ones who had passed on.
Whether or not you buy into the supernatural, it’s still fun to learn a little something about the meaning behind your favorite Halloween traditions before you head out trick-or-treating. Turns out, the holiday has a much more interesting (and sometimes even spookier!) backstory than many people realize. Travel back in time with us to learn what some of the very first celebrations of Halloween looked like, including throwback ghoulies and ghosties, what people used to carve in place of pumpkins and even the elements that Valentine’s Day and Halloween have in common. We can guarantee there wasn’t a glitter pumpkin or superhero costume in sight.”
Calico urges you to keep your kitties inside during Halloween. (She thinks they should be inside all the time and Calico should know – she lived on the street!)
The best news in the world is that Lady and Dad are feeding SE33 and SE34 over away from the river from the moment and while they might be getting harranged by Currawongs and other small birds, they appear to be flying strong and eating well as of the time I am writing. Seeing the eaglets and their parents together just made me shed tears of joy. I hope you did, too!
I will continue to post all of the news that I can find. Some might overlap with earlier reports.
Those precocious falcon chicks are stealing more prey from Dad. https://youtu.be/pDUOEwKDnzM?
The Collins kids are all over the place.
It is really, really hot on that ledge in Melbourne. The temperature ready for lower down is 16 C. I wonder what it is on that ledge. Just look at Mum.
News from New Jersey says that Ospreys are staying later this year. In Manitoba, there are still lots and lots of geese and ducks. Perhaps this is the reason for the low migration numbers of raptors below. I sure hope so. The Red-tail Hawk count makes me cry. Let’s hope this is just a late season or these raptors are in trouble.
It seems that we take one step forward and one or two backwards when it comes to protecting wildlife and habitat. More news from Geemeff:
This is a damning report on the state of the environment and rewilding just after we read about huge swaths of land being put into trust and not into grouse shooting.
https://www.pressreader.com/uk/blairgowrie-advertiser/20241029/281530821516284
Osprey accepted the platform that had to be removed and rebuilt in South Australia. Wonderful news. Now if we can get Ervie a mate and a platform with a camera all of our dreams will come true. Little Envies!!!!!!! Think about it.
Breakfast at Port Lincoln. Gosh, Dad is doing a good job this season. Would love to give him a pat on his feathered back. Keep up the good work!
Wilko is full and Kasse is still eating.
Breakfast for Yira and Garrama. Yira takes the leftovers. https://youtu.be/RBnv5MTwXdg?
Elain gives us a glimpse into Yira and Garrama in a way only she can. https://youtu.be/2WdhOJyefhc?
Beau and Gabby continue to work in their amazing nest. As we enter November, we can hope that fertilized eggs will appear by the end of the month with a hatch on Samson’s hatch day (24 December).
‘H’ sent me some sad news this morning regarding the cameras at NE Florida: “We’ll be lucky if we get to see any of Gabby and Beau and their family this season. As you know, cam 2 is down all season due to a broken cable. Well, now the cam 1 issues have been diagnosed: a partially broken cable. Not all the strands within the cable at the nest are being used to transmit to the server… meaning that some of the cam 1 cable fibers are broken. Cam 4 is still okay so far.”
I cannot imagine know knowing if Gabby and Beau have babies this year. Was it the hurricane that damaged the cables (Milton)? Do the cameras get an annual check up here? I wonder.
Pouring down rain at Decorah North on Wednesday.
Eagle vocals were heard at Pittsburgh-Hayes.
Jackie and Shadow were busy on Wednesday.
Five food gifts for F23 from M15 on Wednesday. https://youtu.be/-V8VxMSS1is?
It was raining at the West End, too. Thunder was looking out over the territory.
This is a very good use of funds. They will get to the bottom of all the questions about Menhaden and quotas and surely to goodness will help save the Osprey in the same way that the warnings from Rachel Carson issued about DDT did in the 1970s. There are many species at risk because of the commercial fishing of Menhaden being allowed by the State of Virginia. It needs to stop before they are wiped out entirely and there are no more ospreys, not even starving ones.
Butterflies are moving north, expanding their territory because of climate change. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/30/butterflywatch-gatekeepers-spread-north-scotland?CMP=share_btn_url
Scotland is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world. It is home to so many raptors. So why not rewild 33% of Scotland. This film asks that question. Our narrator is a 26 year old who has eco- anxiety. Take some time to watch. It isn’t just Scotland. There are some gorgeous images and thought provoking questions. Even a good comparison between Scotland and Norway, the Oder Delta between Germany and Poland, and other sites that have rewilded. Happy ecosysystems and biodiversity link to the nature and climate crisis. https://youtu.be/FFypWj1bjPk?
Missing story time with Calico and the other three girls is not a good thing. I apologized this evening profusely and we settled down with treats and a good book. It got Calico’s Ten Golden Paw Award and she thinks you might want to put it on your holiday list for those special children in your life. It is not about raptors, but about seals and comes to us from Wales. The main characters are the seals that come to the island to have their pups and to rest. The other central character is Tina, a little girl who lives on the island where her Mum is the local vet. It is summer holiday season and Tina is determined to make the holiday goers that come to the island understand how to respect the seals. The book is: Rescue at Seal Bay by Gill Lewis. The only colour illustrations are on the front and back covers. All others are black and white drawings, just in case you wanted to know. The story is really good and Calico didn’t mind not seeing images in colour! It is listed at $14.99 CDN at the online retailers.
Calico found a lot of books written by Gill Lewis. We just ordered another one for her birthday – Sky Hawk. It is about Hen Harriers! I can’t wait to read it.
Smile for the day. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/JPkhvnseMUSZKTni/
Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care. We hope to see you soon.
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, comments, images, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, J’, OpenVerse, National Geographic for Children, Eagle Cam, Judy Harrington, Rohan Geddes, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, SK Hideaways, Hawk Mountain Migration Chart, pressreader.com, Fran Solly Coffin Bay Community Notice Board, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam and Cilla Kinross, Nesting Bird Life and More, Elain, NEFL-AEF, Androcat, Raptor Research Project/Explore.org, PIX Cams, FOBBV, IWS/Explore.org, Joanie Millward, Menhaden – Little Fish, Big Deal, The Scottish Rewilding Alliance, Gill Lewis, Harley Thomas White.