All About Pocket Knives

From September 1951, New York newspapers.
Caption(s), if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE (Not pictures #1, #3, #5, #7, #8 & #9).

From a September 1951, New York newspaper.
Caption(s), if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE.

From October 1951, New York newspapers.
Caption(s), if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE (Not pictures #4, #7 & #8).

Interesting reads Skip.

My barn swallows have returned to reuse their old nest from last year. So I spent a couple of hours mounting a "poop-catcher-shelf" in the blazing hot sun yesterday and they left.

So I did some internet searches last evening & found out that my shelf was way too close to the nest so I just removed it again. For one, because of their flight path and two, because of predators, these types of swallow boards need to be like at least 3-4 feet below the nest but I didn't know that yesterday.

I hope that they will return again now that I have removed it.

And I'll have to come up with a new plan of how to stop the mess. The problem is, the nest is above a window. My cat Pepsi sits in the window ledge watching the swallows. So if I mount the shelf far enough below the nest that it doesn't bother the swallows, I'm sure my cat will get onto the shelf. If he were to fall off of it, it would be like a ten foot drop onto some concret below. I had a cat once, "Lucky", who fell off any the roof in the winter time and he landed on his feet but his head bounced off the ground and he broke his jaw bone. That was an expensive fix when that happened. I'll have to give this some thought.

P.S. Nope! That's not a crack in the wall. It's Christmas lights. I like to get an early start on those.

Sorry you lost your swallows Tom. Hope they or another pair show up.

This is just one of the facts of life, bird meets his demise by an Oak Snake.
We have a fairly large Liveoak in our front yard, it attracts Oak Snakes every year about this time. There is a pile of stories we could tell of the antics of the family and the various encounters with Oak Snakes on our front porch and around the bird feeders that hang from the tree!
Last week I had finished up bush-hogging for the morning and was sitting on the front porch, cooling off before going inside. I heard a strange fluttering sound and caught movement on a limb of the tree. An Oak Snake had caught a small bird and was in the process of crushing the bird and had begun to swallow the small bird. I wasn't able to identify the bird but he and the snake both ended up going to the "happy hunting grounds". Oak Snakes are not poison but they will cause one to jump back when they fall on you as you open the front door. Just one of many encounters over the years. The snake the other day just crossed the line catching one of our little birds. A year or so ago an Oak Snake got inside one of Miss Joy's bird feeders and we saw him catch a Black-capped Chickadee in flight. It's amazing how a snakes jaw unhinges and allow them to swallow something much larger, kinda' like them big ol' pythons in the 'Glade that swallow whole deer!
Treefarmer

Quick Steel wrote: ↑Sun Jun 26, 2022 10:29 am Sorry you lost your swallows Tom. Hope they or another pair show up.

Thanks Garry! I guess I was quick enough about removing that shelf as they are flying back into the nest again this afternoon.

treefarmer wrote: ↑Sun Jun 26, 2022 11:52 am This is just one of the facts of life, bird meets his demise by an Oak Snake.

Treefarmer

Pretty looking snakes though.

Excellent news Tom.

From October 1951, New York newspapers.
Caption(s), if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE (Not pictures #1 & #2).

wrens, cell phone on 500mm lens

Great picture! I see that hungry little mouth opened wide in the birdhouse.
We have had them nest in the front of a Massey Ferguson tractor several times. We just let it sit till the little Wrens left the nest.
Treefarmer

Nice photo of the wrens, Mrwatch.

Treefarmer - very interesting photos of the snake versus bird. I have a couple of Live Oaks in my back, but I have never seen a snake in one of them. I do recall that when I was growing up on the farm I once had a rat snake fall out of a live oak and almost land on me. They may get a bird or two, but they also eat rats. I am not sure if I like birds more than I hate rats.

Here are a couple pictures of a Red Wing Blackbird in flight. Two different birds.

I kept cropping the first picture. That was fun.

Second picture I caught the bird at the top of the frame and cropped around it.

From November 1951, New York newspapers.
Caption(s), if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE (Not pictures #2 & #3).

Nice Blackbird photos, Joe.

Here is a photo I took yesterday at a launching ramp on Mobile Bay. Pelicans in the foreground: squall in the background. It was a pretty bad day. I launched my boat squalls and all, and within about twenty minutes it looked liked this. So the Pelicans were the high point of the morning!

Thank you, Mel.
Very nice pictures you have posted.
Quite dramatic.

From November 1951, New York newspapers.
Caption(s), if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE (Not pictures #2, #7 & #8).

From November 1951, New York newspapers.
Caption(s), if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE (Not picture #2).

From December 1951, New York newspapers.
Caption(s), if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE (Not pictures #1, #3 & #4).

From December 1951, New York newspapers.
Caption(s), if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE (Not pictures #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7 & #8).

From January 1952, New York newspapers.
Caption(s), if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE (Not pictures #4 & #7).

From January 1952, New York newspapers.
Caption(s), if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE (Not picture #4).

What kind of a bird do y'all bird watchers think this one is? I have no idea what it is sitting on or is it beginning to land? As there is nothing in front of the camera.
Treefarmer