Farm News 05-14-06
Sunday morning, after chores, 52°
Baby Goat
Sunday evening Peanut gave birth to a little boy goat. Although I have watched this process more times than I could estimate it is still fascinating. As Pinker points out in The Blank Slate, 'instincts' are not necessarily certain skills, but can also be a predisposition to learning certain skills. The new baby's instinct led him to put his head under horizontal things and, if something held his head down when he tried to raise it, to lift his nose and try sucking on something. From those two instincts, he quickly developed the ability to nurse.
The instincts are reflexive, no thinking is needed. Newborn ungulates will look for dark, horizontal boundaries in their visual area, most of them are born near-sighted and see only nearby boundaries, and try to put their heads under that boundary. If something holds down the head of a newborn ungulate it will tip its nose up and start sucking movements. If a teat comes into its mouth as a result of that series of behaviors, it will remember the sequence and start evolving it into optimal feeding behavior.
Incubation
On Sunday Drusilla hatched six tiny chicks. Three of them seem to have been sired by 'Fro and the other three by Claudius. 'Fro is a Crested Polish rooster and Claudius is a Golden Sebright bantam, as is Drusilla. I'll sell the three sired by 'Fro, probably for a good price, and keep the other three until I can decide if any of them are worth adding to the flock.
Ting spends most nights on her nest and most days stamping and growling, pretending she has a flock of chicks under her watchful eye. The few days during which she actually tried to incubate her eggs I began missing the constant attacks on my ankles at chore time.
Orioles
We have at least two and probably three male Baltimore Orioles this year whose territories all include some part of The Farm. The immediate observable effects, if I am interpreting them correctly, are interesting.
Each Spring, when the Orioles arrive, the males have very simple songs: usually one or two clear notes. As the season progresses their songs become increasingly complex so that, by the end of the summer, their songs consist of as many as fifteen notes. Birds in adjacent territories will have somewhat similar songs and, as far as I can tell, all Orioles share the same scale of notes.
This year the main Oriole, the one with a nest over the chicken yard, is already singing a fairly complex song of five notes, as are his neighbors. This is a much more rapid increase in complexity than I have seen in the past. Usually, it would be June or even July before his song would reach this level.
My hypothesis is that Orioles learn to sing from each other every year. They arrive with a very simple song and then, after listening to their neighbors, they all begin to modify their songs to increase the differences. The scale of notes used by Orioles seems to extend over only five or six notes. As they all use the same scale and there are few notes in the scale, they become tune-smiths.
Whatever the reason, I have never heard two Orioles sing the same song, nor have I ever heard the same Oriole sing the same song for more than two weeks.
Ting Chronicles
We all know Ting, I hope. Ting is a Crested Polish hen, the most unsightly member of that breed which one can imagine. She is a small chicken, slightly larger than a bantam, but, in profile, resembling a slender version of our mental image of 'chicken'. Her body plumage is 'gold-laced', which means her feathers are dark-golden colored in the center with a black, lacy, border. She has blue-gray legs and ears. Her crest consists of a set of, what, 'short hackles' (?), that cover her eyes. She is rose-combed. [Links courtesy of Ting Productions, Ltd.].
E-mail Subscribers: To subscribe, unsubscribe, contribute stories, complain or send a gift subscription, send an email to FarmNews@GeezerNet.com . The editor reserves the right to steal ideas submitted, rewrite submissions, and sign false names to them whenever it strikes his fancy to do so.
Baby Goat
Sunday evening Peanut gave birth to a little boy goat. Although I have watched this process more times than I could estimate it is still fascinating. As Pinker points out in The Blank Slate, 'instincts' are not necessarily certain skills, but can also be a predisposition to learning certain skills. The new baby's instinct led him to put his head under horizontal things and, if something held his head down when he tried to raise it, to lift his nose and try sucking on something. From those two instincts, he quickly developed the ability to nurse.
The instincts are reflexive, no thinking is needed. Newborn ungulates will look for dark, horizontal boundaries in their visual area, most of them are born near-sighted and see only nearby boundaries, and try to put their heads under that boundary. If something holds down the head of a newborn ungulate it will tip its nose up and start sucking movements. If a teat comes into its mouth as a result of that series of behaviors, it will remember the sequence and start evolving it into optimal feeding behavior.
Incubation
On Sunday Drusilla hatched six tiny chicks. Three of them seem to have been sired by 'Fro and the other three by Claudius. 'Fro is a Crested Polish rooster and Claudius is a Golden Sebright bantam, as is Drusilla. I'll sell the three sired by 'Fro, probably for a good price, and keep the other three until I can decide if any of them are worth adding to the flock.
Ting spends most nights on her nest and most days stamping and growling, pretending she has a flock of chicks under her watchful eye. The few days during which she actually tried to incubate her eggs I began missing the constant attacks on my ankles at chore time.
Orioles
We have at least two and probably three male Baltimore Orioles this year whose territories all include some part of The Farm. The immediate observable effects, if I am interpreting them correctly, are interesting.
Each Spring, when the Orioles arrive, the males have very simple songs: usually one or two clear notes. As the season progresses their songs become increasingly complex so that, by the end of the summer, their songs consist of as many as fifteen notes. Birds in adjacent territories will have somewhat similar songs and, as far as I can tell, all Orioles share the same scale of notes.
This year the main Oriole, the one with a nest over the chicken yard, is already singing a fairly complex song of five notes, as are his neighbors. This is a much more rapid increase in complexity than I have seen in the past. Usually, it would be June or even July before his song would reach this level.
My hypothesis is that Orioles learn to sing from each other every year. They arrive with a very simple song and then, after listening to their neighbors, they all begin to modify their songs to increase the differences. The scale of notes used by Orioles seems to extend over only five or six notes. As they all use the same scale and there are few notes in the scale, they become tune-smiths.
Whatever the reason, I have never heard two Orioles sing the same song, nor have I ever heard the same Oriole sing the same song for more than two weeks.
Ting Chronicles
We all know Ting, I hope. Ting is a Crested Polish hen, the most unsightly member of that breed which one can imagine. She is a small chicken, slightly larger than a bantam, but, in profile, resembling a slender version of our mental image of 'chicken'. Her body plumage is 'gold-laced', which means her feathers are dark-golden colored in the center with a black, lacy, border. She has blue-gray legs and ears. Her crest consists of a set of, what, 'short hackles' (?), that cover her eyes. She is rose-combed. [Links courtesy of Ting Productions, Ltd.].
E-mail Subscribers: To subscribe, unsubscribe, contribute stories, complain or send a gift subscription, send an email to FarmNews@GeezerNet.com . The editor reserves the right to steal ideas submitted, rewrite submissions, and sign false names to them whenever it strikes his fancy to do so.
posted by The Geezer at 8:43 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home