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3. blue heron feather???, Page 2

http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/about/faqs/birds/feathers.htm

I did a Google search “possessing blue heron feathers” and this Troutnut topic was third in 640,000 results. Be careful Big Brother my be watching.

Wow... That's sobering, Allan. Thanks.

Guys, if you're out in the woods and see an interesting feather on the ground, don't even pick it up to look at it and never-ever take it home. Hyperbole? Read Allan's link.

Very interesting Allan...Even this amateur "Nerder Birder" wasn't aware it was spelled out somewhere to this extent.

I will admit to attempting to train the hawks in my neighborhood to only eat Sturnus vulgaris & Passer domesticus and to leave the song birds alone...Am I a species-ist? :)

I learned a little odd tidbit last night that is somewhat related here. Jerry Regan, I have mentioned here before, is the keeper of the flame for the old flies of the Au Sable (Grayling/Crawford Co) area. He and his buddy, and fellow TroutNut poster, Tim Neal.

Jerry was a guest speaker at our club meeting last night. He said that all his life he had heard that Ernie Borchers (creator of the various flies with his name attached) had originaly tied the body with Condor quill. All of us believed this to be true and it is written as such in many, many, books etc.

He said that he knew Ernie's daughter and her husband and that this son-in-law of Ernie's was taught to tie himself by Ernie, who unfortunately died at a fairly young age. This guy had told him, "If it couldn't be purchased through Herter's or it didn't grow in Crawford County it wasn't used in their flies." He did not know how this "myth" got started?

I know that this is a tidbit but for Michigan tyers, after all these years, it would come as something of a surprise...We have thought otherwise forever...It may be one of the first things I heard as a Michigan tyer.

It makes all kind of sense though if one were to think about it...Crawford Co tyers have probably used more deer hair in their flies than most...Deer, turkey, rabbit, beaver, etc...All running around in the local woods.

Hmmm.

Spence

I actually shoot the starlings on my property as they compete aggressively with the other cavity nesters here, esp the western and mountain bluebirds I build boxes for. This is legal. But we also have cowbirds, which I'll let you read about on your own (an easy Google in terms of results) which are federally protected migrants. I've learned a lot about their behavior and watch the females slip into the bluebird boxes and natural cavities. A permit is available to remove them.

Then, we discovered the aggressive antics of those cute bubbly little house wrens. Google ("house wren" sticks in nest), you will be amazed. Nasty little things that have killed a number of our healthy bluebird broods. I'd not even ask if there is a permit available to remove them! There is a point where nature must take it's course, and I have to realize I do not actually WANT to be president, or God. I've coped by moving the BB boxes well away from anywhere close to a wren nest cavity, which like a little cover nearby.

We have had problems with the Cowbirds and the restoration of the Kirtlands Warbler here...The DNR were removing the Cowbird eggs for a while...The Kirtland just couldn't compete.

I'll check out the Wrens...

Spence

By the very “Nature” itself we are indivisible from nature’s course. The man made laws imposed against man, as an attempt to protect nature from man’s imposition upon nature’s course, is nothing more than the course of nature. There has never been a time when nature has not taken its natural course, unless we look at mankind as being separate from nature. Some would argue that man, in his superior intellect, can and does steer the course of nature. Others would argue that the totality of natural progression is predetermined. The indisputable fact is that some will let the feather lie and some will place it in their hat.:)

Well said, Al.

Just as long as they don't adorn too many hats, as they once did.

Or braid it in their hair...:)

Jerry told me the same thing in a conversation yesterday. Perhaps he'll include that in his book which I urged him to put in print soon. He said he'd like to but things keep coming up that need to be added. My thought was why not do one now and perhaps volume two later?

Tim,

Your pal isn't getting any younger...We are getting further and further away from the old sources as well...

He's a great story teller...It would be a real shame not to bottle that somehow! :) Maybe a foreword from you...;) That is if we can print it.

Every so often he'll say something that just seems to make so much damn sense and it comes from all that experience with the river...He said something the other night that I think slipped by most but stuck with me...He was tying his Deer Fly and just happened to let slip that, "Hatches should be thought of as a blessing, as gravy. Not neccesarily counted on." His point was what do you do in between? He was laughing at us old "match-the-hatchers" sitting on a log waiting for a hatch...I think he was looking in my direction...:) He was saying that fish feed all the time and instead of sitting there wasting time, why not feed them something they see all the time?

He also told a story about tossing a fly up under some shrubs in some slack water and he spooked a nice fish...He said the fish scurried away, he left the fly there, and the damn thing came back...He was saying that fish are curious and compared it to throwing a pebble and watching minnows run off and they seem to return in greater numbers to see what had happened.

I like the story he tells where he's poking a little fun at the newbie cottage owners along the river...The first thing they buy is a bug zapper and hang it in the yard...He said it plays havoc with the caddis and the mayflies, but he has yet to see a dead mosquito in one of them. :) He had stopped the boat and was in front of this guys house looking in his bug zapper to glean some info on what may have hatched last night or in the early morning...The home owner came running out and asked him what he was doing and he told him..."Do you know you are trespassing?!"...Jerry said, "Yes." Ha! :)

You two on the river together must of been a hoot! I think he was talking about you when he told me a story last Saturday...May have been the first time you two met...It was in the middle of a Trico hatch and he asked you what you do and you said, "I basically ignore them." :)

Anyway...

He will never get the book done as long as he keeps taking orders...I tease him that he probably ties in his sleep...If we put the vise in front of him he probably would crank out a few dozen by morning...:)

Spence

Sometimes at tying shows I'll just sit next to him on his side of the table just so I can soak it all in. You should of seen this little guys face Saturday as Jerry tied a fly just for him...His eyes were as big as saucers and he hung on every word the old man said...He then attached his signed card to the hook and handed it to him and wished him good luck with it and then whispered, "Keep it away from your Pop, he'll probably just lose it in a tag alder. ;)"

Hey! The Angler's are doing a 25th anniversary party opening day up in Gaylord...I bought a table...You and Jer like Elk Medallion?