Dog days of summer are upon us. Bird seasons won't open for another month. Each summer, we go ahead and whack a few Eurasian collared-doves around our place, as they are considered an "invasive", and Fish and Game has declared no closed season and no bag limit. Almost exactly twice the weight of a mourning dove (on the cleaned breasts), and the taste is identical. Also, rather sporty with 28-gauge or with pellet rifle.





The breast meat filleted off the keel and wrapped in bacon, with a slice or two of hot pepper.



...Or, plucked and baked to a golden crispy brown. Delectable!

Something you don't see everyday in the Aleutians. A coconut. It got the best of us, and after about a month we went back and hauled it to camp. Husk it and cracked it open. It was full of black mold, so no coconut with supper.

That would certainly be notable Mark. Did you find glass balls/net floats fairly regularly? There are places in Bristol Bay that the glass floats are pretty common, so I suspect the Aleutians would get good numbers.

Jack

This is the first glass ball I found, how it was when I found it. It is just larger than a softball. Most of them are closer to baseball size. Some islands had more than others and some areas on islands had more than others. Like items float the same. I dug a little in the sand hoping there were more right there but never found any others. It was 50 yards for camp.

You never knew what you would find. Here is a picture of me with a nice trap basket I found and put to work. Notice the Helmet? I found it on Sanak Island when I was on the way to Kanaga. It sure kept your hat and hood on you head when running in the skiff.

Jack, were you hunting doves on the edge of town or a large farm yard? Here the only place I see much of the collared doves is in town or a large farm yard. Those in the first picture look darker than ours. The ones here are more of a light tan. It could be the light conditions too.

Those doves look delicious.

Yes, I see much higher concentrations of birds near/in town. We get them out here, but decent numbers only because of our chicken scratch, I'm assuming. Once we pot three or four of them, it generally takes a day or two for a new batch to show up. There's been a lot of talk about them displacing the mourning doves, but the science I can find doesn't support this claim, and we're actually seeing more mourning doves this year than ever before (although that's probably weather-related).

Jack

I have only ever seen two of the collared doves at the house. I must have a poor grade of chicken scratch. I hoped they would start hanging out here, but I only ever seen them once and it was a couple years apart. The ND G&F had them listed as a invasive species at first and we could hunt them year around, with no limits. Now they count as part of your morning dove limit and can only be hunted during the dove season.

The dove looks good. I only see the collared dove around people too. Plenty of mourning dove around now. We usually get a shot of cold weather just before the season opener and a lot of them disappear.
I would like to go visit some of those islands one of these days.

It is eat your way down the trail time here. Berries are on. I’ve been eating service berries, huckleberries, thimble berries, raspberries along with a few types of currents.


The choke cherries are almost ready.

Those are lovely birdies , Jack. And Miss Lisa is fixing them up fine. I can smell the goodness from here.

Here is my contribution to this Phriday . In the early eves a nice little band of elk like to bring their calves and enjoy the grass. They were only a few feet from my porch . They just couldn't resist . In one pic, one of the cows is yawning ...she did that repeatedly while they visited. Must have had a pahty the night before This was a couple days ago.

One of them walked right up to my birdbath, the one I made using your wuff wood print to decorate the edges, and drank all the water out of it . So what if year round cold springs are right across the road in numerous places ? And the big river just south of me ?

I love seeing them. Like my wild turkeys , they are seen frequently on private land. Especially pastures , grazing with horses and cows.

I think their colour combos are so attractive. I get Muleys and whitetails , too.

I like to listen to them talk as they mill around

Here is a couple I got off the trail cam this am. Some deer like coyote lure

Wow! This time of year, with their short new coats, Sharon's elk photos and Spade's deer photos look almost as good as a Sharon painting, with the muscle differentiation showing clearly. Phantastic!

And Range! That looks like an honorable mention on the size of your huckleberries! Boy-Howdy!

Jack

Gulo:

Nice looking birds, making me hungry. Can't wait for grouse season to open.

Sharon:

Picture number 2, maybe a painting or drawing in the making?

Range:

Picking wild blueberries, huckleberries right now, but there not as big as those.

Spade, thank you, it could be a pattern for some art someday

I got nothing
except the enjoyment of this thread
Thanks

Found this guy yesterday while out hiking.

Don't know why but have a phobia with snakes, even looking at pictures gives me the willies.

As always Tray, real phine photo sir. Thanks...

Jack

Nothing new just a cool day with my youngest two !

trappingthomas - You,sir, are one lucky man. Thanks for sharing.

The day spent in West Virginia...













,.,.

River -

Looks like salamander country. Thanks for sharing the images.

Jack

Nothing this week from here. Great pics. Thanks.

Thanks Jack, in the spring I find these Eastern Newts... I was amazed to find out they can live up to 15 years!








,.,.

River -

Stunning little critters! I've been doing quite a bit of literature sleuthing recently on rubber boas, and learned of some long-term research done in Oregon (Richard Hoyer) that indicates those little snakes can live 50+ years!

Jack

Wildflower I planted for the wife.

Also planted sunflowers

Sunday morning church.

So calming, nice shot