Cutting down The Tree

Our neighbor had requested the removal of a dry, dead tree for four years. Yesterday they showed up and removed it (was to the right, half the height of this one) then started cutting branches off this beast. I can’t remember how many times over the years that I heard of a storm approaching, and photographed this tree, expecting to see it on the ground the next day. It had two parrot nests. No parrots were harmed, but a few of them flew around afterwards, squawking loudly (as they always do anyway).

Now that the wind resistance is drastically reduced, the tree should be no threat. Does that mean they’re through with it? Time will tell.

Carpinchos

We visited a place in the hills below Minas, Uruguay, whose owner had taken on two brother capybaras (called carpinchos locally) from the local zoo. Apparently when they get to be too many in too small a place, they fight, and it’s ugly. The one who runs away in the first clip decided to go swimming rather than deal with the handful of humans watching at feeding time.

Two months old!

More falcon. When I said my wife wanted to know su edad, she said 26. Well, su edad can mean his/her/its age or your age (formal). I would not address someone less than half my age formally—no, the bird’s age, I clarified. She laughed heartily.

Their estimate is two months.

So, language blunders aside, that’s wild. Big bird for two months old!

The falcon

A girl with a falcon has been at our local park lately. The bird was rescued when both parents were killed. It didn’t know how to fly. It’s a male, smaller than the females. I still don’t know what type it is. The names she gives me don’t correspond to anything I find in the bird book. She puts a cap over its head when she drives back to Montevideo. I asked if it always made noise – It doesn’t at night 😉