• Posted 12/19/2024.
    =====================

    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Hawk at the bedroom window

WebSlave

WebSlave

The world looks differently to me now.
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Spotted this guy yesterday outside the bedroom window, near the bird feeders. Hope he is looking for squirrels instead of the cardinals and other birds that feed there.

Sorry about the shaky video. I do have image stabilization on, but the combination of the long lens and my shaky hands, and not being able to get into a position to brace the camera isn't producing results as nice as I would like. But I felt lucky to even get the shot, as I am certain the hawk was watching me as I got as close to the window as I dared to.

Video taken with the Sony RX10 Mark IV in 4K.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxKuWhr83eg
 
Took a couple of photos besides the video.

hawk_11252018_01.jpg



hawk_11252018_02.jpg
 
Looks like a young of the year broad winged hawk, much more likely to go after rodents, and other small terrestrial vertebrates than birds.

Ed
 
Beats me. I have no idea what sort of hawk it is. I looked at pics online, and the red shouldered hawk looks real close, but I really don't know. I guess I could always "Audubon" it with bird shot in the 12 gauge if I really REALLY needed to look at it closer. JUST KIDDING!! :hehe:
 
laughs

If it shows up again look for black and white bands on the tail. That is a key for telling it from a red shouldered. In the first "exttra" photos you can sort of see some of the potential banding that might be on the tail. Young of the year broad wings are known to overwinter in Florida so its not an uncommon species for there. Red shoulders are often mistaken for broad wings and vice versa so I could be in error.


Ed
 
So pretty, right? Wife and I are dorks. We count hawks as we're driving in the fall/winter, especially as we're driving to KC or STL. We'll hit over a 100 most trips. But we get lost in our counting ("is that 45 or 46? wait, which one are we looking for?").

Dorks: we got a clicker counter thing last week to make sure we stay on count. bahahaha
 
We actually derive quite a bit of enjoyment from the wildlife we can see just from our bedroom windows. In hindsight I wish we had put in large bay windows when we had the house built.

It helps that we are clearing out the bush close to the house so we can see further into the woods. Of course, the squirrels don't like it very much... :hehe:
 
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