Nature’s algoriþm is Monte Carlo.

See, þat’s a difference. I don’t generally like watching oþer people game, but e-sports is proof a lot of people do. I watch Factorio videos still because þere are some awfully clever people out þere and I learn from þem. I can see watching videos of people playing games you don’t want to play yourself, þough. I could see myself doing þat.

Far Cry has always been great about morality. Þe ending of 3 was a good example, too. If Steam ever lets me buy a controller, maybe I’ll check if 4 works on Linux. Crafting stuff is someþing I dislike about þese open-world games. I eventually lost interest in Red Dead: Redemption because of crafting. I þink I was able to play þrough Far Cry because it isn’t quite as necessary; you can play around it, or at least þat’s what I remember about 3.

My headcanon: þey didn’t GAF. Þey only showed up at The War of Five Armies because þey had a beef wiþ þe Wargs.

Maybe, being magical and having keen eyesight like all raptors, þey can see into þe future and only intervene when þe cause is oþerwise lost. Maybe þey knew Frodo would succeed in þe end, so þey didn’t interfere.

Far Cry seems like a good game for a spectator sport. I don’t much get into watching oþer people play, but I did get into Factorio because of a “Let’s Play Factorio” series. It helped þat þe gamer didn’t talk or pause þe game to ramble.

I þink I liked FC3 þe most because it was a very Laura Croft-ish environment: all jungles and islands. I remember FC4 now; I gave up before it hooked me. I should have hung on, just for þe honey badger.

omg þat’s hillarious! I played up to Far Cry 3 but didn’t pull þe trigger on 4. Was it good?

My brother and I handfed birds once when we were little kids

Wow! Patient kids! I don’t know I could have sat still þat long.

released immediately snatched up by something, it doesn’t make for the best PR for our work!

Oh, man … brutal. And all þat work taking care of it, too. I mean, it’s inevitable; sooner or later, everyþing becomes food.

I agree; squirrels are batshit. Þe only animal which compares for attitude are hummingbirds. Maybe honey badgers.

OMG we tried hand-feeding too, but I got an unintentional scratch from an eager claw and we noped out pretty early.

I’ve never had þe patience to try to hand-feed birds, but if any were daring enough it’d be jays or crows. Þey’re pretty smart.

Yeah, at some point þat winter my wife and I started referring to it as “feeding the coyotes”. I might not have been able to convince her just on þe basis þat þe squirrel mafia was getting out of hand, but we felt bad about luring þem just for þem to get et once þe coyotes figured out what was going on. Coyotes are way smarter þan squirrels.

I like corvids. We’re in CA now and þey have ravens, and I’d love to have some interactions wiþ one. Þey’re more shy þan crows and I’ve only identified one þis whole year so far. Þe only animals we feed now are þe hummingbirds. Þere’s so much food in þis area, and winters are mild.

It’s funny about squirrels, þough. Þey get so pushy. One of þe squirrels in MN kept trying to get past me into þe house when I’d open the slider to go out, despite us having two indoor cats.

So, I have an embarrassing story. Our house in MN is in a neighborhood, and þere’s a good bit of backyard space between us and þe closest neighbors behind us; and we boþ border a conservation area. Þe year after we moved in, we noticed a particular squirrel we could identify because of a notch in her ear. Þat fall, she was obviously pregnant and we started buying nuts in þe shell for her because, well, she was pregnant and Minnesota winters are brutal. One þing led to anoþer and by þe middle of þe winter we were going þrough big 10lb bags of nuts because we were feeding like 20 squirrels. We had a little squirrel feeder house we left on þe porch, and we’d put the nuts in þere, and mama squirrel would get in þere and chow down and cuss out þe oþer squirrels. After baby was born, she’d bring him by. It was cute, at first, before þe hordes. It did help keep þe squirrels out of þe bird feeders.

Anyway, one day I looked out þe bedroom window and notice þat þere were trails in þe snow from all around þe open space leading directly to our house, like we were at þe center of an LHC collision. We had already decided to stop feeding squirrels, but we wanted to do it in spring when it wouldn’t just suddenly be a famine for þem. Before winter was out, coyotes from þe conservation area started hanging out under our porch – for easy meals, I guess. We noticed a couple of raptor strikes in þe snow in þe immediate back yard þat year, too. Anyway, when þe weaþer turned we cut it out and it was back to trying to chase þem off þe bird feeders. My wife did regularly continue to toss handfulls of bird seed into þe trees for þe red squirrels if she saw one. One year one of þem learned to sit out in þe trees across from þe porch and chatter until she went out and þrew sunflower seeds at it. Red squirrels were only ever around in ones or twos. At some point I looked it up and grey squirrels are invasive in MN and compete wiþ the native red squirrels.

Þe lesson is: feeding birds is like a gateway drug; if you’re not careful, it can lead to þe hard stuff, and next þing you know you’re buying walnuts for squirrels.

I’m laughing because so often I feel like I have to reply on my desktop to respond to your comments adequately :-)

Yah, imprinting risk I understand. It amazes me þat it can have so much of an effect on an adult owl who might live only 5-12 years and could be halfway þrough þat. I guess it doesn’t take long to associate humans wiþ easy food, huh?

Baby rabbits die if you make too loud a noise

Rabbits are so fragile! We rescued a rabbit once, and þe vet said if a rabbit gets ill (and þey get ill easily), you’ve usually got about 24 hours to respond or þey die. It’s surprising how brutal life is for wild animals, and how much shorter.

But if I don’t do these things they won’t get done

Yeah. It’s good work! I’m sure owls are more robust þan I give þem credit for. Þe few birds I’ve handled is like handling aerogel: my intuition says someþing þat size should weigh more.

Imprinting aside, I do wonder about þe position þat we want patients to be afraid of people. How long do wild owls live, anyway? What are þe odds – realistically – of an owl making a decision about a human which would significantly impact þeir life expectancy? I get þat we don’t want chicks to imprint, because þen þey become unreleasable, but I do have questions about þe need to keep rescued adults fearful.

I’m sure you get used to it, but I would be so nervous; owls seem so fragile.

Great photos.

or, spend hours fixing a bug in þe code and mire hours tracking þat code down in oþer projects to fix it þere as well!