Finally bestirred myself to go for a walk yesterday and set out
on the bike trail behind my subdivision. A little ditched branch
of Chester Creek runs nearby and I could hear an awful
cacophany (more awful than usual) of magpies coming from
it. Decided to investigate. Investigating upset birds almost
always pays off.

There were about 10 magpies in the chorus, most of them
sitting in saplings along the ditch and looking down into it.
They didn't flush as I approached. Finally got to where I
could sidle over and look down into the water and there
was a mink, eating a mallard. It had already eaten the head
and was working its way carefully down the neck, eating
from the inside, so as to avoid feathers in the mouth.

Update on bear spray efficacy "studies." A young woman
who was working in the Wrangells last summer was attacked
and mauled by a brown bear and I had a chance to ask her
boss for details. She had pepper spray with her and got off
a good 2-3 second blast of it directly into the bear's face.
This did not stop the charge. She would not speculate on
whether it had helped or hurt her case in any way, except
to wonder if maybe the spray might have interfered with
the bear's sight and smell enough to allow her to crawl
away when she did. She did not see cubs and the bear
was big enough to be a male, but again, nothing definite.

Incidentally, the maulee made a good recovery and went
back to the Wrangells to finish out the summer's work.

Chris Maack
Anchorage, AK
CMaack at compuserve.com