Living in Polson, great view, but not so great city (Lolo: crime rate, houses)

[DontLookPhoto]

I've only stayed at a motel in Browning and on the Flathead rez.
There's not much on the Rocky Boy rez that I care to have anything to do with, I did not feel comfortable when I was there but I didn't like Browning at first either. Those places seem to be extremely poverty stricken and I think that at least some folks there feel like they are stuck there.
So much different than the Flathead.
Although I know a few folks here that certainly feel stuck here. (On the Flathead Reservation)
Being poor is awful, I don't see how some folks manage to get by.

[DontLookPhoto]

We went to one of the Walmarts in Missoula yesterday and while my wife was shopping I went walkabout with my cameras.
In the parking lot was a few gang banger types just hanging out blasting obnoxious noise and smartazz behaviour and all.
I was taking pics of crows and some guy trying to show off to his two girls hanging on to him started telling me all about how much he hated birds ! I just ignored him but I did not feel comfortable at all.
I never felt unsafe in Polson and we have been shopping there for many years at least once a week.

Here is one of the pics I took yesterday when we went to Missoula for shopping rather than Polson.
My wife thought it was a bald eagle. It's either a mutant or a piebald crow !

[MontanaGyrl]

The "animal" in the photo is a fake hawk to keep pigeons off the building. :-)

[DontLookPhoto]

Originally Posted by MontanaGyrl

The "animal" in the photo is a fake hawk to keep pigeons off the building. :-)

Not true MontanaGyrl. It is a black and white crow I have several photos of it. I have never seen a "Hawk" with a white head and tail either.
It hangs out with the other Walmart parking lot crows at one of the Missoula Walmarts.
Take a good look at the beak and juxtapose that beak with the beaks of raptors such as hawks, falcons and eagles. I know birds quite well and I know that this is not a fake as you claim.

I'll bet money on it. They are not all that uncommon. We were watching it fly about with all the other crows and it stood at several locations on the Walmart roof.
An old man was watching it and asked me if crows can be any other color than all black and I told him yes. This is a mutant crow for sure. I'll bet any amount of money on that.
Oh by the way I don't believe that any of the Walmarts here use fake raptors to keep pigeons away and that would be easy for you to check on that, just call the Walmarts if you don't believe me.
By the way I just called the Walmart that I took this photograph at and they told me that they do not put any fake birds on any of the Walmart roofs for any reason whatsoever.
Jeez I knew that a "Doubter" would come out and cry fake.

[DontLookPhoto]

The big food stores in Polson have a few crows and ravens once in a while but for the most part those parking lot scavengers in Polson are mostly seagulls and a pelican or two.

Here is a pic or two of one of the normal black crows that I photographed at the Missoula Super Walmart the other day.

Polson is getting a "Super Walmart", they are already working on it.

[MontanaGyrl]

Looking at the picture greatly enlarged, I even see the hanging hook on top of the head. The feet are obviously pedestal-like. Must be related to this critter: http://www.gemplers.com/photos/167715

I must conclude that you meant this photo as a joke, so I say, "Good one!"

[DontLookPhoto]

Originally Posted by MontanaGyrl

I looked at an enlarged picture and the eye is huge, appears painted, and is almost half the size of the bird's head. The feet look pedestal-like, and the rest of the body looks plastic, painted, and unmoving as well. If you think it's real, then fine. Perhaps you would like to post a photo of it, enlarged about 500%? I would, but see your photos are copyrighted.

Here is another photo of the same crow.
You do realize that the copyright only protects folks from selling my photos legally (Except City Data). Anyone can share them,blow them up, re-post them (not on this site though due to the TOS).

I know it's real, I spent a lot of time trying to get more pics of it. You didn't call the Walmart did you. ?
Believe what you will. Why don't you go do a bit of research on crows. I would never post a photo that I took claiming that some so called fake bird is real. And the bet is still on but I doubt that you have assets that I would be willing to bet against. We have lots of assets to bet with !
Look on this photo of the black and white crow, see the wind blowing it's head feathers up ?
I don't understand why you are so adamant about insisting that this is a fake bird.
Fake birds don't fly, and I will not lie. This thread is drifting off topic and I'm not going to try to talk sense into a person who just wants to argue.
Notice that the camera post is different than in the other pics. Notice also that the bird is leaning a bit differently in the pics. Go look for yourself if you don't believe me or call the super Walmart in Missoula to verify that they have no such fake birds as you claim. You may even spot this crow if you actually wanted to prove yourself to be wrong but I doubt that you would.
Me and several other folks watched this bird flying about with the rest of the crows and it perched on several different corners of the building.

[MontanaGyrl]

This is extremely amusing, thanks! I see that the bird is in exactly the same spot and leaning the same way in each photo and has not moved, has not changed head position, and is on a pedestal base as in the decoy link I posted above. I don't see any feathers on the head blowing around but I definitely see a hanging hook. The camera has moved, as working security cameras do. As you say, this post is drifting off target, so let's just agree to disagree.

P.S. You may not believe this, but I have a college degree in Wildlife Biology, and my undergrad research was in avian anatomy. Swear on a stack of Peterson field guides!

Would love to hear others' opinions. This is the best joke I've read all weekend, so thanks again.

[DontLookPhoto]

Here is a photo from Wikimedia Commons of a Pied Crow in Kenya. In order to post it here legally I have to give attribution to the Wikimedia Commons contributor Rickard001 as well as the author Lip Kee Yap of Singapore to alter or post this photo of a sub-specie of the genus Corvus. Ravens are also in a sub-specie of the genus Corvus.
The white and black crow that was at Walmart in Missoula was just a mutation of the regular black crow not a "Pied Crow" shown in this photo.

I have a parrot that is a mutant. Mutating is a method for nature to create new critters, not abnormal at all.
The link posted to the fake hawks have red tails, the crow at walmart has a white tail and flew about.



Attribution again for the photo above from the public Domain
of Wikimedia Commons :
Uploaded to wikimedia commons ~ Richard001
Author ~ Lip Kee Yap

Now can we go back to topic ? Polson ??? The doubters can just go have another toke !

[MontanaGyrl]

The link posted to the fake hawks have red tails, the crow at walmart has a white tail and flew about.

Ah, I really shouldn't respond, but you just proved my point. Enlarge your photo posted above about 500%, the one with the caption bubble that starts "I'm a crow not an eagle...". That "bird" has a red tail and is a decoy.

I DO believe that you saw a black & white crow flying around at the WalMart, truly I do. But these photos are of a decoy that must have been next to the live bird or flock you saw. The decoy's beak is not a crow's long beak -- again, obvious from your photos and the Wikipedia crow picture.

However, I can say with 100% sincerity that if you saw the above item flying around under its own power, you should definitely alert the local chapter of the Audubon Society because it would be a newsworthy miracle in the birding world.

Now, how about Polson? I think it's a really pretty little town but have never lived there. We like to drive up there in the summer and go to Boettcher Park, especially when the Cherry Festival is going on. I wish I could remember the name of the company that had some organic cherry preserves for sale downtown; they were so good, especially on ice cream. Does anyone know the company I'm talking about? Not Eva Gates from Bigfork.