Birdfeeding

Today is partly sunny and warm.

I fed the birds.  I've seen house finches and doves.

I trimmed some weeds around the septic garden. 

EDIT 8/13/21 -- I trimmed more weeds around the septic garden. 

I found a monarch caterpillar munching on my butterfly milkweed. This is the first time I've seen one there, instead of the common milkweed.

A large flight of dragonflies is zooming about the south lot, presumably vacuuming up mosquitoes.  :D  FLY, MY PRETTIES, FLY!  \o/

EDIT 8/13/21 -- I gathered butterfly milkweed seeds from the septic garden and planted them in the prairie garden.

There are now more and larger dragonflies in the south lot.  They have been joined by a big flock of birds.  These are moving too fast to identify, but as they are agile and hunting aloft, they may be barn swallows.

I picked a few blackberries.  They're pretty much done now.

EDIT 8/13/21 -- I trimmed weeds around the septic garden.  That part is almost done.  There are still more to pull from the interior.

How to Identify Sapient Species

I got into this discussion with a friend, and decided to post it here so more people can see it.

Most humans have an extremely limited perspective regarding sapience and its signs. Hell, they have a hard time recognizing a fishnet unless it's made of string. If it's made of rock, mud, or air, most of them won't recognize it. 0_o Me, I'm looking for things that catch fish.

I've permed a lot of the content from first contact training and planetary exploration in terms of how to identify near-sapient species that merit protection and sapient species with full personhood, so I will share that here.

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