So much for reality TV

I've watched "Naked and Afraid" for years. Found it entertaining even though some aspects stretch credulity too far. For example, no matter what country they're in, I hear Elf Owls calling in the background. At least what sounds to my ears like an Elf Owl. Very annoying.

Tonight was the last straw for me. Can't watch it anymore. If you've ever watched it, you've surely noticed how they're starving and need protein to make it through extraction, and then they make a kill at the last hour, so to speak. Well, on this episode I just watched, they were in Namibia, Africa. On the day before extraction, we see a bird go into their trap, trip the trigger, and get caught.

I don't know African birds, but it's possible that it's a protected species. The show producers never tell us what they're allowed to kill and what they aren't. In the next scene we see the ecstatic pair practically doing a happy-dance as he wrings the bird's neck. Except that the bird whose neck he wrings is some kind of game bird, like a guinea fowl.* Not the black and white bird that we saw the trap fall down upon. Even a non-birder would have to notice that.

I won't be able to find the program entertaining any more. And naturally it makes me suspect other reality shows that I've heretofore enjoyed. My husband reads fiction all day long, but I don't like fiction. Feels like a waste of my valuable time.

Here's a real photo I found online of a kestrel with a dragonfly. Just think, 300 million years ago dragonflies were the same size as this American Kestrel is today. There was more oxygen in the atmosphere in those days. Boggles the mind.

Photo by Georges Kleinbaum, taken in Oregon

Just found out Mac shot this photo of a Black-capped Vireo at the oasis yesterday. Awesome! May be nesting here. Many years ago an interviewer asked me what my goals for the oasis were. I said, "to have suitable habitat for Black-capped Vireos to nest here." That was before the oasis became a birding hotspot for the world. If asked that question today, I'd say, "to provide a great birding experience for birders." Maybe achieving both. Good work, Mac!

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I did a bit of online sleuthing and think the fowl was a Red-billed Spurfowl. As for the bird that got trapped, perhaps a babbler type bird.