Birders' Nest

[Elgarian Redux]

Dancing Queen, indeed, but now that I'm fully caffeinated, I suspect Black Dog (Led Zeppelin) is a better fit for this hard-rockin' birb; look at that move!

I don't know it! Is it OK if I stick with Dancing Queen?

I came across a folded-up Green Heron in the open, between two ponds, while walking one day; I stopped and stood still, just looking at him. I didn't want to spook him. The bird looked at me for a few moments, and then slowly extended his neck while also raising his body as much as he could; he was definitely letting me know he was a huge and fearsome creature (a dinosaur)! Yeah, shakin' in my hiking shoes, I was I was.  But he was surprisingly tall!

'This was just one minor incident, typical among the many hair-raising adventures of a birder out in the field.'

I agree about the stuffing!! And what I really need is two trees, because they need to cross-pollinate to bear fruit. Clearly there's at least one other chestnut tree somewhere near, but having another in my own yard...

Has none of the chestnuts ever turned into a sapling?

And yes, chestnuts are easier to photograph!

I guessed as much. That does it for me. I'm going to become a chestnuteer.

Some days, I swear I'm going to switch to geology, because rocks don't move (or at least, not usually very quickly)!

I did a year's geology  as a subsidiary course in the first year of my physics degree. So it is with some authority that I can confirm that they do stay still, mostly.

[Elgarian Redux]

Another trip to see daughter no. 1, and I am still trying to get a decent little egret shot.

[Elgarian Redux]

Oof. I hope so. Poor birdie!

I'm glad to report that he is definitely still with us. He's recognisably smaller and a bit more scrawny than all the other mini-goldfinches, and today he was definitely around and full of beans seeds.

I have sometimes (OK, just once, but I mean to do it a bunch more times, I do, I do!) used Shutterfly to make a little book of some of my favorite trip photos. It's a wonderful memento, one easily shared with others (mostly because it's a manageable size and not big enough to scare these others).

Maybe you really should create a book for your year-long project. And knowing you, you might even make it a A Birds' Garden of Verses.

I might, actually (but not the verses!), if the pics are good enough. There is precedent: I made a mini-book out of drawings, photos, diary entries, and sketchmaps made during our week of cycling in Elgar Country some years ago.

[Elgarian Redux]

I was looking for something else and came across this Sentinel Lark pic

I am listening to 'Black Dog' as I write this. I think you're right that it is indeed the music playing for the Sentinel Lark. Goodbye to Dancing Queen.

All this, and the picture, reminds me that there's a nice lady along the road (a fellow old rock&roller) who is throwing a party tomorrow night, and she wants me to go along and take a guitar with me. I haven't done that sort of thing for more than 20 years, so I'm a bit ooo-er! Now if I had a Sentinel Lark to take with me, I'd be an inspired man!

[Elgarian Redux]

You want incandescent? Do any of these appeal?


Hepatic Tanager (Arizona)


Flame-colored Tanager (Costa Rica)


Altamira Oriole (Texas)


Summer Tanager (Costa Rica)


Scarlet Tanager (Ohio)


Baltimore Oriole (Belize)

Play fair, Owlice. How did you manage to make each one of those birds swallow a light bulb?

[Kalevala]

@owlice So which birds (no squirrels allowed) do you see in your own yard?   

K

p.s.  Yes, I could see getting another chestnut tree in your yard to encourage pollination.  One thought that also occurred to me, maybe hirer someone to help pick up the chestnuts and teach them about about them.  I don't know about your current travel schedule, but the owner of that nursery says that if a lot of chestnuts have been falling down, that he'll go out there sometimes three times a day.  In any event, good luck!

[owlice]

@owlice So which birds (no squirrels allowed) do you see in your own yard? 

I've seen all of the ones on this list in my yard except for Common Yellowthroats and Indigo Buntings, and some not mentioned, such as Yellow-rumped Warblers, Hermit Thrushes, and Red-shouldered Hawks, and even a Blackpoll Warbler at least once.


Yellow-rumped Warbler


Blackpoll Warbler


Red-shouldered Hawk


Hermit Thrush

...the owner of that nursery says that if a lot of chestnuts have been falling down, that he'll go out there sometimes three times a day.

If I'm home all day, I go outside to gather chestnuts every hour or two; I'm very interested in getting every chestnut possible.

[owlice]

I'm glad to report that he is definitely still with us. He's recognisably smaller and a bit more scrawny than all the other mini-goldfinches, and today he was definitely around and full of beans seeds.

YAY!!!

I might, actually (but not the verses!), if the pics are good enough.

They are more than good enough!!

[Kalevala]

I've see all of the ones on this list in my yard except for Common Yellowthroats and Indigo Buntings, and some not mentioned, such as Yellow-rumped Warblers, Hermit Thrushes, and Red-shouldered Hawks, and even a Blackpoll Warbler at least once.


Yellow-rumped Warbler


Blackpoll Warbler


Red-shouldered Hawk


Hermit Thrush

If I'm home all day, I go outside to gather chestnuts every hour or two; I'm very interested in getting every chestnut possible.

Where did you see and take photos of the Red-shouldered hawk?

K

[owlice]

Where did you see and take photos of the Red-shouldered hawk?

K

I get Red-shouldered Hawks in my yard, which, if I'm putting out birdseed, makes me stop putting out birdseed, because the hawks stop by to snack on the birds eating the birdseed. I've taken numerous photos of them over the years.

I'm pretty sure there's a communications channel among at least Red-shouldered and Red-tailed Hawks, because if a Red-shouldered hangs around long enough, eventually a Red-tailed Hawk will show up, too. 

I also get vultures in my yard, and a good number of other birds, too. Also deer, foxes, raccoons, opossums, groundhogs... all of these things are usual/common in suburban yards.

[owlice]

Play fair, Owlice. How did you manage to make each one of those birds swallow a light bulb?

Practice! 

[owlice]

@Elgarian Redux, you might like these.





Same Mallard. He was pretty snoozy.

[Elgarian Redux]

Practice! 

"Please note: No birds were set on fire in the production of these photos."

[Elgarian Redux]

@Elgarian Redux, you might like these.





Same Mallard. He was pretty snoozy.

Reflected images tend to be soothing, don't they? - even if a bit weird.

When I saw the first one, I didn't immediately read it as a reflection at all, but thought it showed a single duck, hovering above the water, applauding by clapping its wings together!! An escapee from the circus!

[Elgarian Redux]

Up on the hills today, sitting and looking and pondering. We were talking about 'liminality' - the experience of being on a threshold, or in a state of transition. There's always an inherent fascination about gates, or doorways, because of that potential state of transition, and also it's there in scenes like those photographed below (which I can never resist), when we look up towards the top of a hill, and sense that there is an unknown 'beyond'.

Anyway, there we were, on top of the world, it seemed - very much in a liminal situation, and I was thinking about birds and butterflies, who inhabit this realm perpetually, moving from ground to sky, and back again. And I think part of the fascination of these creatures, for me, is that very fact. They inhabit a liminal realm, and there's a kind of mystery in that which no other creatures quite possess. (Yes, I know: bats etc - but you get the general drift).

There's maybe a touch of that sense (of a habitation of that liminal realm - not entirely effortless, though it might seem so) in Kathleen Raine's poem Envoi:

See how against the weight in the bone
the hawk hangs perfect in mid-air-
the blood pays dear to raise it there,
the moment, not the bird, divine.

[Elgarian Redux]

I've see all of the ones on this list in my yard except for Common Yellowthroats and Indigo Buntings, and some not mentioned, such as Yellow-rumped Warblers, Hermit Thrushes, and Red-shouldered Hawks, and even a Blackpoll Warbler at least once.


Yellow-rumped Warbler

Lovely. And... er ... yellow?

Blackpoll Warbler

At first glance, I thought 'this must be what they call a blackcap in the US' - but it isn't, is it? This and the British blackcap are different birds.

Red-shouldered Hawk

And this fellow was in your garden?! Amazing! Your garden seems to be a source of multifarious ornithological wonder. Fantastic photo.

Hermit Thrush

Is this a smaller version of our 'song thrush'?

[Kalevala]

I get Red-shouldered Hawks in my yard, which, if I'm putting out birdseed, makes me stop putting out birdseed, because the hawks stop by to snack on the birds eating the birdseed. I've taken numerous photos of them over the years.

I'm pretty sure there's a communications channel among at least Red-shouldered and Red-tailed Hawks, because if a Red-shouldered hangs around long enough, eventually a Red-tailed Hawk will show up, too. 

I also get vultures in my yard, and a good number of other birds, too. Also deer, foxes, raccoons, opossums, groundhogs... all of these things are usual/common in suburban yards.

Nice that you get to see them!  I've seen a bald eagle and RTHs in my yard before.  As much as I enjoy the idea of bird feeders in my yard (or windows), there are various problems:  1) depending upon the weather, after about February there are black bears wandering around the area.  One thing about them which I learned some years ago is that they will remember where they found food once for four years EVEN IF THEY DON'T FIND IT THERE AGAIN.  2)  Squirrels, mice and rats are also happy to eat bird food--and I'm not keen on helping increase their populations. 

And glad that you're being vigilant about your chestnuts--and squirrels.  Perhaps be extra-nice to any local kitties that come wandering around? 

K

[owlice]

"Please note: No birds were set on fire in the production of these photos."

"But some electrons might have been momentarily inconvenienced."

Lovely. And... er ... yellow?

Yes! A few examples of why these are often referred to as Butter Butts:





Is the evidence convincing? 

And these birds are almost everywhere in the US. It is rare that I go to a wildlife refuge in the U.S. and don't see at least one of these.

At first glance, I thought 'this must be what they call a blackcap in the US' - but it isn't, is it? This and the British blackcap are different birds.

You are correct as usual! They are both warblers, but in different families.

And what a cutie the Eurasian Blackcap is!! I want one!!

And this fellow was in your garden?! Amazing! Your garden seems to be a source of multifarious ornithological wonder. Fantastic photo.

Technically, he might be in my neighbor's maple tree, which is right at the fence line; that tree, and another on my side of the fence, gives him a fabulous view of my yard. And my dear Elgarian, I am amused that you think I have a garden! You, good sir, have a proper garden; I have a yard that is not at all garden-y -- just lawn, dirt, hill, trees, and (vicious!) mozzies. The grass gets mowed (I have a lawn service), but there is no gardening happening out there. And really, I get the usual stuff in my suburban yard, same as everyone else.

Is this a smaller version of our 'song thrush'?

A smaller cousin, yes!

[JBS]

Lovely. And... er ... yellow?

On my phone it's really yellow-bellied or yellow-chested, instead of yellow-rumped. And there's a splash of yellow on the wing too.

[owlice]

Up on the hills today, sitting and looking and pondering. We were talking about 'liminality' - the experience of being on a threshold, or in a state of transition. There's always an inherent fascination about gates, or doorways, because of that potential state of transition, and also it's there in scenes like those photographed below (which I can never resist), when we look up towards the top of a hill, and sense that there is an unknown 'beyond'.

Anyway, there we were, on top of the world, it seemed - very much in a liminal situation, and I was thinking about birds and butterflies, who inhabit this realm perpetually, moving from ground to sky, and back again. And I think part of the fascination of these creatures, for me, is that very fact. They inhabit a liminal realm, and there's a kind of mystery in that which no other creatures quite possess. (Yes, I know: bats etc - but you get the general drift).

There's maybe a touch of that sense (of a habitation of that liminal realm - not entirely effortless, though it might seem so) in Kathleen Raine's poem Envoi:

See how against the weight in the bone
the hawk hangs perfect in mid-air-
the blood pays dear to raise it there,
the moment, not the bird, divine.

Lovely thoughts and lovely verse; thank you for sharing them.