Birders' Nest

[Elgarian Redux]

'Twas the night before Thanksgiving and what did I spy?
That two slices remained of homemade pumpkin pie.
The children, now grown, had gone off into town,
So there's no one to notice...

'And in the end,
The love you make
Is in the Pumpkin Pie
You bake.'

(Apologies to Paul McCartney)

[Iota]

YAY! for pheasants, reed buntings, fox-in-statue, and sheep!!

I've scarcely been out of the house (too much work), so instead of newly-seen birds, I bring you a few from November 25ths past.

My Thanksgiving tradition used to be taking a long bike ride and then making myself a nice dinner, as my offspring goes to his dad's family dinner on Thanksgiving, and when I was working working, it was hard for me to get in long rides. I kept to that after I retired. Four years ago today, though, I opted for a long walk instead. Here are a few of the birds I saw that day.


Pied-billed Grebe


Ring-billed Gull


Hooded Merganser belly 


Mallard


White-throated Sparrow

Two years ago on this date, I was planning my itinerary home (this in the season of my most recent broken arm), screwing up hotel reservations, and doing laundry, but I did get in a little walk in a neighborhood park.


Phainopepla


For context


House Finch (male)


More context 


House Finch (female)

Lovely images, owlice, that light up the screen, and indeed the day!
A BIF too I see (Ring-billed Gull), brava, so majestic against the blue sky! The Hooded Merganser having a quick nap is both extraordinary and hilarious! Talk about a waterbed!

And this is a wondrous image, the autumnal melange of colours and light so beautiful!



Loved the 'context' photos too, which google lens tells me is Thimble Peak in the Santa Catalina Mountains, Arizona. Nice 'neighbourhood parks' you have round your way!

Good luck with your onerous workload!

[Iota]

'Twas the night before Thanksgiving and what did I spy?
That two slices remained of homemade pumpkin pie.
The children, now grown, had gone off into town,
So there's no one to notice...

Couldn't make up my mind if the last line was expressing sadness that no one was there to notice (as in 'gone off into town' meaning the kids had moved out), or simply that the last two slices of pumpkin pie could be quickly dispatched without anybody noticing, or both. Anyway, nice little ditty!

[owlice]

Lovely images, owlice, that light up the screen, and indeed the day!
A BIF too I see (Ring-billed Gull), brava, so majestic against the blue sky! The Hooded Merganser having a quick nap is both extraordinary and hilarious! Talk about a waterbed!

Thank you, Iota! The Merganser was not napping, though I love the idea of the waterbed!! The bird was grooming. (And showing off its tummy.)

And this is a wondrous image, the autumnal melange of colours and light so beautiful!

I love this light; it is like no other. It is a great joy to see it, to walk in it!

Loved the 'context' photos too, which google lens tells me is Thimble Peak in the Santa Catalina Mountains, Arizona. Nice 'neighbourhood parks' you have round your way!

Not my neighborhood park, alas, but instead, one 2000 miles from my home.

Good luck with your onerous workload!

Thank you! It'll be easier to work on the workload after the "kids" (they are both well into adulthood...) leave to go to their dinner.

Couldn't make up my mind if the last line was expressing sadness that no one was there to notice (as in 'gone off into town' meaning the kids had moved out), or simply that the last two slices of pumpkin pie could be quickly dispatched without anybody noticing, or both. Anyway, nice little ditty!

The last line hasn't been written yet; I was hoping someone else would write it. 
Not gonna lie
I ate the pie

[owlice]

'I'm not a fox!' cried the pine marten sculpture.

OH NO!!! I wuz wrong!!! A thousand pardons!! My apologies to the very handsome pine marten sculpture!!!

I've only ever seen a pine marten once. We were cycling along the shore of Loch Broom in NW Scotland, and coming towards us in the distance was what we thought was a stoat or something. As we got closer the 'something' clearly became a pine marten. He kept coming along his way, we kept cycling along ours, and both parties met and parted amicably. (If we'd called him a fox I think the outcome would've been different.) Sometime later Paul Szeiler (towards whose cottage we were cycling) made the ceramic sculpture of a pine marten, which we now have in our garden.

It is a good thing you did not call him a fox!!

I have never seen a pine marten.    I would love to see one!

'Furry blob on water'.

hahahahahahaha!!!

It has a white throat! Splendid.

Sometimes bird names do make sense, hurrah!

'Hello! Do you know my cousin, Purple?'
'Hello. Have you seen my husband's cousin, Purple?'

Hahhaahahaha!!

I have see Purple, though not very often.

Purple Finch
Here in a "Crap; I dropped the car keys" pose.

[Elgarian Redux]

'Twas the night before Thanksgiving and what did I spy?
That two slices remained of homemade pumpkin pie.
The children, now grown, had gone off into town,
So there's no one to notice...

I just read that you were hoping someone would finish it ....


'Twas the night before Thanksgiving and what did I spy?
That two slices remained of homemade pumpkin pie.
The children, now grown, had gone off into town,
So there's no one to see, if I gulp it all down.
I admit that I'm tempted. It sounds awful nice
To munch and dispose of one more pumpkin slice.

Chorus:
That is where the pie all went.
That is where the pie all went.
That is where the pie all went.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah,
Oh yeah.

[Elgarian Redux]

OH NO!!! I wuz wrong!!! A thousand pardons!! My apologies to the very handsome pine marten sculpture!!!

This is a safe space. We are all allowed to be wrong.

I have see Purple, though not very often.

Purple Finch
Here in a "Crap; I dropped the car keys" pose.

Or it could be:
'Got 'im!'

[Iota]

The Merganser was not napping ...

Now you say that, of course it wasn't napping! It was a stupid thing to say! ..(par for the course for me, I'm afraid  ) I just saw its little duck head tucked in to its belly like a cat and .. the stupidity filter doesn't kick in sometimes when I write quickly .. or even slowly sometimes .. I'm clearly ripe for the knacker's yard!

The last line hasn't been written yet; I was hoping someone else would write it. 
Not gonna lie
I ate the pie

Hahaha, well that's a perfect little ending, has a kind of nursery rhyme quality to it.

Purple Finch
Here in a "Crap; I dropped the car keys" pose.

.

[Iota]

I just read that you were hoping someone would finish it ....


'Twas the night before Thanksgiving and what did I spy?
That two slices remained of homemade pumpkin pie.
The children, now grown, had gone off into town,
So there's no one to see, if I gulp it all down.
I admit that I'm tempted. It sounds awful nice
To munch and dispose of one more pumpkin slice.

Chorus:
That is where the pie all went.
That is where the pie all went.
That is where the pie all went.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah,
Oh yeah.

Hahaha, brilliant! I've said it before, but I'll say it again ... the amount of strings to your bow seems almost endless!

Or it could be:
'Got 'im!'

.

[Elgarian Redux]

Hahaha, brilliant! I've said it before, but I'll say it again ... the amount of strings to your bow seems almost endless!
.

As ever, you're kind beyond measure. But I think I'm just plucking the same bow string several times in slightly different ways. Leopards and Pumpkin pies are all grist to the same mill!!