Crows

Gifts Galore – Day 863

Posted on by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment
Turkeys – Photo: L. Weikel

Gifts Galore

Oh my goodness, I was visited or buzzed by, or simply graced with a sighting of, so many different creatures today! Some days I find myself wondering how I could possibly be so lucky as to live where I come into contact with these wild beings every single day. Today – well, today I just received gifts galore.

There were the usual suspects: squirrels (am I really counting them as gifts? Hmmm), cardinals, wrens, sparrows, mourning doves, chickadees, and nuthatches.

But then I took a walk with a friend and – weren’t we not only buzzed by a hawk, which clearly was a Red-tail, but must have been a juvenile because its red tail feathers were not red when viewed from underneath. And this raptor definitely flew directly above us.

They then called in their friends because within a few moments, we were graced with at least five hawks and a couple of peace eagles (vultures) to boot.

Circled directly overhead several times – Photo: L. Weikel

A Murder, Too

A true murder of crows (there had to have been at least a dozen) flew overhead at one point, and several took up a variety of perspectives from nearby trees and simply hurled epithets at us. Perhaps they were loving messages, I suppose. It’s hard to tell sometimes when a crow groks at you.

Shortly thereafter, I was driving home and what did I see in the field beside road? Only a bazillion turkeys. Such a gift! Indeed, as I stated at the beginning of this short post, today I was showered with gifts galore.

A field full of gifts galore – Photo: L. Weikel

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The Birds Are Returning – Day 345

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The Birds Are Returning

Today was the first day in well over a month that I’ve had reason to feel a glimmer of hope again.

As many of you know, I’ve been rather freaked out by the complete absence of birds – not only at our feeders and in our trees here at our home, but everywhere around here locally. Karl and I have been commenting on the eerie silence of the forests and fields as we’ve walked and walked and walked.

And no, I can’t really blame it on the guy in the photo, above, either. First of all, I took this particular photo outside of my office – so it’s not as if he flew home with me to snack on our songbirds. But I’m keenly aware that its kin live here and, in fact, use our yard and the open space between our feeders and our small barn as a runway dedicated to harvesting tender morsels of delight.

Wet Weather

Sheila, our 15 year old Boston Terrier, needs extra encouragement to lope off the porch to relieve herself when it’s raining out. If we don’t go out with her, it is amazing how this pup – who used to be extremely fastidious about being a ‘good girl’ – will now just obviously say, “Screw it,” and unceremoniously just start to pee on the porch. Even if it’s just misting!

But because of that, (and because of her recent ‘go rogue’ moments when she’s chosen to go on ‘walkabout‘), I tend to go out with her every time she goes to the door now. All of which to explain how I found myself standing on the porch this morning, paying attention to what was going on right in front of me.

First, I heard some crows. They were, in fact, just regular crows – not the ‘fish crows’ which were may favorites throughout the spring and summer. But there were a good three or four of them, which made me happy.

Then blue jays. Two. Standing near the peanut circle and daring me to shoo them away (which I would never do). Finally, a couple goldfinches, three chickadees – and I could hear at least one wren, maybe more, in the brush at the edges of the property line.

Paying Attention

Perhaps I simply became hyper aware of the birds taking a vacation this year. I still find it extremely odd that all of them decided to up and leave completely, all at once, with nary a goodbye note. I’ll be curious to see if a similar departure from their frequenting of the feeders takes place next year.

Since it was misting and rather miserable out, I found it impossible to get a good shot of any of the birds that ‘came back’ today. My apologies.

The energy or ‘feel’ of today was weird. But I wanted to celebrate the return of the birds because it feels significant.

I used the photo of the hawk that was looking at me with that stink-eye of an expression because I feel like that’s how Spirit is looking at me right now.

“Get moving. Stop your nonsense,” is what I’m hearing on the wind. And that’s what I feel this hawk is saying, too.

I must get myself to bed. I have lots to accomplish tomorrow. Maybe even snagging some photos of a couple returned birds!

(T-766)

Every Year It’s Different – Day 256

Posted on by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment
“Here’s How You Eat a Peanut” – Photo: L. Weikel

Every Year It’s Different                                                    

I’ve waxed rhapsodic over my porch in other posts. I’ve also shared (ad nauseum?) my love of my birdfeeders and the many avian visitors I’m lucky enough to have a front row seat to enjoy as I sit writing on my porch.

Truth be told, especially now that Spartacus is not as nimble as he used to be, and Sheila’s practically blind, other creatures find themselves emboldened to partake of the bird seed (and peanuts!) without fear of being molested. That’s not to say that every once in a while Spartacus doesn’t still give the chasethe ol’ college try. But he’s just not the threat he used to be.

Every year it seems there’s a different type of bird that has a starring role in performances at our feeders. It’s been fascinating to notice over time what ‘energy’ predominates at the feeders any given year.

All Things Blue Jay

One year we had blue jays make a nest in one of the hanging planters directly outside our kitchen door (on our porch, of course). That was a very cool experience. All three of our sons were still living at home when the blue jays roosted. We all had a chance to witness the entire process, from nest building to laying the eggs, to how they would take turns sitting on the nest, to the hatching and growth of the chicks. Things got hairy when the chicks started to fledge. The parents got a bit testy with us then and would whack us with their wings if we walked out the kitchen door too abruptly, thus spooking them.

One day, one of the fledges got ahead of himself and fell out of the nest. We were pretty sure he hit his head because he seemed a bit groggy. I picked him up and put him back in the nest. The parental units didn’t mind. But we always swore we could tell which one was the fledge who fell out. He was the one who always looked a bit cockeyed. He was the jay whose crown feathers seemed to be puffed up and a bit askew, and he’d look at us and tilt his head questioningly.

We affectionately called him “Franken-Jay.” He would show up at our feeders occasionally – and we could always tell it was him by the way he would look at us in that particular way, with his feathers all in disarray.

Beyond Just Jays

We’ve had years when there were entire flocks of cardinals. I have some great photos from ten or so years ago when there would be 15-16 or more fledgling cardinals all hanging out together on the grass and dirt underneath the feeders. I called them my Teenage Mutant Ninja Cardinals because their feathers were so patchy and mottled. They really looked unkempt and discombobulated and, well, teenaged.

Another year we had a bazillion goldfinches. Yet another year there were more house finches than anyone should be permitted to feed at the same time in the wild.

Last year it was wrens. Oh my goodness, the voice and song of the wrens is incredibly distinct and they would just chatter and sing relentlessly. They were a delight.

Photo: Sciencenordic.com

Fish Crow Extravaganza

This year, it’s the fish crows. (And yes, fish crows are distinct from regular crows, which I only discovered this spring.) They are SO AWESOME. We have a family that nested right across the road from our house. (I need to see – I may have written about them previously.)

Sitting out on the porch today for the first time in several days, I was privy to some absolutely delightful fish crow family dynamics. The babies are definitely fledges. Mom and Dad are teaching them all sorts of flight tricks and how to try to navigate the peanut coil that is a big addition to our creature offerings this year.

Oh, do those babies squawk. My photos do not do my guys justice. I’m trying to be as unobtrusive as I can, so I’ve been trying to take photos of them without getting any closer than I am normally. I just sit on the glider where I usually reside and try to capture their raucous behavior.

I’m going to have to try harder tomorrow. I really want to share them with you!

Crows on Cans – Photo: L. Weikel

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