Bird watching geekiness 101

See the cardinal?

It's hard to imagine that we had such extreme cold just a few weeks ago. We've been having 70 degree weather for a week now, so the memories of that cold weather have already started to fade. But I do remember that the toughest challenge for me was making sure our birds had food and fresh water to get through the extremely cold temperatures. I for one cannot imagine having to stay out in that cold longer than 30 minutes, let alone spend all day and night out there.

So by the second day of teen-high weather, I was going out three times a day to switch out frozen water bowls with fresh ones.. And every morning before the first feeding (around 7am) and the last feeding (between 5 and 6), I would not only make sure our bird feeders were full to the brim, but I started leaving seed under and around the feeders, under the holly bushes in the front, along the side of the house and in the back corner of the backyard, all the places near the water. At first I was surprised by how few birds seemed to be coming out to eat. But the third day, I glanced outside and saw about 25 birds of various sizes and colors eating. That's just about the most I've ever seen in our yard, and by the end of the day there were even more. That's when I started to feel like all of my hard work was paying off.

Our "regulars" consist of wrens, chicadees, small woodpeckers, cardinals, and a ton of dove. We also have, on occasion, blue jays, crows and a grackle now and then. All of these were in attendance during that cold snap, along with some stranger birds that I'd never seen before. There was a solid black bird that was the size of a jay, but puffier than a jay or a crow. There was a little bird with a yellow chest and an olive green back the likes of which I've NEVER seen in our yard before and now seems to have disappeared. But the bird that has me staring out the kitchen window to hopefully catch a glimpse of is our woodpecker that has now come back the last two winters. I've written about it before, how elusive he or she is. It doesn't like to hop down the tree to eat from the feeder unless there are no other birds or squirrels around.

I looked up woodpeckers in Gabriel's bird book and determined that it is of the red-bellied variety. Those are 2-3 inches bigger than most woodpeckers. It's at least 9" tall, with beautiful black and white patterned feathers on the back of its head and wings, and red on top of its head. It's a stunning bird, and the picture above doesn't do it justice at all. The Saturday after our week of cold, I looked up during lunch and saw two of them. But the second one must have been one on it's way to somewhere else because I never saw it again. And I haven't seen our regular now since it's become warmer. I just hope it returns again next year.

The reason I went through such efforts is not just because I feel responsibility for any living thing in our yard, but also because bird watching has become one of my favorite things to do. We have another stand-up squirrel-proof bird feeder to put up in the backyard if we could just find the time. I'd like to find just the right spot so I can see it from our bedroom window. During that cold week there were moments when I was about to go crazy being cooped up with two stir crazy kids. I would find myself at the kitchen window, just watching. It must lower my blood pressure just like petting my dog's head. I may even start keeping a little log of the birds we see and hear in our yard. Next thing you know I'll be buying a pair of field glasses and a kazoo for bird calling.

Birds

I am intervening from trying to catch up with family events to tell about two really cool bird sightings.

The first is that we have a really big red-headed woodpecker that occasionally graces us with its presence and eats from our hanging feeder in the backyard. It is one of the prettiest birds I've ever seen, and I believe that it visits us every time around this year. I'm not sure if they migrate or not, but I'm thinking they do. I can't quite get the camera out quick enough to catch it for a picture, but I will keep trying.

The other thing happened last night. The kids and I finished eating and since it was almost dark decided to go out to turn on our Halloween lights for the evening. (Jav was working late so he missed this). We always turn on Gus, our scariest of scary guys, for Gabriel to enjoy a few times before heading back inside. I was trying to convince him to come in when we heard this strange sound from the trees in our neighbors yard across the street. I was convinced it was a kitten yowling, and we walked over to try to see exactly where the noise was coming from. But it was really hard to tell because the sound was so high. I was saying, "Kitty kitty kitty" and making my cat call noise, but it just kept making the sound. We noticed that our neighbor Helen had walked out and strolled over to talk to her. She said that whatever it is, it's not a cat, because she hears it many evenings and from different trees all around her house. I realized it was just dusk, and it hit me that it was a screech owl. I had heard them from farther away when I lived in the country, and I knew there were some around here. But this was the first time I had heard one up close and personal, and was amazed that it didn't fly away even though we were standing right under it. The reason the sound was so hard to pin down was because it had been changing trees. Gabriel wanted to go in and get a flashlight, but I explained that these owls liked to be really high up and weren't very big, so there was little chance we could see them. I think we will try to go out again at the same time when Jav is home and try to hear it again.

Little ecosystems

I'm a true believer in the power of ecosystems. If you don't meddle very much with nature, things happen as they are supposed to.

I can't believe people buy the Ortho, Round Up or Scotts this and that, and thereby believe in the theory that if you kill absolutely every living thing in your yard then you will be happier and it will be a better place. I'm actually surprised that these products are still allowed to be sold because of what ends up getting in the groundwater.

We never put pesticides or weed killers in our yard, and have used only organic fertilizer since we moved into this house. We stopped getting rid of wasp nests with bug spray. As a result, we have a thriving population of "good" creatures that keep the "bad" creatures under control. We have geckos the size of small gators. I have seen possibly three cockroaches around our house since we moved in 5-1/2 years ago. We have the geckos to thank for that.

Twice now, I have caught little lizards drinking from our shallow water dishes. That's why I think it's alright to meddle a little bit with nature, and help them out with some water during the dry times. I also see bees, wasps, and other bugs taking drinks, and we all know how important these little guys can be in the big pollination picture now.

And of course, we have a thriving bird population. I think waking up to the short little "chirps" of our cardinal couples is the nicest alarm clock you could have. I always get panicky when we have long, hot, dry spells like the one we're in. I worry about things I have no control over, like the ducks in our shrinking duck pond I mentioned in an earlier post. Then I realize that all I can do it make sure our little ecosystem around our house is well taken care of. And it appears to be thriving.

Birds

I didn't pay much attention to birds before I lived in the rent house. Before that they were just creatures who made too much noise some mornings and woke me up. My appreciation for them started growing when I realized just how many different types lived around me. I hung up a feeder in the front yard and would catch myself staring at it for long periods of time. Then my walks with the dogs around the neighborhood heightened my interest, because I started listening to their calls. By the end of my time at the rent house, I could distinguish cardinals, blue jays, woodpeckers, grackles, crows, and hawks. I loved hearing the sound of the whippoorwill during the night, and would occasionally get to hear an owl. The screech owls had a really neat call, sounding like little horses.

I now find them all fascinating. So much so that I could even find myself as a true birdwatcher, binoculars in hand and field journal in backpack. I constantly listen when I'm out in the yard and would love to learn more calls. There is a bird that migrates here every summer that has such a crazy call. It's really loud and seems to silence other birds, like when hawks cry out, but it's not like any hawk call I've ever heard. I know he's big, but he always flies over really high and likes to sit in the tops of trees so I haven't been able to get a really good look at him. He's really good at staying camouflaged. I heard him for the first time this morning, and smiled to know that he is back again this year. I'm determined to figure out what kind of bird he is.

My grandfather always had bird books so that they could look them up if they saw a new one, or if one just happened to come up in conversation. My parents continued the tradition and have a really big National Geographic bird book on their shelf. One day Gabriel was rummaging around for something to do, and tried to pull that heavy book off the shelf my himself. We helped him get it down, thinking he would want to give it right back once he saw that it was just a bunch of bird pictures. He sat on the floor and looked through the whole thing, asking questions all along. This impressed my mother so much that she gave him a smaller version of the book to take home.

He looks through it often, and has his favorite pages. He loves the page with the condor and vultures for some reason. He loves seeing anything with bright colors, and has always loved cardinals. But the neatest thing about it is that he will run to it to look one up if we see a new one in the yard. I told Jav during dinner one night that I saw a ruby-throated hummingbird drinking from our feeder, and Gabriel forgot he was eating dinner and hopped up to run and get his book. I love this, that he is such a curious child and wants to know more. I guess it just runs in the family.

Scary

I think of all the things that frighten me about the effects of global warming, nothing sends a chill up my spine like reading about the disappearance of bees.  They are such an important part of our food chain, and scientists seem a bit baffled at why they are disappearing at such an alarming rate.  I know that even in our own little backyard ecosystem (which I try to keep as natural and pesticide free as possible), by this time of year we usually have at least 4 or 5 large wasp nests.  This year, there's not one.  They started out building them in the spring, and now, nothing.  

I seriously think we should heavily fine the pesticide companies, who in my opinion have tried to brainwash the public into thinking that all insects are bad and should be nuked off the face of the earth.  Maybe the money could go towards trying to reinstate colonies (with the understanding that they would be safe from future pesticide attacks), or at least towards more research into the problem.  Since they were part of what caused it.

Blowing in the wind

What's the deal with the wind this year? I feel like I'm living on the beach, but without the added benefit of having the ocean within walking distance. It seems like I'm picking up small tree branches from the yard every other day. We have two wind chimes on our back porch, which I like the sound of very much. UNLESS it's blowing a gale force wind, and then they drive me crazy. They have spent more time laying on the patio table then hanging from their posts this year.

I used to have really bad anxiety attacks when it was really windy. I think it's because I have a very ingrained fear of fire, and because wind spreads fire, I also fear wind. When I was little we were driving to visit my grandfather in the hospital once, which was a little traumatic in itself. But we had been seeing this huge plume of smoke for miles while we were driving. Eventually we came to the source. A small house was completely enveloped in flames. That, coupled with the fact that the forest fire in Bambi completely freaked me out as a kid has led to this worry. When I used to get the panic attacks really bad, I was always driving somewhere or traveling sort of far away from my house, so I would worry that my house was on fire (with pets inside) while I was gone.

I still get them occasionally. These days, it's not just the wind that causes the anxiety attacks, it's all the stuff I worry about culminating into one big panic. Mostly environmental fears - running out of water one day, the temperature going up so high that no one can venture outside, overpopulation getting so bad that we have no wild animals left anywhere in the world. You know, little stuff like that. (hah). Stuff I have pretty much no control over at all. Hence the panic. Life can be tough sometimes when you are a control freak.

PrairieFest

We had a wonderful early evening at the 3rd Annual Prairie Fest Saturday night. It went on all day, but we didn't get there until 5:30 or so. We (includes me, Jav, Aunt Sandie and Gabriel) wanted to hear Brave Combo play from 6 to 7:30. I wish we'd have gone a little earlier, though, because we didn't have time to walk all the booths before they started closing down for the day. There were lots of environmentally friendly businesses, organic gardening booths, artists, food and local brewed beer. Very cool. Me being the Earth Mama that I am, I felt very much in my element. They were conducting tours of the grassland prairie up until dark. We hiked a short distance (it probably seemed long to Gabriel's stubby legs), and saw some beautiful wildflowers and some fantastic views of Fort Worth. And OF COURSE we forgot to bring a camera. It might have been the prettiest weather we'll see all year - and was definitely perfect for polka-ing, which Gabriel and I did several times. We saw people from church, people from our neighborhood, and lots of people dancing like fools. FUN, FUN, and more FUN!!! We will definitely go back next year.

A low in the 50's

My thermometer said 59 this morning. Finally, a break from this Fall heat wave! I actually turned off the A/C and had the windows open all day, although it's pretty stuffy now.

The oak tree leaves are falling off much earlier than in years past. I read in Neil Sperry's column it's because of the severe drought for a few years, then a very rainy spring and summer. It's just wrong to have to rake leaves when it's above 80 degrees!

We've been watching the squirrels alot lately. They started out digging up pecans and eating them. Now they are burying new ones. They've gotten very bold about coming down from the trees into our yard, sometimes right in front of Molly. She usually ignores them, although once she immediately dug up the pecan that the squirrel had so carefully buried and ate it. Gabriel notices them all the time running across the electrical wires and moving around the tree branches.

All of a sudden, there are no cardinals in our yard. I did a tiny amount of research to try and find out if they migrate, and so far all of the sites say they are non-migratory. When I did the post a while back about seeing the hawks in our neighborhood and how neat they were, I should have done an addendum post. One of the neighborhood gentlemen who also walks in the mornings told me soon after I did the post that he can't stand having them in our area because they've taken to eating the cardinals and blue jays. These are the birds that stand out to them in daylight. I was pretty upset, and still am not really sure who to root for. After all, the hawks have to eat too. But they better not have come after the cardinals around our yard!

I want to fly like an eagle

It's sometimes hard for me to find the energy to take the dogs for a walk every morning. But we see some of the neatest things that early.

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed sometimes one and sometimes two hawks in an area of our neighborhood. I seemed to always see them in the same spot, right around a very tall but dead tree. Then last week while walking Stanley (a couple of streets from the originial hawks), I heard the strangest bird call. It just sounded so different compared to the neighborhood birds I'm used to hearing. I kept thinking about it until we got home, and it hit me that it might have been a hawk. The next day, we saw it. A lone hawk was sitting in, once again, a very tall dead tree, and it was making the call over and over. Maybe that one has a mate too, but we haven't seen it yet.

Now that I know what to listen for, I'm hoping to spot them even more often now. This morning we saw all three, and one even swooped down towards us. I'm thinking of taking the camera one morning, although I think they are too high up to get a decent shot. I remembered that raptors hunt with their vision only, so they like those trees because it gives them such a good vantage point.

I start wondering all kinds of things as I watch them either soaring overhead or checking us out as we walk by. What do think of us? Are they nervous because of the dogs? Is the solo one calling out to find a mate, or for some other reason? Do the people in those houses even know that they have something so cool living in or around their yards? Did that one swoop down to scare us, or because he or she looked at Gabriel as a giant baby possum? (I'd like to see one try to get a beak around his chubby arm.) All I know is I love watching them. That's why I find the energy for our walks, because I forget about the day's schedule and any problems or woes and just take in the moment.

Bugs are cool

I love to walk my dogs. It's something I really missed doing when I got so big and pregnant and it was 115 outside. I started walking them again two weeks after Gabriel was born, but it wasn't as enjoyable as before, mainly because it felt like my bladder was going to fall out and I was afraid I would trip over it and hurt myself. But all of that's better now, and I'm starting to focus on nature again, which I believe is really what makes taking walks enjoyable. I try to listen to the birds singing and take note of everyone's yard to see any good landscaping ideas. I try not to think about things I need to do at home, or something cute Gabriel did the night before. The here and now is what it's all about.

I was walking Stanley yesterday, and noticed all of these little brownish moths. They were everywhere, and I don't remember seeing them before. I wondered if all moths and butterflies migrate like Monarchs. Then I noticed that the moths look just like falling leaves, and realized that's why they are out this time of year. Nature is really amazing if you just pay attention.

Magical

I saw two different hummingbirds today in our yard. A very dark colored one in the front yard sipping from a penta, and a lighter one in the back yard flitting around our smaller crepe myrtle. It made me wonder if the people who lived here before us had a feeder, or at least more flowering plants planted in the backyard. So I felt guilty and found the very cheap hummingbird feeder that I bought a few years back but never did anything with, made the homemade nectar, and now it's hanging from the back patio. Hopefully the little guy will come back and try again.

Nature in motion

We went to the Japanese Gardens over Fourth of July weekend. My grandparents used to take my brother and I when we were young, and now I like to go there about once a year. It's very peaceful and beautiful, but the best part of our visit was The Bird. We've been trying to figure out what kind of bird he was since this happened. We were sitting in one of the many gazebos, feeding the koi and turtles, and all of sudden this bird flew up and landed on a branch above the water, about three feet away from us. He was grayish blue and pretty big, as big as some of those big ole crows that we get, and he had a really long skinny feather going from the back of his neck down his back, mullet style. Jav wondered if he was native to our area, and we both decided he probably wasn't. Then we wondered if he was brought in on purpose, or if he was migrating and discovered a Garden of Eden and decided to stay a while. He remained very, very still for a LONG time. We thought he wanted some of our fish food. But he had no interest and just kept sitting really still and watching us. All of a sudden, he dove in and came up with a fish! He swallowed it in about three or four big gulps, then fluffed out his feathers on the back of his neck, and flew away. We were awestruck, and feeling a little humbled that we didn't figure out that he wanted was not our fishfood, but what we were feeding with our fishfood. I know he must've been sitting there thinking, "and they call me a birdbrain!"

My creative outlet

I have discovered a deep love for gardening. I don't care how hot, cold, windy, or even sometimes rainy it is, I love to be outside tinkering in my yard. I'm constantly surveying it to figure out what I want to do next.

Of course, when you discover you love something, you start wishing you could do it every day instead of just here and there on the weekends or weeknights. So a year or so ago, I investigated a few plant-oriented career options. Without much luck, though. I thought about a horticulture degree, but the nearest college to offer one would take 1-1/2 to 2 hours to get to one-way. Not an option! I figure working at a nursery would probably take me down more than a few notches in pay, so that's out. My boss and I joked that we should open our own nursery and call it "Two Burned-Out Accountants". We figured the name alone would peak customer's curiosity to get them in the door, and our sparkling personalities would take care of the rest. But it was really just daydreaming talk.

Since none of these options will pan out, it looks like I'm stuck with the goal of making "Yard of the Month" in our neighborhood. We get a picture in the monthly newsletter and a nice description. I'm partially there - I think we have the prettiest border in the whole East Side of Fort Worth.

I think the best therapy in the world is digging in the earth and planting things. Here's a quote I found in an old gardening book while staying in a really neat B&B in Fredericksburg:

All my hurts
My garden spade can heal. A woodland walk
A quest of river grapes, a mocking thrush,
a wild rose or rock-loving columbine,
Salve my worst wounds.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Early Bird

I feed all of our pets at 5:30 am every morning. Even on the weekends. Normally I can go back to sleep for at least an hour on Saturdays, and maybe two hours on Sunday. I couldn't sleep this morning, though, so instead of laying there tossing and turning, I got up. I glanced out the window and noticed the sky was a funny color, and I remembered the old saying "Red sky at morning, sailors take warning. Red sky at night, sailors delight." Thinking I might see signs of some desperately needed rain, I stepped out on the back deck. There was a beautiful rainbow bejeweling the morning sky. I could see both ends, but the arch was in clouds. Why do rainbows make me feel like a little kid again? They just make me so happy. I debated waking up Jav, but thought better of it and grabbed my camera instead. I realized that I love being up early. I love hearing the screech owls as they finish up their night. I love the moment when the doves start cooing as the first light breaks across the sky. It's the quietest time of the day, and I'm finding that's something I crave more and more these days.

This little light o'mine

Is anyone out there lucky enough to have fireflies in their yard? What wondrous little creatures! I get just as excited seeing one as I did when I was 5 years old. Maybe that's part of their appeal-they make you feel like a kid again. Added to the fact that you can only see them in early summer, and only during dusk, and I guess that makes them pretty special. Dusk has always been my favorite time of the day. In Texas, this means the quiet time between the locusts singing during the day and the katydids starting up at night. Before I lived in the "country", I never paid much attention to any of these things. I think I just had the mentality of "Eeeeeeuuuuuuwwwwww - bugs!" But now, they are as much a part of my summer as sprinklers and suntan oil. I love that my husband has become transformed and appreciates nature now in the same stages I went through. We are slowly starting our house hunt, and my main criteria is a big yard. I guess I'm hoping to hang onto some of the magic of this wilderness that surrounds us. In the meantime, you'll find me on the porch, sipping on a beer, watching the sun go down, and hoping to see that little spark of summer.

The call of the sea

We witnessed a strange event while we were on our beach trip. One afternoon we decided to take a break from our very strenuous lounging and walk along the shoreline. We happened to notice that some of the gulls had stopped milling about groups of people searching for food, and were lined up along the shoreline, staring out to sea. On our way back, there were at least 30 gulls, all staring very intently out at the sea.

I asked Jav, "I wonder what they are hearing?" He pretended to all of sudden hear it too, and snapped around to face the sea with a very longing look on his face. This cracked me up, and we went onto talk about something else. But it stayed on my mind. What were they doing? I thought some ancient memory was causing them to remember generation after generation of gulls. Ancestors struggling to survive with the angry churning backdrop of the sea spurning their instincts.

The actual reason was not nearly as romantic as all of my musings. It wasn't what they were hearing, but what they saw. When we got back to the condo, we went out on the balcony to hang out our beach towels, and Jav spotted what the gulls had been looking at. The biggest patch of seaweed you've ever seen was slowly getting closer to the shore. It was just this huge brown patch in the middle of all the blue. And sure enough, the next morning the beach was covered with seaweed. The gulls hung around the edge of the water for the next day, as we watched the seaweed slowly roll back into the water, then roll back onto the shore. Each time, gathering small fish and who knows what for the gulls to feast on. A smorgasboard of the highest order, at least to gulls.

I guess I'd probably go catatonic, too, if I saw my dinner for the next few weeks floating towards me.

Harbingers of spring

Every spring since I've lived in this house, I have been lucky enough to hear whippoorwills at night. There has been so much development around here that I was worried they would not be back this year. But tonight I heard one. It has to be one of the most peaceful sounds on earth. I love sleeping with the windows open and falling asleep to the lullaby of their calls. Because hopefully, a mate will begin answering from another tree. And I hope that each year, they are making little baby whippoorwills. And I hope that maybe one day if I am truly blessed and lucky, I will get to hear the sound in a different house, and the lullaby will put me to sleep again.

http://www.centurytel.net/hummingbird/whipporwillsound.wav