Watching The Birds

[Marblehead]

 

 

I just had to include the trumpet flower in the pix.

 

[voidisyinyang]

I think I heard the hummingbird cruise overhead today -- by the feeder. So it is promising.

 

Can feel a deer tick crawling up me now.

 

I got Lyme's Disease a couple summers ago. Not fun.

 

Deer ate one of my pea sprout beds. haha.

 

I was thinking maybe they didn't like pea sprouts since they could have free access but they were too busy busting out fawns.

 

O.K. so am reinforcing deer fence.

 

Gotta plant the potatoes as they are almost blooming in the bag.

 

We had rain everyday all week so amazed the Hummingbird stuck around and survived -- cold rain down to 50 at night.

[Marblehead]

I have no deer down here to worry about. There are possum and raccoon but I rarely see them as they are nocternal.

 

And yes, I consider the pigeons as pests. I have no idea what to do about them though. The only way I can keep food from them and cause them to stay away is to not feed the wild birds. But then, the wild birds wouldn't come around either.

 

I'm trying to remember correctly something I heard a couple weeks ago on a nature program about hummingbirds - something like they go into a semi-dormant state at night and when it gets cold in order to conserve energy. Their heart rate slows way down.

[zerostao]

"I think I heard the hummingbird cruise overhead today -- by the feeder. So it is promising."

very sensitive hearing you have!

"I got Lyme's Disease a couple summers ago"

that tends to stick around a long time and gets worse

was nance able to help you with that?

i am out in the woods alot, really alot,i hike alot, camp alot, and i cannot remember the last time a tick bit me.

of course i do qigong

birds eat ticks! go birds

[voidisyinyang]

"I think I heard the hummingbird cruise overhead today -- by the feeder. So it is promising."

very sensitive hearing you have!

"I got Lyme's Disease a couple summers ago"

that tends to stick around a long time and gets worse

was nance able to help you with that?

i am out in the woods alot, really alot,i hike alot, camp alot, and i cannot remember the last time a tick bit me.

of course i do qigong

birds eat ticks! go birds

 

 

Yeah Turkeys eat TONS of ticks and we have a flock of wild -- well released wild turkeys that come by -- anyway too many deer though. I read that actually it's lack of predators of mice that has caused the surge of ticks - they pass from the mice to the deer.

 

Ecology is always fun that way!!

 

Yeah I did not get any qigong master healing but I did get antibiotics since I diagnosed myself right away when I got the symptoms.

 

It was hilarious - I call up the doctors office and I tell the female receptionist - Yeah I have Lyme's Disease. She gave the snotty response - "oh well let the doctor decide that." But I KNEW I had it. haha. So then the doctor goes - "This is really impressive!" He said I had all the "classic" symptoms.

 

And the symptoms were severe - like a flu that was like death - but the antibiotics did the trick along with lots of qigong. Oh I was weak for a few weeks though -- just getting by. I kept telling people - you do NOT WANT LYME's disease!! Like people didn't realize I had a brush with death.

 

What happened is that we ran out of electric power from a summer storm and so I did not take a shower -- and so if you shower within 24 hrs you can wash the ticks off before the disease is passed into you.

 

So anyway that's why I got it - I not only knew WHY I got it but when I got it. haha.

 

I told the doctor all my symptoms that fit the disease and so he just did a clinical diagnosis and got me on antibiotics.

 

I would have just done strong garlic as my antibiotic but my dad hated garlic and so..... besides might as well not "experiment" with my life. haha.

 

But still garlic wipes out the flu virus - full symptoms - I just needed to take three full bulbs of organic garlic.

 

Anyway.... yeah so if I missed the symptoms that would be strange and I'm surprised I did not get it last summer as I had ticks on me all the time.

 

I found two deer ticks on me today and one yesterday or the day before -- plus probably six field ticks.

 

Yeah I wondered if I got immunity since I didn't get it last summer but you're not supposed to get immunity.

 

But yeah careful showering seems to work - I got this new showerhead that just has this jet blast that is painful. So should be good to get ticks off. Probably would just rip their bodies in half. haha.

 

I suppose if the head was left in that could still transmit the virus. Anyway so maybe I will need the qigong master healing for Lymes down the road but hopefully not.

 

yeah it gets down to FREEZING tonight - I can not believe it!!

 

I have some new parsley seedlings and -- anyway that's Minnesota for you.

 

Oh Yeah I SAW the Hummingbird leaving the feeder -- so hopefully it will survive the freezing weather since it has a steady sugar supply.

 

You know how Chickadees live in Minnesota all year round? The need 200 seeds a day to survive the night and they burn off all the fat by shivering to increase the body temperature.

Edited May 24, 2013 by pythagoreanfulllotus

[voidisyinyang]

Yep just found another deer tick crawling up my leg - post shower. Well at least it wasn't sucking on me yet.

[voidisyinyang]

We've had the Indigo Bunting feeding on the ground below the feeder, the Scarlet Tanager at the grape jelly, the Orioles at the grape jelly. All beautiful tropic birds....

 

http://whyy.org/cms/radiotimes/2013/02/05/cats-and-their-impact-on-wildlife/

 

Stanley Temple - he was my professor at UW-Madison for my Ornithology class..... being interviewed on the new killer cat study.

 

I got a response from the local naturalist - he just said it's almost impossible to talk to these cat owners.

 

So then I find out Stanley Temple has gotten death threats about WI considering a new cat hunting law of feral cats. Temple took no position on the law but he got death threats.

 

Crazy psycho cat owners.

 

Amazing how the tropical songbirds get blamed - blaming the victim by the fascists!!

 

 

colleagues radio-collared free-ranging rural cats, watched the animals’ hunting behavior, and examined their stomach contents. (An inflammatory and inaccurate press report that implied that the researchers had killed the cats for the stomach contents—in fact, they used an emetic—led to death threats against Temple.)¹,² The study showed that each cat killed an average of 5.6 birds a year. With an estimated 1.4 million free-ranging rural cats just in Wisconsin, that’s nearly 8 million birds. Moreover, these numbers are virtually certain to be underestimates because the researchers didn’t count kills not directly observed. Plus, many more birds were probably killed than were eaten and thus were not detectable in the stomach contents: cats are hard-wired predators that hunt even when well fed.

 

http://www.conservationmagazine.org/2012/03/cat-fight/

 

 

“We keep thinking that if we can just pile the evidence up higher, we can convince people. But it doesn’t work.” Instead, the hard lesson from these great societal debates is that they are contested on a battleground of conflicting emotions, moral values, and ideologies. Facts alone rarely break up the fight. ❧

Edited May 28, 2013 by pythagoreanfulllotus

[Marblehead]

We've had the Indigo Bunting feeding on the ground below the feeder, the Scarlet Tanager at the grape jelly, the Orioles at the grape jelly. All beautiful tropic birds....

It just so happens that I did get a few bird pictures this morning. I haven't downloaded them to the computer yet so I'm not sure what I will be able to offer. (I didn't get the one I wanted the most though. Maybe next time.)

[Marblehead]

Okay, they are ready. The first one: A Brown-headed Cowbird:

 

 

 

I still need to learn more about the focus on this camera.

Edited May 28, 2013 by Marblehead

[Marblehead]

And his girlfriend:

 

 

 

 

[Marblehead]

And a Morning Dove. (In Bluegrass music it is often referred to as a Mourning Dove.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Apech]

Great pics! Maybe I can get some of our birds. I am more than slightly disgusted by the fact that the villagers here trap and eat little birds. They do the same in France. Its traditional apparently ... yuk!

[Marblehead]

Great pics! Maybe I can get some of our birds. I am more than slightly disgusted by the fact that the villagers here trap and eat little birds. They do the same in France. Its traditional apparently ... yuk!

Yeah, it would be nice if you could get some pictures of them before the villagers eat them all.

 

And yes, I think this is tradition in many parts of the world. Darned meat-eaters!!!

[Marblehead]

 

 

A couple days ago I was very fortunate in that I was taking a break and this guy, Bluejay, stopped by for a bite to eat. I was furthermore fortunate because he very rarely eats from the feeder where I have my camera pointed, but on the ground.

 

[Marblehead]

 

 

And then this guy came along and I decided to pix him/her.

 

[Marblehead]

 

 

This morning I lucked out and got a pix of what I am calling a Scarlet Rosefinch. Both the guy and the gal. They are almost always together.

 

Can't be Cardinal because it is the wrong shade of red and the beak is all wrong. Plus, they would have gotten larger since I first saw them if they were juvinile Cardinals but they have remained the same size, and the gal hasn't taken on any red which she would have by now if she were a Cardinal.

 

[Marblehead]

 

 

I tried to zoom in on him and this is what I got. Bad, bad, bad. Oh well, I tried.

 

[Marblehead]

Another possibility for my Scarlet Rosefinch is that it is really a House Finch. This is more likely because its range is almost all of continental US.

[zerostao]

birds are amazing, when i see a mockingbird chase away a robin, or a bluejay slowly flutter as it passes 3 feet in front of me.

or crows, sparrows, wrens, warbler, all the various ducks and geese here, when i am out in the woods and a grouse runs right up to me, well i can understand how a hungry pioneer got by sometimes lol and so many turkey, all the hawks and i have seen so many hawks this year. sand pipers, kites, plenty of gulls here too, even if i wonder how come they aint down on some florida beach? chick-a-dee, alot of bluebirds this year. those towhee, thrashers, hearing the morning doves and a whipporwill, and on and on, so many different birds and most of them will let you get close and personable with them. then on campus here there are peregrine falcon and i worry a lil about the other birds. still it is incredible to watch it in flight. i saw some huge off white bird last weekend way out in some rough wilderness. it was twilight and i dont think it was a crane, but it was that size. it was kinda freaky. MH, i am sure you are enjoying your birds very much. the photos are cool and you are kinda inspiring me to get a camera and capturing some bird images here.

[Marblehead]

MH, i am sure you are enjoying your birds very much. the photos are cool and you are kinda inspiring me to get a camera and capturing some bird images here.

Yes, I am. Great idea I had to turn my recliner around to face out the window. When I'm just relaxing I can get into that chair and watch nature do its thing.

 

I have hawks here but the greyjays chase them out of the area whenever they see one.

 

I am a little disappointed though that I have had only a very few butterflies this year so far. And my Lantana is doing great so there is plenty of food for them. Maybe they will show up later in the summer.

 

It's nice that I may be inspiring you to get a comera and take pix of Nature's wildlife. The one I just bought is a good one (fairly expensive) but I haven't learned all the tricks about it yet. I have a work project ongoing at the pond area so the time for serious learning is limited right now. I will have more time when I finish that project because I have no other big projects on my list.

[Marblehead]

So, anyhow, Yesterday late afternoon I had time to sit and watch the birds while the fish were eating. I took some pictures of birds I hadn't taken yet so those will be coming soon.

 

However, I did see a bird I hadn't seen here before and I haven't yet tried to identify it. It was grey on the top side and white on the botton side with yellow either on its sides or the underwings. It was in and out so fast I had no time to get a picture of it. Its size is about half way between a sparrow and a mature Cardinal. I hope it come back so I can picture it.

[Marblehead]

I did my search for my UFB (Unidentified Flying Bird) and for now it will be called a Tufted Titmouse. Its range includes where I am so it is a possibility.

[zerostao]

i have seen those titmouse. they are cool too.

here the early morning crows were up to mischief again.

back at my house i also enjoy the kingfisher and the crane.

not sure whats up here becoz i have had very close encounters

with bluejays, they are going out of their way to get my attention.

[Marblehead]

Perhaps you are just paying more attention to them now where it might be that it has been going on all along but you didn't notice?

 

Yeah, crows are pretty smart birds and I'm sure they do things just for the fun of it.

[Marblehead]

Question: Why is it some birds walk like T-Rex and others hop like kangaroos? (No, I don't know.)