Watching The Birds

[Stosh]

hehe...cardinals have this high pitched "cheep!" for the most part, but I havent ever noticed much in their patterns

 

blue jays, however....so long as they dont know you're listening, of course, they have a "flip the bird" squawk when they discover you're listening.  aside from that, perhaps the most rich and nuanced bird language I've encountered.

If you find some Starlings , they also have a big vocabulary, not as loud as they jays with the monkeylike and hawk noises though, more Clicks n gurgles . We had a lot of both around when I was a kid in Brooklyn. 

[manitou]

Aaaah.  The chimney swifts are back.  I do believe, if I have a favorite bird, this is it.

 

Their aerial displays of constant twittering back and forth up high in the sky at dusk and dawn bring joy to my heart.  Now, some will accuse me of anthropomorphizing  on this, but I prefer to believe that they are not twittering about where the herds of insects are.  Or is it prides?  Instead, I prefer to think that they are communicating things like 'Hey!  Come check out this updraft!  It's a really cool ride'

 

They fly like the most joyful of birds.  They fly with what appears to be the balls-out joy of just flying.  Their twittering is easy to miss, the aerial display is easy to miss, unless one's ears are attuned to waiting for them.  They fly so high.

 

Please.  No one tell me that they're just out catching food in their wild little flutterings and their erratic flight patterns.  Don't tell me they're not just joyfully swooping around on the wind currents, just for the sheer joy of it.

 

Don't be a killdeer.

Edited June 1, 2016 by manitou

[cold]

Killdeer have been known to nest on my farm. Laying their eggs in gravel to camouflage them. Once hatched the parent guarding the nest will feign an injury running in circles to draw attention away from the hatchlings. Before too long the youngsters follow their parents antics running in circles, faking a broken wing. It's quite a show while it lasts.

[joeblast]

heh, the youngens.  little robin hits the cadence, but none of the song

[Marblehead]

I guess he's chirping to his own lyrics.

[Marblehead]

While looking out the window this afternoon (yes, looking out - too hot to actually be out there) I saw my little, about three feet long, black snake slithering across the driveway to get into another hiding place.

[manitou]

While looking out the window this afternoon (yes, looking out - too hot to actually be out there) I saw my little, about three feet long, black snake slithering across the driveway to get into another hiding place.

 

 

 

I saw a sweet little black snake sunning himself on the trail (the avatar trail) yesterday, first one I've seen this year.  luckily the dogs didn't notice it.  I got to pet him once before he skedaddled off.

[manitou]

Had a sad birdie experience yesterday.

 

Driving home, I noticed a bird standing on the other side of the roadway, in the road, staring down at another bird.  I felt a pang  in my heart, realizing that this was probably his mate he was looking at.  I turned the car around at the first opportunity and went back, thinking, hoping, that maybe she was just stunned, and I could take it out of harm's way so it could recover.  When I got there, I saw it was a cedar waxwing, and there was another waxwing in close proximity, mutilated.  apparently a little flock of them had gotten hit by a car.

 

The little waxwing was gasping for breath.  I picked her up and placed her to the side of the road; she tried to move around a bit, but the effort was too much and she died.  I placed both dead birdies together and covered them with some freshly cut grass.

 

But seeing the living waxwing standing there, waiting for his mate to get up, caused some very deep tears to come out of me.  Hopefully he will find another.

Edited June 15, 2016 by manitou

[Kar3n]

I was so excited to see a pair of love birds in the palms this morning I might have squealed like a little girl and scared them off. They were fairly young. I do hope they return.

[manitou]

I was so excited to see a pair of love birds in the palms this morning I might have squealed like a little girl and scared them off. They were fairly young. I do hope they return.

 

 

 

 

I'm sure they'll be back to see what all the squealing was about 

 

Do you think they've most likely escaped a cage, or are they something you would normally see where you are?

[Kar3n]

I'm sure they'll be back to see what all the squealing was about 

 

Do you think they've most likely escaped a cage, or are they something you would normally see where you are?

 

They are wild here. I see them, many of them together, at the park just up the street from my house hanging out in the olive trees.

[Stosh]

The rosy-faced lovebird (Agapornis roseicollis), also known as the rosy-collared or peach-faced lovebird, is a species of lovebird native to arid regions in southwestern Africa such as the Namib Desert. 

[manitou]

From Stosh's link on Wikipedia:

 

"A lovebird is one of nine species of the genus Agapornis (Greek: αγάπη agape 'love'; όρνις ornis 'bird'). They are a social and affectionate small parrot. Eight species are native to the African continent, and the grey-headed lovebird is native to Madagascar. Their name comes from the parrots' strong, monogamous pair bonding and the long periods which paired birds spend sitting together."

 

 

How wonderful that Agapornis comes from the Greek 'agape' word for love!  The fact that they spend so much time sitting together and the strong, monogamous pair bonding surely attests to the unconditional love agape part of it, lol.  Although I do wonder about the 'pornis' aspect of the Greek word and how that affects their relationship....

[Kar3n]

We had a pair as pets when I was a kind. One of them was the sweetest bird, the other, mean, mean, mean. She would bite her mate, the dogs, us. They lived to be about 12, they died within days of each other.

[joeblast]

lol....my brother had a pair of lovebirds, and the female pecked the male to death

[Marblehead]

lol....my brother had a pair of lovebirds, and the female pecked the male to death

 

See what love can do to you?

[manitou]

See what love can do to you?

 

 

What a surprise for you to say that.

 

Hit me again, Ike, and this time put some stank on it.

Edited June 15, 2016 by manitou

[Marblehead]

What a surprise for you to say that.

 

It just seemed like the natural thing to say.

[Junko]

Swallow came back in the sky...busy making their nest in the morning. Greeting to me and my dog outside at 8 o'clock in the evening.....

[manitou]

Every evening around dusk, when the chimney swifts are doing their arial display and chirping madly, I've gotten into the habit of going into the sunroom, opening a window so I can hear them, and playing my keyboard.

 

I've noticed that there has been a pair of robins that are always in close proximity.  One will be concentrating on the grass, seeing what's shaking.  the other one, I've noticed, has come closer and closer to my window and doesn't seem to be worming around at all.  He seems to be just standing motionless and looking toward my window.  I never thought too much of it, just barely noticed it.

 

Tonight he got up on the top of the cyclone fence, about 12 feet from my open window, and it was real obvious that he's been staring in at me.  Honestly, I think he's listening to the music!  Could this possibly be?

Edited June 18, 2016 by manitou

[Marblehead]

 Honestly, I think he's listening to the music!  Could this possibly be?

 

I have no reason to think it wouldn't be.

[manitou]

I just figured it out.  I always start out with an oldie....Bird is the Word.  (If you remember that lovely, soft little ditty)

Edited June 18, 2016 by manitou

[Marblehead]

I just figured it out.  I always start out with an oldie....Bird is the Word.  (If you remember that lovely, soft little ditty)

 

Nope, don't remember that one.  I do recall "Rockin' Robin" though.

 

Well sure, if you play a song for a bird most birds would listen.

[manitou]

I would have thought you would remember that one.  If you don't, nobody will, lol.

 

(If I knew how to insert a song from Youtube here, I would).

 

'Well well well well well well well

Every knows, about the bird,

the bird, bird, the bird is the word.

 

Well well well don't you know about the bird?

Well well well Everybody knows that the bird is the word

Well well the bird, the bird, the bird is the word.

 

 

It's actually quite lovely if I include a bit of synthesized tuba with the piano....

[Marblehead]

I guess I had actually tried to forget that one.

 

 

 

 

Here's Rockin' Robin: