Five minutes of observation from an observant observationist*

*I totally stole that line from a favorite blog.

I backed up the driveway today, and opened the door to unload the groceries.
In front of me was a tableau of bird behavior that was fascinating...not just because it was happening, but because I could recognize the players.
We have Pink Spot, who is a male Northern Cardinal who I've watched for two years.  He has a small leucistic spot on his right wing that makes him distinctive.  We also have Orange, who is a newcomer here, and low and behold, he's orange.
PINK:


"The ladies dig this freaky little spot I got.  Chicka chicka wow wow....."

And ORANGE:


"I'm horny and no one likes me because I'm different."

So there was a bit of male fluffery going on.  In between these two very different males, there was a female.
A normal female cardinal who had a choice to make.  Or maybe she didn't.  The reddest fellow seemed to have the upper hand.  I will be very interested to see if Orange gets a mate this year.  He is NOT a typical, bright red, healthy-looking cardinal, and with many bird species, that matters if you are going to get any nookie.

Orange got close to her....



...but after a few swipes from Pink, Orange had to back off.


And Orange was gradually scooted off the driveway.



...and up into the mulberry tree, where his very posture showed how much he really wanted that female:


Meanwhile, a lone turkey vulture zoomed down so low I could hear the creak if its wings:



The Lord God Almighty Mockingbird even pushed Orange around and then sat on the cheery tree and glared at me:



Oh.  And then a stray dog showed up.

A cute little chi-chi mix, who was confident enough to eat the food I put out, but was too skittish to let me look at his collar.


Hooper was watching the whole affair and starting yodeling at the top of his lungs:


Eventually, the stray bolted into another yard, Hooper shut up, the turkey vulture moved onto another thermal, the chip-chip-chip of the cardinals faded.   All this was only five minutes of my day, but it was a good five minutes.

Non-sequiterous post

I made up that word. Yes, I did.

It snowed last week:

"I like da snew, Mamma."



I tried not to cuss as the snow fell, giving the kids yet another day off school.
I failed.



It was pretty, as it fell (by southern Ohio standards) in massive amounts.
A light, fluffy snow that was easy to plow and keep ahead of.
Didn't keep the numbnuts out there from panicking and running off roads all over the area.






Empty, for now.....

January 15th is the"safe date" for nesting Great Horned Owls around here...some of the pairs start right on schedule. The Lake Isabella pair seems to favor the end of January into the beginning of February.
Click here and here for other posts about this nest.
Just a few more days until I can start checking the can obsessively.



Our neighbor walks right past one of the RSHA (the big orange lollipop) resting near our prairie:


New River Update:
People started coming out of the woodwork after my last post...and there are a few spots still available at the Farmhouse. If you want to come along and have the time of your life, email me at capricorn1273@cinci.rr.com ASAP. There aren't many slots left for the festival...and we need to register NOW.

A private joke

"Oh, hey Momma. Just remembered something really funny."

Real things I saw today, even though it's April Fool's Day

I love being a birder. I think I've said that before.
Being plugged in to the avian world makes us privy to a whole host of interesting things. We can marvel at a new bird, ponder a behavior. I saw lots today.

It started with a new yard bird:


Yard bird #59. Brown thrasher. It was kick/scratching under the feeders, then took off for the big maple.
And it was singing. Glorious.

A yellow-rumped warbler landed right next to my car at Lake Isabella, and just looked at me.




Three red-shouldered hawks were circling the yard and calling out in their wonderfully screamy voices.

Gratuitous cute kid/dog photo:

Lorelei was singing, as usual, waving her newly-acquired dandelion. And Hooper leaned in for a sniff.

Nellie was keeping her eye on me, as usual.

"Where's Mom? Oh, there she is. Is she going to get up? I better be ready. Mom? Need me?"

She is my shadow...always near and always worried that I might disappear.

This is Roxy:

She is a Tibetan Yak-Dog.
April Fools. She belongs to Swami. (And she's a Shetland Sheepdog)

Being a long-haired breed, this dog makes lots and lots of loose hair. Lorelei and I brushed her, Hooper, Nellie and whatever cat we could grab and stuffed all that hair into a cardboard tube and hung it outside (birds will use it to line their wee sweet nests)

I wasn't back in the house 10 seconds before someone landed and started plucking:

Tufted titmouse


Bearded titmouse



It was so cool to watch. I've left hair out there before, but usually I just brush the dogs outside and let the hair float away. This was fun!

The titmouse left and a white-breasted nuthatch took its place.


Each bird would grab some with its beak, then maneuver it around, grabbing some with its feet, then rearranging and grabbing it again with the beak. All this grabbing and rearranging helped them carry as much as possible. Birds are just so efficient.

I need to see some birds before I lose it.

My best bird sighting for weeks was this morning. A brown creeper creeping along the sycamores at Lake Isabella. My camera was in a bag, at home, where I left it. I NEVER go anywhere without my camera. Made me feel like I left the house without pants.


If you ever wanted to know what it's like to be tackled by Hooper, the 80 pound "German Malusky", as Kathi calls him (German Shepherd, Malamute, Husky), this is the last thing you see before the tackle:


Thank you for the love, Hoopie. Now could you please get off my chest?


Hooper is prone to staring vacantly. I wonder what he's thinking about?

"That bacon-grease-soaked paper towel that I ate earlier was really good. I haven't smelled anyone's heiny for like an hour. Trrrreeeeeeeats.....I like trrrreeeeeeats.....I need to pee."

Last weekend, the whole family went to the Cincinnati Museum Center to see a new exhibit "Dinosaurs Alive", and to see the affiliated iMax movie. Meh. It was okay. Not really worth the money we paid (and we are members, even).

I wandered off at one point and went into the John Ruthven Gallery.
They have original Federal Duck Stamps going all the way back to 1936:


Above each stamp was the original artwork.


This one reminded me of Laura, because of the soulful-eyed Lab, and the duck in the mouth (she has a thing for ducks):



Here's the Williams family about to be eaten (by a plant-eating dinosaur):

Hams. That's what they are.


Last one....


Lucy, wrapped in a Birdie Burrito:


Officially, it's called "toweling", but that's no fun. (She was getting her beak coped, hence the towel, the hood and the pen).

The suckiness of....oh, Hell with it.

Yesterday was a study in adventure.
My program began at 3:15. The good ol' weatherman said that we could get 1 to 3 inches of snow.
When my program ended at 4:20, that had been upgraded to 4 to 6 inches.
The program was only 12 minutes from RAPTOR. It took me a solid HOUR to get the birds back.


This particular snow was thick and fluffy like feathers. Very pretty as it fell silently. Onto the old snow and ice from last week.

Sylvester disapproved of the forecast.

Click on the photo....that dusting of snow on his big sweet head just does me in.


By the time I had redeposited all the birds in their mews (and almost ending up on my ass while holding Priscilla), the forecast had been upgraded to 6 to 8 inches.
Okaaaaayy....
My trip home usually lasts about 30 minutes. Last night, it took 3 hours.
One of the local radio stations was taking requests from people stuck out in the mess on the highways. Someone requested a good one:


I didn't get above 9 miles an hour. For 3 hours.

This morning, with my good humor restored, we were able to go out and enjoy all the annoying loveliness:


That's a foot of snow on the table behind Isabelle.



Lorelei enjoyed herself, until......

...while making a snow angel, Nellie went in for a kiss and pushed a quart of snow into her face. That was that for Lorelei.


What is it about snow that makes dogs go out of their minds?

"Let's play, Nellie! RRrrrrrrrrr!"

Hooper's a big dog. The snow was hitting his shoulders:



It did my heart good to see Nellie romp and frolic like she was a puppy, instead of a geezer 8 year old:





The pictures don't do it justice. It was a yard full of diamonds.

And now....the goofiest pic I got today:




Hooper in full "Snow Gritties" mode.

Hooper and a Cooper

I love that as a birder, I have learned a few things to help me be more observant.
When all the birds at your feeders just disappear, what happened?

Lorelei and I brought our lunches over to the front window to watch the starlings eat all of my Zick Dough. She was marveling at the tiny white chevrons that starlings have in the Winter (she didn't say chevrons, she actually called them "checks").
I was gritting my teeth and wishing quick death to all of the freeloaders, when they suddenly and loudly departed. And everyone else did, too.

I asked Lorelei to look for hawks in the trees while I got my camera.

She called out that a hawk was in a pine tree, but it had just flown away. I went into the laundry room, which has a view of our "waiting tree" (where all of our raptors hang out waiting for a helpless morsel of food to fly by).

A juvenile Cooper's hawk was nicely fluffed out and conveniently perched in the sun.

No hunting, but it did stay around for about an hour and a half.


There was some pooping:




And plenty of preening:

I love this shot...Coop's have such nice floofy bloomers. Another bird who has floofy bloomers? Great horned owls. Seriously...if you get a chance to watch one, you will be envious of the padding they have back there.



Birds are rather flexible, aren't they?
(All the better to reach the oil gland by the butt, my pretty)

A new species....the Headless Ruffed Cooper's Grouse.


I went on with my day, but as the laundry isn't capable of washing itself, I was drawn back to the laundry room again and again.
At one point, eye contact was made:

Ooooo. Delicious shivers. I snapped a few photos and then averted my eyes (raptors don't like to be stared at)


This pic is thrown in just because it's fun and cute....
Hooper is a very tolerant dog. The girls can wrap him in blankets, or use him for a pillow or kiss him a million times a day. He takes it all in stride.


He can also balance ducks on his head.