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Saturday, January 05, 2008

Birds

With the world locked in ice, and covered by about a foot of snow so powdery and fluffy that it looks and feels fake (not to mention slippery) there is little to be seen outdoors. Nothing but unrelieved white, punctuated only by the grey of the trees and an occasional flash of vague color from a salt encrusted car down on the Thruway. This season is when the birds really come into their own as points of interest. (Of course we watch them all year, but now they are the only show in town.)

Day before yesterday I trudged through the drifts up to the orchard to get some dried apple wood to boost the lame, wet-wood fire that was supposed to be warming us. (HAH) Over the river a large raptor soared, spot-lighted by the brilliant sun just showing over the southern horizon (she ain't so very high in the sky these days.) It flashed past, simply glowing, white-black, white-black as its wings slowly pumped the wind. It was probably nothing more than the hungry red tail that hangs around all year, but it looked like an ancient dragon patrolling up the small breadth of still-open water.

Yesterday I went out on one of my perpetual motion trips to the stove just int time to just miss seeing the Cooper's hawk, just missing a pigeon. She huffed and puffed on the barn ridgepole snapping her elegant wings open and shut in irritation when it scooted under the eaves and into the barn (I have seen her duck in through the open window after one now and then, but she didn't yesterday). She is so respected by the neighborhood flying rats, that not one pigeon landed on the heifer barn roof for the rest of the day (they sat on the house instead, darn 'em.)

Same day, feeding the birds. When I walked toward the swing set where the feeders hang I didn't see a one. However a veritable cloud of juncos, gold finches, chickadees, white-throated sparrows, Sassenachs, mourning doves, blue jays, tufted titmice, and who knows what all else, flew out of the old Christmas tree. Alan put it up so some of the feeders hang among the branches. The birds seem to love the shelter, and I am kind of fond of it too. I can just lean back here at the computer, twitch open the edge of the curtain, and peer right into the center of it. (Voyeurism of the best sort.)

On the not so happy with the birds front, crows and mallard ducks are marauding the ag bags to pick out corn. I am perfectly happy to provide fifty odd pounds of black oil sunflower seeds over the course of the winter. It keeps the birds happy with me and I with them.

Hundreds of tons of corn from our winter cattle feed being ruined is another story. Ducks can spread salmonella to cows when they leave droppings in feed. We chase them away whenever we see them. I don't feel too sorry for them either. They have a whole darned river to forage in, plus plenty of corn left on the ground in more open places where the wind has blown the snow away. I used to take Mike up to herd them out of the bags, (which was a lot of fun and pretty near as effective as the Cooper's on the pigeons). The first day I tried it, it was stormy and when we got to the bag fifty or sixty turkeys, maybe two hundred mallards, and crows and starlings too numerous to count flew up in a tornado of black and brown in front of us. My intrepid dog, who thought nothing of grabbing a bull by the nose and hanging off until the bovine reprobate changed his mind about where he was going, was terrified by the uproar from the birds and almost quit me for the house!

*** I ain't not supportin' nobody yet, but have you noticed the photos on the front page of all the papers of the winners of the Iowa caucuses? Gigantic color shots of Obama...itty bitty snaps of Huckabee, or nothing at all. Hmmm, any favoritism on the part of the media? Nah, couldn't be, they are merely unbiased reporters of history in the making.

8 comments:

Stacy said...

We are starting a big warming trend today...supposed to be close to 60 by Monday!...but man, was it cold yesterday. One of the roads I drive on is almost tunnel like with the trees arching overhead and solid brush on the ground. Yesterday morning in the dark with ice on the branches it just sparkled like millions of fireflies when my headlights touched them. Gorgeous.

My grandmother put her bird feeders right outside her diningroom window and this is the time of year we'd all spend hours sitting, talking and watching the birds. Good memories.

Joni said...

I am beginning to wonder just where the heck all of our birds go. We have no mourning doves. Do they fly north? Lots of hawks though, I should really try to get some photos of them this time of year.

R.Powers said...

Your writing allowed me to feel the rush of those birds that spooked Mike.
Thank you.
We don't get to see large waterfowl congregations here too often. While they are problem for you, it still sounds pretty amazing to see that many wild mallards at one time.

threecollie said...

Stacy, warmed up nice here today too..for which I am very grateful!
The road sounds beautiful and you describe it so well....it is very relaxing to sit and watch birds isn't it?

Joni, I am not sure what they do in the winter down there. These I think are ones that hatched right here, although I could be wrong and they could come from further north. there are really a lot of them around this winter!

FC, it was one of the most amazing sights of my entire life. It was snowing hard and they flew up in a whirl of flakes and feathers that simply stunned me and terrified the poor dog. It was wild!
I like the waterfowl too and it is nice that they have returned in such amazing numbers. I would estimate that five hundred used the neighbor's corn field for a lunch counter last winter...plus a thousand Canadas.
We have to be careful because of disease concerns and the damage they do to the feed and bags.

Windyridge said...

Flying rats...I love it!

threecollie said...

Wr, they are, they really are. I wish they would get off the roof of my tower. I wish the Coopers Hawk would bring her friends...her neighbors...their friends and their friends' neighbors...maybe an eagle or two...lol

Anonymous said...

I could use some of your birds down here. I got a bread machine for my birthday last October and you always have the ends of the loaf to throw out, so I tear em up and toss them out in the front yard. Well the darn bird seem to have left the area and I now have bread crumbs all over my yard! Gruff! Send them to me!

threecollie said...

Tim, you could always dry them and save them for turkey stuffing...or even freeze them.