Storm Birds

 

Voices tinkling like ice cubes, American Tree Sparrows jingle and flare over a suet block with cracked corn. You'd think they were tough guys the way they argue and fight.

Silver-eyed Common Grackles spread Darth Vader wings, threatening maiming and mayhem. The bad guys of the bird feeders. Everybody gets out of their way.

Red-winged Blackbirds, which normally at this time of year show only butter-won't-melt-in-my-beak pale yellow on their shoulders, squabble at the round feeder.

"Move it, move, it, move it, give over, get outta my way. I'll slay you with my epaulettes!"

Flash, flash, like a dozen stoplights blinking all at once they wear their prowess on their wings.

"No, you move! I'm brighter and redder. I keel you!"

The battle screams against a backdrop of snow-clad twigs and branches.

Jill takes it all in, gives me a sheepish look, and rolls and rolls and rolls in the soft fresh snow. What is up with an Oklahoma dog that is crazy for snow anyhow?

You can Dress 'em Up

 

Poor, poor pitiful me
an ol' jack Russell, sittin' by her knee.
On my way to the rabies vaccination
clinic
Oh, woe is me!

See that little dog up there? All, "Butter wouldn't melt in my mouth, poor me, poor me."

We needed to get him an update for his rabies vaccination today, so we headed over to the clinic in Fonda. We have done it before...NBD.

However, today there were lots and lots and lots of dogs and cats there. Lots.

And every single stinking one of them was better behaved than Mack. Every single one.

From the second I let him out of the car until he was back in the kitchen he fought me. He weighs between 12 and 15 pounds. I should be able to handle him, right? I mean, I have showed cows, horses, all sorts of critters a lot bigger than that blasted dog....but

Every ounce of him is packed with muscle and he really wanted to go say hi to all those doggies... and then fight them. If I put him on the floor, people were all, "Oh, the poor little thing...he's choking himself..."

Yeah, because he wants to tear up the floor with your little doggie. Or big doggie. Or any doggie. Or kitty.

There were pitties and kitties, and yappy little bitties and they all made nice, and made their owners proud. Did I mention they acted better then my dog? Way better. They turned their heads in embarrassment for me. I believe that I also turned purple with same....

So I mostly held him in my arms, alternating as he wore me out.

Imagine filling out paperwork on a clipboard with fifteen pounds of dynamite trying to explode in your arms. My sheet was so crumpled it looked like it had been wound up in a round baler and left out in the rain. I write like a doctor at the best of times, so I am pretty sure it was a good thing I had his license with me for the clerk to copy. I had to ask a stranger to take the paper off the clipboard for me.

Of course both the clerk and the veterinarian doing the vaccinations were longtime friends of ours....

Somehow we both survived. And if that experience didn't give me a heart attack I don't know what will. Our longtime friend, Dr. Mark, gave me a hug as I was lugging Mr. Awful out to the car. By that time I needed one.

I haz teefs

Nothing Wrong with Leftovers

 

Some photos I've been saving to use here that I need to move out of my current photo folder....totally random...

However, we are having leftover Italian sausage vegetable soup for supper tonight and that is a whole 'nother ball game.

Public Service Announcement

Peregrine Falcon at nest box

 Please do not pick up dead birds.

We've been visiting the Mohawk Valley Gateway Overlook Bridge in Amsterdam pretty regularly lately, hoping to see the nesting Peregrine Falcons there. After being gated for weeks the bridge walkway was finally open today so I could hike over to Riverlink Park. Earlier in the winter I went around the gates and struggled up on the bridge over the ice, but I was waiting every second for someone to arrest me and take me away. Thus I only did it once. Today there was no ice and no gates.

There was indeed a Peregrine Falcon perched on the nest box though. Hopefully they will have a successful nesting season this summer.

There was also the most incredible number of crow droppings and feathers I have ever seen. Had to be experienced to be imagined...no possibility of taking a single step without crunching on a dozen.

Icky.

I soon encountered five of the cutest, sweetest kids you could imagine. They thought I was a photographer and asked me to take pics of them. When they discovered that my camera could not provide them with a copy, they had me use one of their phones to take one for them.

Off they went.

Before I could realize what they were doing they came upon a dead crow that I had not noticed. One girl picked it up in her arms and carried it off to try to toss it in the river.

Missed. 

I caught up with them and gently suggested that prompt and thorough hand-washing would be in order due to the possibility of Avian Influenza.

They looked at me like I had three heads and went on about their business (which looked to be a morning of fun on the bridge.)

Hopefully the crow met its fate in some other way and the kids and nesting Peregrines will be fine.

Also hopefully the roost disperses soon. What a mess! Geese spend some time on the grass there too, so I am sure you can imagine. My shoes got a good dose of disinfectant when we got home.

Anyhow, picking up dead critters without gloves etc. is not a good idea, especially with such a deadly disease making the rounds among the wild things. It would be great if it ran its course soon.

Taking Advantage

 

I dragged my backyard office chair off the sitting porch and set up a bare bones version of said office despite the season. It was wonderful to sit in the afternoon sunshine yesterday looking up into the naked trees, counting birds and just being.....out....

This morning I took a blanket to cover the cold metal chair, stuck a pair of fresh hand warmers into the pockets of my down vest, layered on my heaviest Carhartt hoodie, found an upturned flower pot to serve as a makeshift table for my coffee, and parked out there in the yard before dawn.

As has been the case for the past couple of weeks the only customers at the feeders or picking at the bugs in the bark of the trees were the commonest of winter birds.

However taking advantage of this weird, yet wonderful weather was a joy indeed. In winter I always forget summer. Can't ever remember green, or warm, or exponential growth of everything. It's like it never happened. Today I got just a small taste of that delight....

And it was good. 

Happy Valentine's Day

 

It's a Big Day

 

For my favorite middle kid!

Happy Birthday, Becky...just keep channeling Peg and Alice. They were great ladies and so are you!

Love you!

The Sparrows

 

Come in before light, just when the dawn takes over the night

Dark shadows they flutter cleaning up the spilled seed

And the corn from the feed store as they gobble with greed.

Guess the hawk can't quite see them until it's quite bright

But the lady with seed cups sure puts them to flight.

White-throated Sparrows

American Tree Sparrows

Dark-eyed Juncos, slate-colored subset

Sometimes the lone Song Sparrow that is wintering here.

They scatter when I go out to fill the feeders and as they race for the bushes the chickadees and titmice whirl in unafraid, to grab seeds and hull them before the big guys come back.

Not the best month, January, but there are compensations.

Worth a Thousand Words

 

Sadness

 In the past ten days two iconic area farmers left us. The kind of men you looked up to and admired and loved to run into at the cow show or the coffee shop. You would always learn something and come away smiling.

Prayers for the families they left behind and for our community, which will be less without them.

Therapy Committee

 

Becky and I just did some awesome retail therapy. It was fun, with no crowds or busy roads involved... We sent a seed order to Pinetree Garden Seeds.

We bought herbs and papyrus and red geranium seeds. I can't wait! 

It isn't easy to grow geraniums from seed, but I've managed in the past and gotten some of my best colors. I already lost one of the old ones this winter though, so time to try again. 

Herb-wise, we bought a bunch of basil, some hyssop, gourds, and some Mexican mint. The basil I use to make BOOM, an herb blend we use to cook just about everything. It consists of basil, oregano, and orange mint dried and stored for winter. The oregano is not exactly the real deal, being some sort of winter-hardy marjoram-type stuff Ralph's mom and I scattered along the driveway years ago. It comes up and grows happily down there, although I have a terrible time keeping it alive up here on the hill, no matter how many times I transplant it. Good stuff!

Winter feels so much shorter when the seed catalogs start arriving...although actually this one has been here a while...

Now to find room among the jungle of house plants crowding the big windows to set some seeds to growing.

Oh, and I've been meaning to tell you about the African violet. I used to grow them bitd, but some froze when the place where I was living lost power in a terrible storm and some died because when we moved down here I used village water on them. Killed them in days (in case you were wondering why we don't drink it.)

Anyhow, there is an Amish family up on Brumley Rd. that sells garlic at a roadside stand (which has an overhang too low for normal people to fit under it...just ask Ralph, who banged his head just about every time we stopped there.) Whenever they put out more garlic and I had a couple of bucks cash we stopped and bought some. Best garlic ever! I forced myself to sacrifice some to plant even though I really wanted to save it all to eat, so there is a row out in the garden for next winter.

One day the lady of the house put out a few African violets for three bucks each. They didn't look too bad, but none were blooming. I had some cash so I picked one out and brought it home.

And waited. I figured it would probably be one of the flat, uglyish white ones with purple shadows in the center, but hey, flowers in winter are flowers in winter. At least I knew better than to give it faucet water.

One day I lifted the pot to feel it if needed water and there was a bud. Within days there was a flower that utterly lifted my heart with its beauty. The photos do not do the magical dusty pink color justice. It is the exact color of the pink shirts rodeo guys sometimes wear and it has been blooming continuously since that very first bud. 

Sometimes it's good to guess wrong.

New Year, New Birds

New Year, new Northern Harrier

The past few weeks have been busy ones for all of us. I did two Christmas bird counts, one, Schenectady County, with a friend, and the Fort Plain one with my brother Matt.

Both were great fun. The latter I have always wanted to become involved in, but never knew anyone who did it...or at least not well enough to ask. This year I did some research, reached out to the coordinators, and offered to help if needed. They were really nice and were willing to let me tag along either on their territory or someone else's, but the circle was clearly well planned, and staffed with expert volunteers. Thus I thanked them, and said that I would be available next year if needed.

A couple of days before the count one of the counters became unable to cover their territory, so Matt and I got to do it after all. It was one of the best counting experiences I have ever had. It reminded me of back in the day when I did counts with Dad, before our Johnstown circle territory became overrun with a plethora of crazy drivers, hundreds of them. There were a number of really rural roads, some of them not even paved. Miles of farm fields, swamps, marshes, and brushy overgrown areas that just bustled with birds.

 Our very first stop just before daylight, we had an Eastern Screech owl, my first of the year! A couple of miles later we found a Barred Owl perched over the road, hunting. It was like that all day, although we ran out of territory before we ran out of enthusiasm. What a great way to end 2022.

We saw a lot of interesting Amish activities that day
some of which would had been eye openers for city folk
I have pics, but am not sharing. lol

Now we begin the long, slow process of building up a new list for the new year. it is not one bit birdy these days. Nothing on the roadsides and few at the feeder. Either they are elsewhere, or the warm weather is keeping them out on the land.

We did find 14 Red-tailed Hawks, 2 Rough-legged Hawks, a Northern Harrier and an American Kestrel on New Year's Day, which made me pretty happy.

Now to try to be patient until the birds start moving again. It's not easy but someone has to do it.

Happy New Year!

Two years ago today my brothers and I joined the orphan train. That was when we lost Mom. 68 years as somebody's kid, gone forever. No childhood left at all. I played the Dutchman for them in the kitchen today and thought about them...but then I always do. 

I think

 That we could all use a little bit of this!

Merry Christmas

 

Ornaments

 

Reminders of Florida BITD

Ralph made this by attaching a wire to one of his toys
when he was little

Mom made this angel. She creeps a lot of people out
but I don't mind her......much

As suggested by Shirley....