Bird Call

Bird-Call: Halloween Edition :)

Boo!

As they say.

I know. It’s not very original to have Halloween stuff on Halloween. But I like to keep expectations low. :) Plus I thought this old hornet’s nest looked kind of scary.

I mostly celebrate Halloween because it gives me an excuse to show off this photo. :)

In truth, my son-in-law should get credit for it. He spotted the bird. Figured out how to position it in front of the moon. He even let me use the hood of his new car so I could get the right angle. I just snapped it.

 

But it’s still mine. :)

Distinguishing Marks: Very large bird. Medium large ear tufts. :) Brown. Hoots. : )

Boring fact: When they get tired of rodents, they're able to take hawks and have even been known to snag a Great Blue Heron or two--as in four foot tall Great Blue Herons. Of course that's counting the neck. :)

Mourning Dove

After you hear their doleful call you’ll get why they are called Mourning Doves. (I don’t have a recording, but here’s a link to a real bird site, by real birders about real birds.) :) Dove Calls at All About Birds

Distinguishing marks: gray brown with black spots on the wings. Blue around the eyes. Wings whistle taking flight. Broad white stripes on either side of the tail.

Doves stand for peace and fidelity. Pretty much world wide.The fidelity part’s easy--they mate for life and stay loyal to the end.

Not altogether sure on the peace part but it does date back to prehistory. Some people speculate it's because they eat only seeds. Don’t know about that.  Seems a little lame.  But I have to admit it sounds way more peaceful than a peregrine slamming into a pigeon at 200 miles an hour. :)

Whatever. In any case, Pope John’s bought in. And now he’s developed the habit of releasing white doves as symbols of peace. It hasn’t turned out all that well for him.  Or the doves. A while back he released a couple during a prayer for peace. They made it only a few feet. A crow and a gull attacked them yards from the window. With vigor.  Needless to say, the crowd was aghast. In the end the doves did escape, tattered and bruised. But it was too late for the Pope. Animal rights groups, grumpy Catholics, apocryphal prophets and the press have been pecking at him ever since. Also with vigor.

But he continues releasing them. And gets blasted every time.

Now far be it from me to meddle in Papal business. I would like to ask though--strictly from a PR standpoint--if he’s ever considered white balloons instead. : )

E-Z I.D. Friday

This week E-Z I.D. Friday means you make the I.D:

...and I take it easy. :)

 

Aren't sure? :) Hover over this with your mouse.

(Click on the photo to enlarge)

Bird-nerd-word of the day: Cache [kash]

Acorn Woodpecker Cache

When birds store food for later, it’s called a cache. Like this one--acorns all the way up and all the way around the tree. (I’d lay in extra firewood if I was you.) :)

Jays Cache food too. They bury it. In thousands of places. Months later they remember where they hid it and dig it up. Pretty smart. They don’t find every single one of course. About a third. But that’s ok. They still remember where plenty of other jays hid theirs. :)

Wherefore art thou Pygmy Nuthatch

Pygmy Nuthatch? Odd name. But ok. I get the pygmy part. They're tiny. Even by nuthatch standards. Four and a quarter inches standing on it's toes. (There's a Giant Nuthatch somewhere in Asia that's a whopping seven inches.) So I get the pygmy part.

But nuthatch? I mean what exactly is a nuthatch?

I'm going to look it up.

Ok, I'm back. :)

The consensus seems to be that it's because they cram a seed under a piece of bark and whack away at it until they can extract food from the shell or "hatch" it.

W a i t a minute. I buy the seed-nut connection. And I witnessed this one tucking seeds under bark to work them over. But hatch? I'm sorry.

Try stickup. :)

Hatch obviously doesn't take into account the seed's point of view. I'm sure the seed would not call it hatching.

On the other hand, these are lovely little birds. Think of two dozen or so nestling down together in a knot hole to stay warm on a winter night.  Too cute.

Ornithologists probably felt the same and gave them a break on the name. But had they been perfectly honest? Pygmy Nutmugger. :)

 

 

 

 

 

Life Bird

This little bird popped up unexpectedly on a tree behind my aunt’s house in San Francisco. It’s a life bird. I think.  My brother says we saw one in Arizona years ago.  He’s probably right. They are common. But I didn’t write it down. And I have no recollection of it. As in none. What-so-ever. :)

Here's my point: to be a life bird it not only has to be the first time you’ve seen it.  You have to remember it!

Now my memory isn’t what it used to be and it's getting harder to keep all these birds in my head. That’s the bad news I guess.

So what good news is there in that?

Well think of all the life birds I get to see for the first time.

Again.

Distinguishing Marks: Tiny. Top of head brown. Back, gray.  Buff sides. Cute. Often walks down trees while it feeds.

 

Boring fact: Several of these little guys may pitch in to help one nesting pair fledge their young. In the off season, they flock in small groups--up to a dozen or more—and at night all pile into a tree hole somewhere for a big sleepover.

Birds that nest together rest together?

 What the heck is it? [Hover to find out.]