They Fledged On the Full Moon

This was taken a few days before, with mama delivering a nice bug

to one of her three chicks.The full story coming soon!

The Lyre Bird... Liar?

This amazing bird has the ability to mock any sound. He even fooled the kookaburra bird. As you can see and hear from this link on YouTube. And boy can this bird dance :>}  He even takes pictures. Well, kind of. Thank you Ilene for sending this to me to share.

Alfred: A Gift from Parlez

One morning I was standing at the picture window sipping tea and looking at the powdered snow. Up the path padded Parlez, something rather large and bird-like hanging sideways from his mouth. My eyes blurry, I thought it was a Flicker. "No Parlez", I said, running out the door in my PJs. He made a dash for his hideaway, under the porch. No way I was getting under there. I left him to it.

Then dressed, I crawled around and with a large stick gently pulled this young hawk out. He was perfect. And that's when I thought he may have succumbed to the same fate Athena had. Parlez didn't seem to be interested in eating him, fortunately. Alfred was barely breathing when he had found him; I had strained to look under the deck and see it on its back, legs twitching one last time. 

There's something sacred about a recently transitioned bird placed on the silent snow. Especially one of such beauty as this one. I marveled at his long, taloned feet, perfect for swooping down to snatch whatever his yellow hawk eyes spied. Marveled at his perfectly pointed beak, his own portable cutlery. And at his young tawny-spotted chest, the soft feathers downy underneath, his magnificent tail feathers. And the soaring wings, now stowed. 

Parlez went to play with his catch. "No Parlez. Let him rest in peace".

He looked at me as if to say, "But I found him, mama".

He looked again at the bird. . . 

OK, mama. I'll let him rest.

Things Are Not Always What They Seem

This is a wonderful story. Thank you Martha for forwarding it to me. I once heard this "Violinist in the Metro" play in Santa Fe at the Santa Fe Opera. As he played a Camille Saint-Saëns piece a pair of finches fluttered high above the orchestra in the rafters. The male finch broke into song and accompanied the violinist for several minutes. It was one of the sweetest melodies I've ever heard.

Stradavarius violin from Wikipedia, here.

A Violinist in the Metro

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by and a middle-aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3-year-old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats averaged $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste, and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

You can see the YouTube video here.

Athena

I found Athena Screech Owl on the night of the new moon, laying on the dirt surrounded by snow in front of our shed. I am just in awe of her beauty, especially her fuzzy feet with the amazing nubby toes and talons. I cannot help but think she died of rodent poisoning as today Parlez brought a juvenile Cooper's Hawk who was in the last throes of its life. Parlez merely found it, he did not hunt it. Two raptors dead with no sign of external harm makes me suspicious. 

I will be posting images of him and more of Athena this week, with a plea to people not to use poison but instead let these beautiful creatures be the intrepid and profusely proficient hunters they are. For those who don't have these majestic birds in their midst, battery-operated mouse trap zappers work really well. 

You can pass this link on to others by clicking on the post title and copying the url from your browser into an email. Thank you for being aware. 

Male Northern Flicker Stays Toasty

Male (with red "moustache") Great Northern Red Flicker

I was passing by the north side of the house and caught sight of this little guy through the screened window. It is so rare for me to see them "sitting", but this young male (it seems to me he is) Red Flicker was just hanging out endeavoring to stay warm. He was all puffed up and stopping for a bit before he began to tip some snow flakes into his beak for a drink. 

Earlier in the day I was watching the snow in the little woods behind the house and saw several Flickers flying from pinon to pinon. Such majesty. I just love these birds. As you can see from the video here...

I can see why wildlife photographers love those 300 mm lenses (I was at 200 mm shooting at 800 ISO). And not shooting through dirty windows with screens :-) But I just loved that I got to watch him for so long. More shots of him digging in the snow soon.

Lesser Goldfinches Hold Their Own with the Siskins

Hummer the Magnificent Thwarts Red Rogue Rufous

Rufous the rogue hummer finally buzzed off to let little Magnificent drink some nectar. Here he/she is on approach, and drinking. Can you see the left wing? It's above the neck and head. I just love these little symbols of joy. And dang, are they hard to shoot! Especially when red russet Rufous is always chasing them away. He is so hyper I've not managed to get a shot of him yet...

And let's not forget the great white hunter, who is an avid tree climber (he especially likes TALL Aspens). He just happened to be in the vicinity and quite interested in the hummer, but realized he couldn't be out on a limb and bird chasing. So he just paused, curious in admiration.

Lunchtime at the Bluebird Cafe

Today's Special: bugs of all kinds.

Papa on approach with a little appetizer.

Mama follows quickly after with a really gushy bug...

Let's take a closer look at that thing...what is it? 

Seriously, if you know please post a comment below.

Now here's a nice tasty caterpillar. The menu was very exotic today.

Papa takes flight. I'll call that move 'lift off'. 

They were both very busy fortifying the little ones, readying them 

for their big fledging adventure. Perhaps I will even get a chance to see it. :)

Papa Western Blue

Well Papa bluebird proved me wrong. He does indeed participate in the housekeeping...

And he outdid himself by finding the choicest bugs for his growing chicks...

(Like a nice cicada, yum)

Their cheeeps are getting stronger by the day and soon they will be ready to fly. 

But for now they are here, and he's being a fabulous father. 

And one hec of a flyer, too. Wow!

Meet the Bluebirds

This year we were very happy to welcome back the Western Bluebirds. One family resides in this house for sure. The jury is still out as to whether the other house (photo and movie coming later) is inhabited, although Parlez seems to think so. Come April time I see the male first. He is stunning with his purple-blue feathered cloak and copper waistcoat, a real dapper dude. Nature chooses the most glorious color combinations and I crane to get a glimpse through the binocs. Not long after, his missus arrives and she is just as lovely although a bit more subdued.

Not only do these birds look gorgeous, their behavior is so precious to watch, especially when the little ones arrive and they are busy hunting and feeding grubs and bugs. Both parents care for the young, and I just read if another couple's nest fails they will help with the raising of their neighbor's chicks. How about that for co-operation? While the male is a great hunter and caregiver not once did I see him exit the house with a piece of poop in his beak. I guess he leaves the housekeeping to mama. I would see her fly in with a tasty morsel—cheep, cheep, cheep, cheeep, cheeeeeeep—then fly out with something quite different and bright white, which I finally figured out was, yes, exactly.

Sitting over the weekend in a lawn chair among the pinon trees, arms up, holding my heavy camera, poised, ready to fire (did I say it was heavy?) I sat and I waited and sat and I sat, and as I sat and waited the benefits of a tripod became increasingly clear. As did the benefits of drinking a lot less iced tea. Suddenly, whoosh! papa was back with a bug, and in a flash popped into the house—cheep, cheep, cheep, cheep, cheep, cheepcheepcheepcheepcheep—and emerged very gingerly, as he had spied me upon entry. 

Is the coast clear?  Yeees...

Whooo and away! still keeping his eye on the birdie (me).

And then he landed on a nearby branch to regroup.

This is my first attempt at capturing these beauties. Of course I now want a longer lens, and a stable tripod, and, and, and. But in the meanwhile I'll make do with what I have (lessons from the magpie) and see if I can record any of the chicks' fledging, when they do. Which I hope isn't too soon.  

Click on the images to enlarge. This link will take you to the slide show where you can view them even larger.