Eastern Kingbird!

Can You See It?

Neither can i. But an Eastern Kingbird perched on the electric wire across the street yesterday for more than an hour, darting off now and then and swerving through the air like a swallow, to snatch an insect (one i saw him catch was almost as big as he was), and then returning to his spot on the wire to munch on it. As he flew and also as he turned this way and that on the wire, i could clearly make out the thin, white edge of his squared-off tail and the pure white throat, chest and belly.

And today he’s back — this time with the missus! I just now saw him up there, feeding her a big, juicy bug. (I mean, i guess it was juicy.)

So happy to see them up here above the bluff, rather than among the trees along the riverbank! Hope they find lots of bugs and decide to stay.

What a lousy photographer i am! but if you look real hard, near the top, you can see him.

Indigo Buntings at Black Rock Forest!

Indigo buntings, blue as the sky, were among the gorgeous and amazing birds we saw at Black Rock Forest on Monday. Tim and i were lucky enough to participate in BRF’s annual Migrating Bird Walk along with about a dozen other folks. The 3-hour walk was led by BRF ornithologists and other staff members, who are all great teachers. My great THANKS to them, and to our new friend Dan, who drove us up to the starting point in his cool, high-clearance car.

But those birds! (This photo is from the website of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.)

Indigo buntings, like this one, were just some of the birds we saw at Black Rock Forest.

You Know Spring is Here ...

You know spring is here when the robins start fighting with their reflections in your side-view mirror (and pooping down the side of your car).

Now, can I sue the robin? Well, at least it means spring is here! Next stop: the Car Wash.

Ain't Nature Grand/Disgusting?

This morning i was treated to the sight of a Cooper's hawk almost directly under my bird feeder. He (she?) was feasting on a still-steaming starling. (There's a poem here somewhere ... or at least a tongue-twister.) Tim called my attention to it while i was in the kitchen making breakfast. I turned off the stove, grabbed my binoculars and uttered the word "EWWWW!" every few seconds for a full 20 minutes as the raptor, blood dripping from its beak, tore the flight feathers off its prey one by one and spit them out onto the reddening snow. I was horrified and fascinated and couldn't look away. 

Then the hawk flew off with the starling carcass and i went back to ... scrambling my eggs. 

Birds are a lot of things, but they're not hypocrites.

Well, i guess we're both eating our breakfasts, aren't we?