Doing the right thing. Not just karma.

OMG. I just spent my Christmas money. OMG. SO EXCITED!!!

I'd had the Wild Bird Center (warning, Cardinals) recommended to me, but I was a bit wary. Just because of money, mind you. Certainly I'd be able to find the binoculars I wanted online for a lot less, right? But nonetheless, I needed to see and feel and use the binoculars before buying. I was tempted to go to the store, figure out what I wanted, and then go home to price check. Of course that made me feel guilty, as well. Sigh. Conundrums.

I went today, picked out the binocs I liked best from their inventory and bought them. You gotta go with your gut, and frankly buying local makes my gut sing. Or something. (That's a positive response, by the way. I wasn't talking about my stomach gurgling painfully, something I've been way too familar with recently.)

I didn't know if the binoculars would be cheaper elsewhere, but the service I got was so pleasant that I'd have been a real loser to use the bird center's wonderful staff advice and not buy there. And let me expound upon their service for a second. I told them my price range, and they brought out a few different binoculars in that range. However, they did not tell me which ones were the most expensive, or in fact, any of the prices. They led me through a variety of exercises to see which ones I felt performed the best, and at no time did they push the more expensive ones on me. And I didn't even know which ones were expensive, mind you.

I picked the Nikon Monarch ATB 8x42 binocs. They were the lightest, the clearest, and the brightest of the ones I tried. The one downside is that the close focus was farther than the second pair I had narrowed it down to. But they were a lot less heavy. And they were clearer.

I did just Google the prices, now that I'm home. And you know what? They're within $10-$30 of typical online prices. OK.

Because? In addition to the expertise the staff gave me, they also chipped in a lens pen *and* a harness, which I was planning to buy. Apparently it wasn't in perfect condition (it was a return), but I didn't see anything wrong with it at all. Anyhoo, that's about $35 worth of extras they threw in.

Well worth it, in my opinion. Well worth it.

(The binoculars are so awesome! They're feather-light! They focus really close up! They're bright! They're clear! And what's rather amusing to me is that my first binoculars are the same brand, but a couple of steps down.)

LOVE!

Obsessive inaccuracy

I feel petty bringing this up, but there's nothing more annoying than when someone corrects you, and they're wrong. The commenter was referencing this post.

What to say?

Every day I have fewer things that beg me to write here. Indeed, it's not that my life is either so full or so empty that hinders things. I don't know what it could be. Ah well, no worries.

I've been tempted to write OLD WEST DURHAM in every post ever since I discovered that our wonderful and very nice neighborhood association president has an RSS alert set up for references to OLD WEST DURHAM. Hi John! Hilarious. To me at least. Sorry for the silly prank here, John. You know I love this neighborhood. LOVE.

I just did a 3-mile hike at the Eno. Bubba dragged me at a faster pace than I'm used to on unlevel terrain, so it took under an hour. I didn't bring binoculars, but I should have. I swear I saw a broad-winged hawk sitting on a line at the realty company I rent from. Buteos and accipiters aren't my strength, and the without a field guide to compare, I just noticed as much as I could. Red chest on sides and shortish tail lacking the stripes of a Cooper's, though there was one band on it. Problem is, broad-winged hawks aren't here this time of year. They've gone way south. So...I'd bet it was actually a Cooper's hawk after all. Maybe a juvenile?

Anyhoo, lots to do this weekend, both socially and obligationally.

The Friendly Birdy Island

"Aunt Stew, you're spilling your beer!" 6-year-old orange-headed nephew. Gotta love a guy who knows what's important, hm?

Mom and Pedro gave me their old camera, so I took a bunch of photos. Unfortunately, the light was rarely right. Here are the best of the bunch. I didn't edit.

Pearly-eyed Thrasher*



Black-faced Grassquit*

'
Black-necked Stilts and White-Cheeked Pintails*.


Zenaida Dove


Lesser Antillean Bullfinch


Bananaquit!! (definitely the best bird picture I got)


Ruddy Turnstones

Green-throated Carib



*Lifer this trip!! (Also, a female American Wigeon and Caribbean Coots)

Other birds: Gray Kingbird, Antillean Crested Hummingbird (so tiny), Common Ground Dove (also tiny!), Brown Pelican, Magnificent Frigatebird, Brown Booby, Common Moorhen, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Sanderling, Spotted Sandpiper, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Cattle Egret, Green Heron... I'm probably forgetting a ton. Ah well.

Oh, and check out this delightful surprise I found next to a beach bar!





(Yes, they were tasty.)

Just for Jerry. And birders.

Another Bubba post, but no pictures this time. (Ed: How's a video?)

.

I just wrote this email to my lovely housemate:

This is kind of funny. I've been working in the yard all day, and came across some of the Bubster's poop in the backyard. It had all of these smooth things in it that kind of looked like roaches or beetles, only not moving.

I was stumped.

Until! I remembered that it's persimmon season. Out in the woods, persimmon trees grow wild--in the fall, they ripen up and fall off the trees. They're really really yummy and sweet, unless they're not ripe. If you bite into one too soon, they're....astringent would be the best word. They make your mouth pucker up and feel dry. It's not like your reaction to something sour. Hard to explain. If you know what alum is (I don't expect you do!), that's the exact sensation.

Anyway, Bubba's been eating persimmons. Check out this link and scroll down to see what's in his poop!

There's nothing wrong with him eating them in general, I don't think, but they may be what's been messing up his tummy.

*********

In other news, I went birding this morning and got a lifer! (I am not a "twitcher", for the record. And what a bizarre term!)

This is the first time this fall I've even seen any true migrants. Actually, it's the first time I've seen any warblers since I went to Michigan. I even had to pull out the Sibley's. That's been rare this year. For what it's worth, the lifer was a male Black-throated Green Warbler. The other cool ones were a female Black-throated Blue Warbler, and a couple of Black and White Warblers.

What a great day so far

Shelby

It's raining! Not the crazy pouring storm type of rain, but it has cut into my birding a bit.

Yesterday morning I headed out to the nature preserve first thing, and immediately spotted a slew of female or juvenile American Redstarts. There were some of the usual suspects as well--Red Eyed Vireos galore, for example, and titmice, chickadees, bluejays and the like. By far the most exciting were a pair of Hooded Warblers. My Sibley's says they're not usually up here in this part of Michigan, so I'm interested in checking out their distribution in more detail a bit later.

That is if I don't run out of time. I'm at the small library in the small town closest to the cottage, and I have about 10 minutes left of computer time before they kick me out. So this entry will be brief brief brief! Both of the librarians have really cute hair and were kind enough to refer me to their stylist down the road. $14 for a haircut is really unheard of. I'm up for it.

I'm sure I have 90 zillion more things to report (of interest to few, but hey, that's my MO) but neither the time nor the memory to flesh them out.

Oh, Marco? I'm noting things for you. There were a bunch of cyclists I passed on the way into town. I bet you've done that route before.

Much love to you all,
Stew

Hand feeding

Next door neighbor just came over a few minutes ago, slightly frantic. Right next to his back steps were two itsy baby birds. One was dead, and the other had its mouth gaping open for food. They'd fallen or been knocked from their nest. They were about like this one.

As Neighbor readied the ladder to put the baby back in the nest, I rushed to the worm bin and pulled out a handful of castings. I callously ripped a couple of worms into bits and fed the not-even-close-to-fledging poor baby, who gulped them down. Then Neighbor climbed up the ladder, Momma Robin screamed and flew away, and then the baby was back at home.

I hope it lives. I hope we did the right thing.

Awesome

So...Marco talked me in to staying until Tuesday morning. See, my sweet Nem is coming to town for a conference on Monday, so we're going out to din din that evening for old time's sake. I met both Marco and Nem when I was temping at an organization that led to my eventual job track. The agency had a big USAID contract to do work in developing countries in the area of maternal and child health. Or as Marc put it last night, "We're in the business of saving mothers and babies." I worked in the resource center, i.e. tiny library. It was pretty easy work, and fascinating to boot. I read journal articles and then routed them around to the more senior staff to see who wanted to read what. Believe it or not, we did have the internets, but dead tree was still standard.

Anyhoo...

Yesterday I think I walked at least 10 miles. By the time I got home mid-afternoon, my legs and feet were so tired I thought I was going to die. Of course I didn't. But I did have to take a nap and bunches of ibuprofen. Which reminds me, I need to put some in my backpack.

The itinerary yesterday was the National Zoo and then the Museum of Natural History. Both were full of rambunctious children with their contact information pinned or stickered to their clothes. They screamed a lot. The zoo took up a lot of time and walking, so by the time I got to the Museum of Natural History I was pooped and not particularly interested in wading through the throngs. I sought refuge in the only unpopulated exhibit: DC Birds.

Hidden away in the basement was a somewhat grisly collection of taxidermied remains, poorly lit and locked in display cases. The birds were dusty, faded and rather gross. The owls in particular were lacking tufts of feathers, and the brighter warblers were barely showing their colors.

I was surprised, however, at the sizes of the birds. None of them was as big or as small as I had always typed them. There were also a number of extinct specimens, such as Passenger Pigeons and a Carolina Parakeet. I tried my hand at IDing some of the warblers, but was not particularly successful.

Hippo, above, taken for Nemoid's sake.

Off to the Portrait Gallery.

Annoying the Mockers

It was raining lightly this morning, and I needed a break from work. So I went to score some hallucinogens. Well, not that I knew that or anything--jeeze, my mom used to encourage me to take them when we'd find the pushers at the farmer's market in good ol' GR.

After all, they were free. Typical marketing; get you good and hooked for free and then raise the price.

Wait. They don't raise the price on this one. What's that about? Maybe they weighed the drug against its beneficial component, Resveratrol. It extends your life! Prevents cancer! Increases your athletic performance! It increases the potency of your HIV antiretroviral drugs! It blocks the flu!*

*NB: I make no claims to the veracity of these statements, other than that I read it on Wikipedia.

Squawk!

Did the CH bird count this morning. Well, half of it, anyway. I stopped when I realized that despite a liberal coating of SPF 30 I was quickly becoming a rotisserie chicken. So I boogied after about only 4 hours.

Birding was slow today, for migration season. Even though I accompanied quite elite birders, there just weren't many birds out. Nonetheless, I got a good look at a number of migrating warblers and sparrows.

Super Meh
White throated Sparrow
Cardinal
Carolina Wren
Eastern Towhee
Carolina Chickadee
Titmouse
American Crow
Turkey Vulture
Canada Goose
Blue Jay

Slightly meh but first of the years
Indigo bunting
Red-eyed vireos (galore)
Blue Grosbeak
White-eyed vireo (nest!!)
Common Yellowthroat
Blue Gray Gnatcatcher
Summer Tanager
Scarlet Tanager
Catbird

Cool
Black and White Warbler
American Redstart
Yellow-breasted Chat

Very cool
Northern Parula (Great long look of it singing)

Possible Lifers (Lost my Sibley's and thus lost my life list)
Swamp Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Prairie Warbler (Fabulous song!)

There were a ton more seen but not heard, including Blackpoll Warblers. I've probably forgotten quite a few as well.

Swamp Sparrow photo courtesy of the Smithsonian National Zoo.

Bird Crazy

So, migration is getting into the swing, and I haven't been birding in ages and ages. Yesterday I went to Maria's to pitch in on some weeding and mulching. Got sunburned a little where I missed a spot on my left shoulder. Oh man, I'm rambling. Ah well, it's OK because I haven't had any coffee yet (argh!), and I'll eventually get to the point.

I brought my binocs to Maria's just in case. She's a birder pal, as well as a garden pal, a public health pal, a spanish-speaking pal, and just an all around fantastic pal. While we were hoeing, scraping, mulching, and picking out henbit galore, we heard the loud teacher teacher teacher of the ovenbirds.

So yeah, migration.

We tried to see the yellow-throated warbler, but his sweetie sweetie sweetie belied his location (can I use belie that way?). Despite our neck craning and patience, we didn't see him.

I suppose this taste of spring migration is what led to my dream last night. I discovered what I thought was a nest inside my house. I saw a male American Redstart in molt sitting on a low shelf, and cautiously approached. I held out my finger, hoping he'd perch on it, but he just pecked at it. It hurt, but in quite a delightful way. I got him some seed and lay it near him. He ate it immediately, and as I watched I saw that there were more birds, baby birds, behind a basket on the same shelf.

Time lapse. I went to get a camera. None of them worked.

So I returned to just observe. Between going to get the camera and returning, my parents' housekeeper of over 20 years, Ruth, had been to visit. She had cleaned off the shelf, leaving just the basket. I picked up the basket, and inside I realized things had changed since I'd last checked in.

Instead of baby birds and a lone molting Redstart, there was now a mix of warblers. Some I knew, and others I didn't. There were two Blackpoll Warblers that I first mistook for Black and White Warblers. (Actually, in the dream I thought they were Blackburnian Warblers, but I meant Blackpoll and just confused the name. Now, looking at the pictures, they actually were Black and White Warblers, because they had stripy heads).

There were about 5-6 birds in that basket, and there was one that I seriously had no idea about. It was a warbler, but it was no warbler I'd ever heard of. The most distinguishing mark was the thin yellow X across its throat.

Yesterday I was remembering the time I had an avian visitor in the house. I bet that's another reason for my dream last night.

I need to get out there. I suppose I'll head out tomorrow morning before I let migration pass me by.

My new friend

                      .--.
                   ."  o \__
                _.-"    ,(  `
            _.-"      ,;;|
       _.-=" _,"    ,,;;;'
   .-"`_.-"``-..,,;;;;:'
   `"'`          `\`\
                  /^\\\

(from here)

Last night I had an extremely vivid dream that to this minute brings me some very strong feelings of The Happy.

I was outside and saw a small, yellow bird. A warbler, of course. (Yes, this is a bird dream. Come on, you know it's boring as hell to hear about other people's dreams to begin with, so they might as well be about an arcane topic, right?)

So yeah, a yellow bird. Small one. It fluttered around by me, and when I held my hand up for it, it alighted onto my forefinger, as a falcon to my gauntlet. Then it crawled down to my hand, and it became clear that this was not just a wild bird, but a true friend. This bird had been looking for me.

It was yellow all over, but looking at it closely, there were a few areas of turquoise blue feathers on its flanks and near its eyes.

Someone was nearby and expressed surprise at the bird's tameness. I explained that this was a bird that was meant to for me, that it was a friend, and that its name was 'Thon.

'Thon rocked.

Take a moment when you can

This afternoon I walked over a few doors down to the bank to deposit some checks. As I came back into the parking lot of my building, I saw a raptor of some type or another alight on a branch nearby. I have a short day today, with little pressing to do at work; just a lot of catch up. So I decided to see what was up with the bird, and see if I could ID it.

I'm not so great with birds of prey. The ones I most easily ID around here are red-tailed hawks and bald eagles. But the problem is that there's another hawk, the red-shouldered hawk, that looks enough like a red-tailed (in repose and from below) that at this point I don't try to distinguish them anymore unless I have binoculars on me.

Which I didn't this afternoon.

Luckily, Mrs. Red-tailed Hawk (which is what I eventually decided she was) sat patiently in a big old willow oak, letting the jays swarm her. They were really quite ruthless and daring. As Mrs. RTH sat there, one jay after another would dive-bomb her back and peck her. She didn't budge.

I stood there for at least 10 minutes (time flies when you bird), walking around to the south side of the tree to get the best light on her. The jays squawked and buzzed around her. We were all just doing our thing.

And then I came in and wrote this, trying not to scratch my arms, face, neck, ears and face where the 3-month old rottweiler a board member brought by to visit licked me all over earlier. I know that dog spit is likely to do this to me, but rolling around on the floor and holding a baby puppy with puppy breath and sweet soft fur who likes to bite my hair and rip my earrings out of my ears apparently trumps any other need I have not to have a blotchy red countenance. If I don't scratch, hopefully the hives will just chill out and not swell. (Yes, I've doped up)

What a great afternoon.

Excitement!

I went outside just now to take in my roommate's coat, which he'd left on the porch.

Attuned as I am to bird sounds, I was surprised to hear a bunch of cheeping. Until....SHAZAM! There I saw a raptor of some sort, wanting to nibble some sparrow giblets. S/he landed, facing me for a moment, and I got a decent look at the breast and belly. Then I crept back in for my binocs to get a better look. There was much rustling around over in the NE corner of my backyard, where there's an overgrown tree stump covered in briars. Perfect sparrow habitat.

Soon it flew out of my yard, over past the neighbors house. I saw it in flight and was able to confirm the ID as a Cooper's Hawk.

New yard bird, people. Cool.

Lifers

Maria and I went birding this a.m. with her new spotting scope. We were hoping to score some fun water birds at a nearby state park, but we didn't have much luck there.

Overall we did get 29 species, though. (Maria, you forgot to write down the grackles and crows!) Of those, there were several highlights. For one, we saw three, count them three bald eagles. We had a very good look at two of them; one was sitting on an osprey's nest, and the other was in a nearby tree. They were both juveniles, and hard as hell to identify. Juvie Bald Eagles are a mottled brown, with a brown head and a brown beak. These were mottled brown, with a brown head and a YELLOW beak. Eventually we decided they were second-year birds. Here's a photo that shows a second year bird. The other one was also a juvie, but it was in flight, so we didn't feel compelled to study it as closely.

Other fun birds we saw: red-headed woodpecker, a flicker, a brown creeper, probably 30-40 (or more!) great blue herons, and both the golden- and ruby-crowned kinglets. None of those is rare, but they were still cool. We also saw a heron rookery with 30 nests.

I had two lifers: 50 or so buffleheads at a water treatment facility and a swamp sparrow. We also saw a huge beaver chugging along in the swamp, barely off of the road. It was quite precious.

I'm exhausted!

Through Rain and Cold and Dark of Morning

So there wasn't sleet or snow, at least, but I spent all day outside yesterday--7 a.m. to 4 p.m. birding for the Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count. It was me and this guy about my age who works at Private University as an ecologist. He's really fun and brought a couple of dozen Toll House cookies his wife made. Good man. Funny, too. He's from k-zoo, MI, which helps a slight bond between us.

He's also a really good birder; if it had been just me, I'd have seen probably the same number of birds, but it would have taken me 3 times as long to identify them. Most all of the raptors would have gone unidentified, because many of the hawks look so like the others that it's hard to tell. He was also irreplaceable for identifying "little brown jobbies." I got my first REALLY good look at some field sparrows yesterday.

We got together later for dinner with the rest of the people who'd participated in the Durham County count, and it was an overwhelmingly male group. My birding partner, who was the organizer for this count, estimated that about 90% of what he called "hardcore" birders are men, but that backyard birders are way more likely to be women. If you consider people who do bird counts to be the "hardcore" ones, he was pretty much on the money with the people who showed up at the dinner. Hm. Maybe I need to step up my birding-networking.

Wow. I just realized that I didn't have one "lifer" yesterday!

Reprinted with Permission from the Watts Hillandale Neightborhood Association listserv

Dear citizens,

I have observed urban chickens standing on corners trying to push illegal corn feed to innocent visiting chickens from the country as well as leaving it in plain site of our children. It has also been observed that urban chickens violate traffic laws as I noticed them traveling the wrong way around traffic circles while fleeing from prosecution from the chicken police for chicken misdemeanors to chicken felonies. Urban Chickens are know for trespassing, public disturbances, public defecation, j-walking, fleeing and eluding, threatening behavior to smaller chicks, and public lewd and lascivious behavior, and other disturbing urban chicken behaviors best left in the country.

They set a bad example for our domesticated animals and thus should be incarcerated in a maximum security chicken pen-itentiary under strict supervision of correctional officers (the fox) of the pen-itentiaries and isolation from the public for the protection of public safety and innocent country chicken corruption. Most incarcerated chickens are hardened by their confinement and while in incarceration learn more criminal chicken activities. They pose a risk to innocent chickens being lured into a life of criminal chicken crimes and rampant chicken gang induced violations in our community.

Please help keep our streets safe from these gangs of chickens from infiltrating our peaceful community. I have noticed different varieties of chickens gathering into groups. We do not need more gang chicken violence spreading filth into our communities. It is a statistic that different chicken gangs are already having wars over the heinous and illegal habit of chicken feed distribution. Chickens are incarcerated in pen-itentiaries from the cities and other populated communities for a reason.

Parole of chickens has proven a high rate of crime in areas they flee. Reincarceration is inevitable after they flock to neighboring communities creating pandemonium and illegal distribution of chicken feed. These criminal chickens should all be fried!!!!!

Please help keep our streets safe.....to quote Nancy Reagan "Just say no".

Dr. Cluck PHD.
The Domesticated Animal Rights Association of Durham

KERFUFFLE

I'm not one to challenge people's thoughts very often, especially people I don't know. I'm of the mind that people have some pretty strong opinions, and I'm willing to say what I think and why, but I'm not going to go all out to change their minds.

It's not worth it, typically, and it is pretty unpleasant to do. People can be assholes.

Especially on the internets. With this hen petition thingy, there's been quite a response on local Durham listservs. Local blogs have mentioned it, too. On the neighborhood listservs, people have strong opinions both ways, but haven't been too over the top in how they communicate their beliefs. Anonymous blog commenters are another story. Anonymous comments tend to be pretty obnoxious.

That's nothing new, though is it?

Bok Bok--Durham Advocacy for Backyard Chickens!

Hey. I need your help.

I want good eggs and some cute chickens! Currently it's illegal in Durham to keep them. Would you please help me out? I'll share the wealth of eggs should I get me some chickies.

You're not obligated to be from Durham, I don't believe, but if you are, it would be great to indicate that. The names and addresses end up being visible, so if you'd prefer some privacy, just put City, ZIP.

If you'd like to talk to me a little bit more about the benefits of happy eggs and backyard chickens, please do comment here or email me directly. I've a gmail account name of lastewie.

See below, and spread the WORD!


Dear Friends,

I have just read and signed the online petition:

"Chickens in Durham"

hosted on the web by PetitionOnline.com, the free online petition
service, at:

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/backyard/

I personally agree with what this petition says, and I think you might
agree, too. If you can spare a moment, please take a look, and consider
signing yourself.

Best wishes,

Stew

Random

My brain has been allowing about 1.5 thoughts before changing tack entirely. So here are some tidbits.

Doughnuts are good in the fall--especially when they're hot, cinnamon sugar cake doughnuts, with good apple cider from a local orchard.

Molding Mud reminds me of Spain.

Hot chocolate needs a squitch of salt in it.

I had weird dreams last night that involved a former boss--anxiety dreams.

When I was in middle school or maybe high school, some nearby business deep friend cinnamon raisin bagels and then dredged them in cinnamon sugar. Damn those were good.

I must be going through cinnamon withdrawal.

An unknown someone probably bought me a membership to the Audubon Society, because I got a fancy Audubon journal thingy in the mail last week. It has a beautiful Vermillion Flycatcher on the cover. I didn't get it for myself, and it also has my nickname on the mailing address. I only use my full first name on paperwork. I don't know who got it for me, though.

Actually, take that back. I have no idea why I have this journal. It seems to be affiliated only with the Christmas Bird Count.

Cobby-Cobberson is the talker/toucher, Bubbina is the surly loner* and LiLi is the aesthete/charmer.

I'm tired.

*in a good way