by Lanny McDowell on January 26, 2010
Economy got you down? Looking for ways to save your hard earned do-re-mi? Thinking of cutting back or cutting off birdseed altogether? Let them fend for themselves, right?
But wait! Try the new Sharpienator. One sharpie used only once or twice a day will solve that bird food drain on your scarce resources. And it is Absolutely Free! You can’t buy the Sharpienator in any store. But wait. There’s more!
So, you get the idea. When the last snows started to melt the action at my feeders returned quickly to null and void. I am used to having a coops cruise the place on a regular basis. This year it’s a handsome and very stealthy adult male. But very little birds manage to visit the feeders anyway. Goldfinches and such. Chickadees will scold a Cooper’s Hawk. At sparrow size all this changes. They are big enough and slow enough to not risk exposure to a stalking Cooper’s Hawk.
Today it became very clear why even the little guys were not around. I mean, like, gone, absent from class. The following sharpie photos were taken in an apple tree that is usually the last stop for birds before they approach my feeders. He just sat there, alertly monitoring any action in the area. The last shot of the series below, while not a good bird photograph, shows the hawk in sight of flying prey and just about to launch after it. Note the complete streamlining of its body feathers from a pose of observation to one of ignition for pursuit. Also the relative proportion of the head to the body has altered considerably.
Attention wandering:
Attention in the wrong place:
Resigned:
Disinterested:
Interested:
Very interested:
Birds are cool! Lanny
These images and Avian Art fine art prints are available for purchase. Contact me or View my gallery.
I have a list of folks who get an emailed notice from me with a URL to click on when I have posted a new blog. There are also times when I just send out photos to the list without bothering to blog about them or post them to a listserve. Not on the list? Want to be? Just contact me saying you want to be on the list or, better yet, subscribe to Feedburner above, in the right side column for automatic blog feeds to your email. Getting off the list is just as simple.
by Lanny McDowell on January 23, 2010
I received a call from someone who had found a barn owl in the snow, with just its head protruding. It had died, most probably from starvation, and it was found a few feet from a small rural outbuilding which had been fitted with an entrance hole high up in the gable end. I do not know if there was a nesting box inside, or only the visible entrance hole, clearly provided as an access for winged beasties.
The snow was melting away leaving more of the dead owl exposed. The caller and I speculated on the raptor’s demise. I spoke of the recurring threat of snow cover too deep for too long, the condition that denies the owl’s access to rodents and that defines how far north (so far) these birds can survive. Or, in this case, how far north they cannot survive.
If the scene sounds grisly, considering the bird’s death due to climate was actually matter of fact, any sadness overpowered by appreciation of the incredible beauty of the remains. We usually see a flash of solid and ghostly white overhead when these beauties are encountered, slipping by in the dark or rasping their awful screeches. Seen from above and at close range, the details of pattern, color and individual feather design are breathtaking. Seeing a Barn Owl this close may not prompt you to go to church, but there is religion in the air, awe in your heart.
Here she is at arm’s length, still handsome, though the spirit has flown on:
Begin the Cosmic Plumage Tour:
The business end:
Birds are cool! Lanny
These images and Avian Art fine art prints are available for purchase. Contact me or View my gallery.
I have a list of folks who get an emailed notice from me with a URL to click on when I have posted a new blog. There are also times when I just send out photos to the list without bothering to blog about them or post them to a listserve. Not on the list? Want to be? Just contact me saying you want to be on the list or, better yet, subscribe to Feedburner above, in the right side column for automatic blog feeds to your email. Getting off the list is just as simple.
by Lanny McDowell on January 10, 2010
Martha’s Vineyard, her rocky shores and the rich marine ecology that surrounds her, is very attractive to Common Eiders looking to winter in a place that grows and gives up enough tonnage of food resources to keep the feathered thousands alive through the coldest months. The patterns of major sea duck concentration have changed this winter, presumably moving with the food resource. There are almost always a smaller number of eiders that congregate near the jetties at Menemsha. What they were doing when I was there yesterday is what they often do at sea, just in a more confined space: riding the current and feeding, then flying back to take another pass on the current. They were riding on the incoming tide ripping south between the stone jetties, with the wind at their backs, to enter the broadening waters of the tidal pond. On cue, on a whim or reacting to an ambulatory threat they pattered into flight north against the wind between the walls of rock to settle on the sea just outside the harbor, eventually funneling back to repeat the circuit.
This show is there for anyone to watch. I was on the Aquinnah side, but next time I will go out on the Coast Guard dock at the harbor and observe from the comfort of my car. I include here a few bird photos which I previously sent out to my regular email list.
We are going BIG today! A little text overlap won’t hurt anything.
Birds are cool! Lanny
These images and Avian Art fine art prints are available for purchase. Contact me or View my gallery.
I have a list of folks who get an emailed notice from me with a URL to click on when I have posted a new blog. There are also times when I just send out photos to the list without bothering to blog about them or post them to a listserve. Not on the list? Want to be? Just contact me saying you want to be on the list or, better yet, subscribe to Feedburner above, in the right side column for automatic blog feeds to your email. Getting off the list is just as simple.
by Lanny McDowell on January 4, 2010
They were also the first in quite a while on Martha’s Vineyard. They sort of had to be the first of the year, since it was the first of the year, about ten thirty in the morning.
The checklist for the Martha’s Vineyard Christmas Bird Count, which takes place tomorrow, on January fifth, due to a weather delay, says the CBC has recorded one Tundra Swan since 1999. Soo Whiting’s book, Vineyard Birds II, says tundras were seen more frequently and more regularly on CBCs up until ‘92 and then, for the most part, not seen after that. She writes, “Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket are the two best places in Massachusetts where an observer might expect to see this rare visitor.” It’s only a guess, but I would be quite surprised if [click to continue...]
