not just for me

[solarbird]

The climate has turned another notch; we've had the same block of suet outside for a couple of weeks now, and birds have come regularly and nibbled small bits off and flown away - but in the last two days, the rate has climbed dramatically, with probably half the block vanishing in two days, and small fuzzy brown birds hanging out by it all the time, often hoping down into the little subcage that holds the suet block itself and just gorging. We'll have to replace that more often, soon, and buy new bricks more often.

I don't know must of the little birds I see; the finches and the larger birds, of course, are easy to identify - northern flickers, stellar's jays, the occasional crow coming by and chasing off everyone else. But while I want to call some of the other ones "sparrows," I don't know whether that's actually what they are.

No sign of any hummingbirds recently. Nothing's been at the feeder for a couple of weeks. I suppose most of them have migrated, like they do, but last winter we at least thought we had one stay around here for the year. I've replaced the water again anyway, tho' I do kind of feel it's a bit of a waste.

I don't think it's really in a very good spot, as far as the little birds are concerned. I suppose I should move it to someplace more visible. It's a great spot from my standpoint - a place with lots of good watching opportunities. (That's why I've never moved it.)

The recent clouds lifted a bunch, mid-morning, revealing a lot of new mountain snow. It's lovely, of course; snow is one of the best things in the world, and snow on mountains is particularly beautiful. I'm really glad we can see them again, now that we live here. If I get into grad school, and we have the money, I'll replace the big old CRT monitor in the office with a modern LCD flatscreen and do homework there, just so I can look at the mountains more often. ^_^

An odd thing about the news-parody/comedy shows this weekend - all these reliably funny people aren't really being, well, funny. I mean, they're doing their usual sorts of material, but it's falling flat, even with the studio audiences. Maybe once the indictment came down, it stopped being funny and started being serious.

Whatever. The important thing is that I finished carving my pumpkin and figured out a shadow-projection trick with Paul so we'll have some spoooooooookyness for trick-or-treat tomorrow. Mmmmmmmm, yay candy!


You're the backup. You could easily kill
anyone, but you keep yourself under control
and will hurt only if you have to.

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Comments

[firni.livejournal.com]

PICTURES

I'll tell you what the little birds are. Probably either a variety of chickadee or perhaps nuthatches.

[solarbird]

Even zoomed all the way in, Paul's digital camera doesn't have the lens or resolution to make happy birdie pictures. They look like last-known-photo shots. :(

[lickingtoad.livejournal.com]

Saw my first hummingbird up close, ever, a few weeks ago. My brother was in town and we were on the porch, and it was investigating a hanging plant. Something inside me went: "Jesus, that's a _huge_ bee!" But it wasn't.

[banner.livejournal.com]

It's changed down here in Sacramento too. Last weekend it was warm and dry. I come home this weekend and it's cold and wet! Fall has arrived (well, what passes for Fall down here at least anyways!)

[firni.livejournal.com]

Get binocs, then describe birdies to me. All brown? Brown with black on head? Black on head look like executioner's hood or just slashes? doo di doo doo doo

Okay! Here's one.

[solarbird]

There's a little pair right now hopping around in the leaves, like they're trying to dig something up. I thought one was fighting with a worm or something, but now I'm not sure.

Dark brown wings; brown and white spotted chest and face, whiter near the legs; the white spotting goes up under the wings, too. It has a black? necklace-like band around front of the neck. There are grey tips on the wings, greyish on the back between the wings, but still brown.

A second type I just saw is another regular; it's dark-grey-headed with a russet back, brown-and-black striped wings, and white or light grey underbelly. Above the belly, on the flanks, are light tan bands. There's a very similar companion with a head that I'd just go ahead and call black, tho' not as black as, say, a raven or crow.

Re: Okay! Here's one.

[firni.livejournal.com]

Size? Let's use a robin for comparison, they're a medium-sized bird, around 10" or so.

Chickadees and juncos are about 5-6", Steller's Jays and Flickers around 12". Just to give you an idea of what to compare them to.

This site has some pictures of PNW backyard birds. (http://www.christinevadai.com/index.html)

Re: Okay! Here's one.

[solarbird]

Smaller than robins or stellar's jays, which we also get.

We have at least this - Dark-eyed "Oregon" Junco - from the page you pointed me to. ^_^ That's the second bird I described.

Re: Okay! Here's one.

[solarbird]

From the "rural" list, I think we've also seen:

Aplondontia (Mountan Beaver, not a bird, but very surprising)
Spotted Towhee
And, of course, squirrels. And cats.

Also, I think I recognise a few birds from the suburban page.

Re: Okay! Here's one.

[firni.livejournal.com]

Cool! The juncos have recently moved back into our neighborhood (they seem to make themselves scarcer in the summer) and are happily pecking at the seed trays.

It's possible your other visitor was a song sparrow: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/programs/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Song_Sparrow.html

Re: Okay! Here's one.

[firni.livejournal.com]

Towhees are TEH BOMB. I love their red eyes.