Twitterpated

I use Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s website, All About Birds, a lot when I research different birds. Today was the first time that I clicked over to their blog, Round Robin. Like the finest english saddles, this blog is soft and supple and easy. Easy to read that is. However, despite its comfortableness, it carries some weight. It has tons of really interesting ornithological information. If you are interested in birds, be sure to check out this blog. I think you will keep going back for more.

And with the nesting season winding down, I can sit under my trees without being if fear of sitting in one of the European starlings’ toilets! There is nothing worse than sitting around talking to friends only to have someone get pooped on because they happened to sit underneath a nesting site. We have so many of those dirty birds that the lawn under our trees almost looks painted white during nesting season. I know some people really love those starlings but I am not one of them.

I have noticed that there are not many robins left in the yard. There are still a few but not as many as there were a month ago. I guess it is inevitable that fall sneaks up on us like it does. Most of the robins have already packed up their movers New York and headed south for the winter. But there are those few hangers on that still talk to me when I wake up. A couple of years ago we had a robin who wintered over in our yard. It wasn’t back last winter. It probably decided that it liked the warmer weather of the south!

We were picking apples with some friends of ours earlier in the week. An old bird nest fell out of the tree while we were shaking it. This little nest was lined with soft down and was a luxurious as the most expensive of pet beds. One of my girls picked it up and cradled it in her hands like it was made of fine porcelain. Its just too bad that we can’t have a collection of nests.

I was ready to bust out the home theater furniture at my bible study yesterday! My friends house is built on the bank of a private lake. The bird activity over that lake yesterday was phenomenal! There were quite a few tree swallows and a bunch of others birds that were too far away to identify without looking rude. I really could have lingered beside their lake long after bible study was over and been quite happy.

Sadly our yard will be getting serious acne treatments this fall or early spring. We have a huge old maple in our backyard and a smaller but still old one in the front that need to come down. This is going to have an effect on our birds. Those trees housed a lot of red-headed woodpeckers, sparrows, robins and American kestrels. It will be strange not to wake to the sounds of the birds in the tree outside my window during the summer. And it will be strange to not have the kestrels in the yard all summer long. We have already planted trees to replace the ones we are taking down but they won’t reach the same towering heights for years.

One of the birds that I can remember seeing a picture of a long, long time ago is a Painted Bunting. I was just a child and yet that garishly colored bird has stuck with me all these years. The males are so colorful that you think someone must have airbrushed paint on them. I unfortunately live outside of their range. I can only imagine what it must be like to see a couple of these males in a territorial fight! They are highly territorial and their fights can end in death. But I am thinking about the flashes of brilliant color as they defend their territory. It must be breathtaking!

Do you ever watch Dirty Jobs on The Discovery Channel? We are big fans of that show and watch it regularly. Not too long ago the episode I watched was about tagging birds on an island. I can’t remember where or what kind of birds. But what I do remember was that the birds would regurgitate as a defense mechanism. Talk about not needing diet pills! These birds would hear the researchers walking below the nests and either regurgitate or poop to scare them away or distract them. These are not the only birds that vomit for defense. There are actually quite a few that use that defense mechanism. Aren’t you glad that people don’t do that?

Baby birds grow so quickly! Before you know it, they are all feathered out and out of the nest. They don’t really go through a very long awkward, acne producing teen stage. They do have an ugly stage that lasts just a few days and then, BOOM!, they are off on their own. Sometimes I wish kids were that easy to raise!

I just had a flash memory! I can remember being probably about 10 or so. My younger brother and I were walking down the dirt lane that wound through our field to the creek. Suddenly 2 huge birds flew low over top of us. It scared both of us and we ran at a dead run to the creek and skittered under the bridge as fast as we could! Those birds landed in a dead tree right beside the bridge. I can just remember looking up at them and being scared and amazed. They were bigger than any bird I had seen. They eventually took silent flight and we ran back to the house to report our sighting. Today, I know that it was a pair of Great Blue Herons. But back then they were some scary looking prehistoric beasts!