A thankful day

There is much to be thankful for in this world of ours. These wild turkeys, for instance, must be thankful to be in a vegetarian's yard on Thanksgiving Day!

A dash of blue

The drab environment is occasionally splashed with brilliant blues and reds. A gang of blue jays descended on our feeder and proceeded to monopolize it and the ground around it for the next half hour or so.

I recently read (thanks to two very funny and informative bird books* by Mike O'Connor) that blue jays often store seeds in their throats and cart them away for future consumption. here is a view of such behavior:

An action shot of a jay at work:

Scouting the ground (for fallen seeds or acorns?) while other "family" members sampled the feeder fare:

Showing off the blues:

"Why are you staring at me?"

*The two books reference above are:

M. O'Connor (1997) "Why Don't Woodpeckers Get Headaches? And Other Bird Questions You Know You Want to Ask."

M. O'Connor (2013) "Why Do Bluebirds Hate Me? More Answers to Common and Not-So-Common Questions about Birds and Birding."

The garden has gone to the birds!

After spending the spring and summer trying to protect the flowering plants from wildlife attacks, it is time now to sit back and enjoy the... wildlife! The bird feeder easily draws in the fauna of the winged variety (and a few non-flying squirrels for variety). The relatively drab background of browns and yellows causes a blending of feathers into the fading foliage.

This downy woodpecker has decided to give our house structure a break, and eat seeds for a while:

A tufted titmouse explores our "seedy" neighborhood:

The titmouse does a great jobs of sharing with a black-capped chickadee (the Massachusetts state bird):

Nature's pest control army is quite a hoot

A few nights ago, I was awakened by a haunting noise from outside my window, and realized they might be owls. Short bursts of three hoots, followed by silence, then the hoots again. I was too sleepy though to get up and investigate.

The birds were in fine form again last night despite the winter cold and a light rain. Here is a short clip of what sounds like two Great Horned Owls. The background noise is that of the rain drumming on my porch and roof:

[Great Horned Owl duet]

Day was about to break, yet it was still too dark to see the birds. But I think I know which direction the sounds came from.

I hope to put a face to the voice some time soon!