Thursday, May 03, 2007

Found a Flicker Feather


I found a flicker feather
not far from the fence today.


That's your tongue-twister for the day, folks.

It's amazing what you find when you're paying attention. Outside one of the back doors at work, a robin has built a beautiful little nest in a small pine tree; it's so low that even I (at 5'1") could look into the nest when Mother was away this afternoon:

I have always loved robin's eggs; who doesn't? That blue is so beautiful. These eggs are being well-tended by Mother, who's rarely away except (I imagine) to get a meal.

My birding friend at work has been seeing all sorts of warblers around the walking trail out behind the building; he's out there early in the morning. Unfortunately, all my untrained eyes ever see during my lunchtime walks is robins and starlings. I've heard some interesting sounds out there, but I haven't seen any warblers yet. I did see those brown creepers, though--that was something!

He's going to the Magee Marsh birding event the same weekend I'll be in Franklin, PA, for the birding festival where Julie Zickefoose will be. I'm only going to the early-morning birding walk with her, then a thing on nature photography, and another thing on creating better backyard habitats for birds. I wish I could do the dinner, the mingle, etc. but I just don't have that much time. Still, just the birding walk alone is going to make the three-hour drive soooo worth it!

On my way to get Kat at school today, I performed a quickstop highway pullover that would've made Mary proud--to get a photo of this hawk:

Is this a red-tail? Here he's scratching his head with those talons, yet miraculously not scalping himself:


I also have some photos from earlier this week that you should see. First, we had a killdeer in Neighbor Ed's driveway yesterday morning; look at those freaky red eyes:

He was just screaming his little head off. Glad I wasn't trying to sleep.

Also found an interesting butterfly in the garden the other day:

That is a butterfly, right? He's kinda furry like a moth, but I think it's butterfly. At any rate, I checked several butterfly sites but couldn't find this guy. What is this, oh nature people out there?

Our lilac is just about to burst into bloom:

Thanks to my study of American poetry in college, lilacs will always remind me of another time when America was at war. Of course, back then, we had a real leader at the helm, not "The Commander Guy." Is that like GI Joe, only without the kung-fu grip?

We've had a lot of chipping sparrows at the feeder during the last few days; I love their garish red caps and '40s movie-star eyeliner. Here they're sitting in our just-bursting-with-new-needles tamarack:


There's a bunch of these sweet little daffodils (?) blooming just beyond the fence on the marsh:


Mr. House Finch posed for a portrait yesterday afternoon in the tamarack:


The view from the road over the marsh to the hills beyond:

9 comments:

Mary said...

Delia, having lightning fast reflexes helps get those shots, don't they?

I need my guide to ID hawks, but since it has a red tail and they're common, I call it a Red-Tailed. LOL!

I saw a killdeer last week and thought those eyes looked worrisome and its behavior strange. They nest on the ground and ward off danger by acting like idiots to draw attention away from their nest!

I haven't seen a flicker yet, but by the look of that feather, they should be hard to spot!

Your flower and bird photos are so good. The Robin eggs are sweet!

So you are a shorty, too? I used to be 5'1-1/2". I guess I might be a little shorter than that now.

West Coast Birding said...

Hi, the butterfly looks like a Comma..still trying to work it out, the pale markings on the wings are confusing, otherwise I would GUESS.Hoary Comma..Cheers RM

West Coast Birding said...

The Butterfly is a Comma of some sort. Hoary is my best guess the the white on the wings is confusing..hmmm

West Coast Birding said...

The butterfly looks like a Comma. Hoary is the cosest but the white on the wings is confusing..hmmm

Susan Gets Native said...

I'm not a butterfly expert, but that makes me think "comma".
And yes, that's a red-tailed.

Mary has really set the standard of "Hell-bent for leather bird driving", hasn't she?

dguzman said...

Mary, Susan's description is pretty accurate: "hell-bent for leather!" I realized after I pulled off that I might've looked for police first, but what the hay?

Thanks for your compliments on my pics; I try hard!

Yeah, the killdeers are weird. Any bird with blood-red eyes kinda gives me the heebie-jeebies, though.

Thanks, Gone Birding--I had looked at the commas, but I too was confused by the wing marks. We'll call it a comma and be done with it!

Susan, what would we do without Mary's crazy driving?! Thanks for the confirmation on the red-tail--I knew you'd know.

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