Huginn and Muninn

I have a thing for the corvids. The Corvidae family of birds that is. You probably know the most famous member of the family, the crow. I've written about my love for crows here. Ravens, crows, rooks, magpies, and jays make up the most well known species of birds in the family. And they are all pretty cool birds.

Mythology has used crows and ravens in the past to symbolize intelligence, resourcefulness, tricksters, and sometimes death. The birds occasionally get a bad rap just because they can be scavengers. But my favorite corvid reference comes from Norse mythology. Odin was claimed to have two ravens: Huginn (Thought) and Muninn (Memory) which he sent out everyday all over Midgard (earth) to gather intelligence and collect memories. Odin is often pictured with the birds and since ravens are one of the cleverest of the birds this spy-like ability seems perfect for them.

I love the images and the idea of Huginn and Muninn. While reading some of the Norse stories I was instantly drawn to the two birds, much like I was drawn to the story of Fenrir, the wolf. But as a writer the birds have even more significance. I live in my thoughts and memories most of the time. These two concepts are central to writing. So the birds mean a lot to me. The moment I learned of them I wanted to get a tattoo of them. I'm thinking about putting them on my shoulders, one to a side. I too want to be like Odin, sending out my thoughts and memories into the world and seeing what comes back. Of course it doesn't hurt that they are corvids. Cool birds, and a cool mythology.

The Bird

The bird above is the one that got me into birdwatching. It was the bird that made me pick up my binoculars and once I viewed those gorgeous stripes down its back, I was hooked. Birds were suddenly everywhere and I was suddenly paying attention. I'm not a good birder but I'm learning. All because of this bird.

This is a Red Bellied Woodpecker. We have a pair of them that nest in the dead tree along our creek. I heard them one afternoon and grabbed Jeff's old binoculars to see what was making the noise. It was a strange call. I followed the call and found the bird, and was struck dumb. The stripes on its back were beautiful. The red head was such a wonderful contrast. From a distance I hadn't seen half the details. After that, I started watching birds regularly. I bought a new pair of binoculars. I bought bird identification books. All because of this bird.

If you're staring at this bird and wondering about the name, notice the picture at the tail end of the post (tail-end, get it?). The Red Headed Woodpecker has a red head and plain black back. The Red Bellied Woodpecker has a red head, black and white stripes on its back...and a red belly. You can only see it occasionally. Like as it flies away. Remember that most birds were named after being shot and held in hand. A horrible way to name a beautiful bird.

Happy Hunting

There's something special about wildlife encounters. Every time I see a deer crossing the road or a bunny eating grass at twilight I get a little thrill. And then when it is a bigger more elusive animal, it's even more magical. I've seen a porcupine in a tree, a fox one morning before work, pheasants crossing the road, and even a wolf. And each time I stop whatever I'm doing and just watch. I like to say that spending time with wildlife and nature is the closest feelings I have to a religion. Bird, mammal, even insect encounters can feel like magic to me.

I've had two hawk encounters at home in the last couple months. The first was when I noticed a ground squirrel making an alarm call on the patio. The chipmunk alarm call is loud, loud enough that you have no idea how such a small creature makes such an intense, and irritating, noise. I went to the window to see the little guy sitting on top of my air conditioner, calling away. I was curious about what had alarmed him, until a hawk walked around the side of the air conditioner. Walked. It was already on the ground hunting the chipmunk. But sadly the little bugger had eluded him. We tried to get pictures of this huge (and beautiful) bird just standing on the patio but before we could snap a picture he noticed Jeff and was gone.

See how close I am       ^

The second encounter was just this past weekend. For anyone who's a Facebook friend you've already seen one of these pictures. On Saturday I'm sitting on the couch knitting when all of a sudden Jeff gasps. Then tells me, in a low whisper, to look to my right. Sitting on the patio fence is this beautiful hawk. He's alternating watching us and watching the mice that I keep unfortunately attracting to the feeder. There are several of them below him but he's taking his time to hunt. Jeff grabbed the camera and this bird was far more accomodating than the previous one. He sat for about 25 minutes, watching the mice, debating an attack. All the while we snapped photos and video. It was only when my neighbors left to go out that he flew away. I was less than 10 feet away from this bird. I was able to watch him at leisure. It was such a fantastic moment. I only wish he had managed to get one of the mice. Before they find their way in. Wildlife encounters are wonderful...in the wild. Not in the house.

[Edit: I forgot about Jeff's encounter in mid-summer with the bird below. He/she landed on the fence and mantled there. Then after a while it dropped to the ground to spread its wings further. I wonder if most of these encounters are the same bird. The stomach banding is the same. The bird below (the earlier one taken) has yellow eyes, but hawks eyes often darken as they age. I wonder if we are seeing our juvenile all grown up. 

Recent Visitor

Ever since I put up my bird feeder I've had regular avian visitors. I started seeing birds only 17 hours after putting up the feeder and have rarely had a break since. I love seeing the chickadees, finches, nuthatches, cardinals, woodpeckers and sparrows that flock to the feeder. I have a rabbit that has started coming in the morning, along with numerous ground squirrels and squirrels. But none of them is as exciting as what Jeff saw when he looked out the window this past week.

He was watching Olympics coverage when he heard something loud out the window. He glanced out to see this beautiful bird above. It's either a juvenile Sharp-Shinned hawk or a juvenile Cooper's hawk. They look very similar at this age from what I know. The yellow eyes tell me that this is a juvenile. They'll turn a beautiful red as she ages. From the size I think it's female. She's a bit bigger than a crow which is the average size.

Jeff tells me that after sitting up on the fence for a bit, the hawk flew to the ground and spent some time sunning. It spread it's wings out and hunkered on the ground. No doubt it was waiting for some of the regular sparrows to come back. Coopers and Sharpies regularly eat feeder birds. So this pretty bird was waiting for a meal. After Jeff sent me a text with a picture my next question was whether it had found a meal or not. I'm excited that it's hunting my area. I love that not only does my feeder attract small birds but the big predators come by extension. Such a beautiful sighting. While I wish I'd gotten to see it but  I love all the pictures Jeff took for me.

Hummingbirds

This is my computer's wallpaper. I have about 30 dozen hummingbird pictures in my iPhoto. I just love the birds. This one is from my parent's backyard. They have a Lantana that gets regular hummingbirds. The other ones are from my feeder. I started feeding them with premade food but then started making my own food after hearing some concerns about the premade stuff. Sugar and water is all you need to attract them and is quick and easy to make. The red dye isn't needed and actually may be bad for them.

I love how bold these birds are. I can sit less than 2 feet from the feeder and they will come. I can hear the buzzing of their wings and their chirps as they swoop past my head. They hover and feed so close without fear. For a tiny little bird, they offer a lot of beauty and boldness.

Beauty in a Murder

Des Moines has a crow problem. Or at least that's what the city officials say. Each morning as I arrive at work I get to see hundreds and hundreds of crows heading out from their nightly roost to find food for the day. Each evening as I leave I see them return to that roost. They crowd into the trees and sleep together for safety and warmth (they only roost in the winter). The city says it's a problem. I think it's incredible. But then again I think crows in general are pretty incredible.

The Corvid family includes the smartest birds in the bird world. It includes crows, rooks, magpies, ravens, and jays. They are all smart enough that captive corvids require stimulation. Ravens are given toys to keep them from going mad. Crows and rooks have shown tool usage, what used to be the distinguishing feature between humans and animals. And not only are they smart but they are evolutionary marvels. Crows can live anywhere. Eat almost anything. They are the winning species in terms of evolving to live with humans. Which I think is one of the reasons, we as humans don't like them. We see them a lot. And their scavenger/opportunistic ways, make us uncomfortable. But they have won the evolution game with those same tactics.

The first time I saw a crow walk I could practically see the velocirapter in its movements. Crows strut. They bob their heads as they walk in a movement that looks prehistoric. It looks like they stepped out of the jurassic period. These are birds that existed before the most recent ice age. They have had a long history, despite human's frequent attempts to exterminate them. Crows are everywhere. They are listed as a species of least concern in terms of endangerment. We see them every day. But I wonder if we really think about how well this species has done. The city of Des Moines alone has thousands of birds most of them sleeping downtown. Enough that people have been complaining. Other cities have more. Plus crows live out in the country as well. I think the number alone say something. You can look at a crow and see their inky blackness as ugly or terrible. I see them as intelligent interesting birds that have learned to adapt. And we (as humans) can sometimes be tough to adapt to.

Groupings

Jeff and I were recently in Iowa City and as I got out of the car at the gas station I was startled by the sound of birds. Lots of birds! Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" number of birds. The trees right next to the gas station were filled with hundreds and hundreds of starlings. I stood and listened to them for a while but a thought kept bothering me. I had just learned what a group of starlings was called. They have a special name, not just flock. It bothered me all the way home.

We have lots of specialized words for groups. Almost everyone knows that a group of fish is a school. Or a group of lions is a pride. But not as many know that a group of starlings is a murmuration. Or that a group of owls is a parliament. Luckily I have a handy reference guide, that my sweet little sister gave me. An Exaltation of Larks by James Lipton (yes, that James Lipton) is filled with group names. A leap of leopards, a pod of whales, a host of angels. Some are more common than others. Others are far stranger.

The moment I got home from our trip I picked up my book and flipped through until I found the starlings. The book has no index so it's more about browsing than just finding. It is organized from most common to ones created by Mr. Lipton himself. The groupings are interspersed with pictures. My sister had seen it in a used book store and had bought it knowing my love of words and trivia. It is a joy to look through if you like words and wordplay.  It's a gift that I've come to appreciate more and more.

Here are just a few more examples of interesting grouping names:
A Murder of Crows (one of my favorite grouping names)
A Siege of Herons
A Singular of Boars
A Charm of Finches
A Tiding of Magpies
A Clowder of Cats
And of course An Exaltation of Larks

By the way, if you've never seen starlings in their flocks, you need to see this. Starlings (as much as they are disliked) have some of the greatest flying displays ever.

Creepy Cardinal

I have my computer set up so that my desktop photo changes every five minutes or so. The computer shuffles through all the pictures in my iPhoto library and displays them. It's actually a lot of fun to find old photos that I haven't seen in quite a while. Last week there was a dark image that popped up on the screen. I minimized and I have to admit that this photo of a cardinal kind of freaked me out. It must be the glowing eyes. Or the fact that it all looks fake. Not sure what it was, but I knew I wanted to share the image. I just find it creepy.

In Mourning

Dove hunting started September 1st in Iowa. For the first time in 93 years it is now legal to kill mourning doves in the state. The Des Moines Register had a huge article the very next day glorifying a group of hunters who bagged dozens of birds yesterday. And not surprisingly, I couldn’t be more pissed.

Now I’m not a hunter as you all know. Hell, I don’t even eat meat much less go out to kill the creatures that provide it. I don’t know the emotions that come with hunting. But dove hunting is particularly loathsome to me. Mourning doves have some of the most beautiful calls of any bird in our area. Their soft coos and owl-like calls are a constant in my neighborhood. Since I feed the birds I get to listen to the beautiful whistling their wings make when they take off. They are surprisingly pretty birds. But that’s not what really makes dove hunting unsportsmanlike to me.

The reason I’m pissed is that doves are relatively easy pickings. Doves tend to be the last to leave an area after all other birds are startled. They cannot silence their wing whistles so they are easy to track as they fly away. I will admit that they aren’t the brightest birds on the block (if hunters really wanted a challenge they should gun for crows). They can be downright stupid sometimes. Instead they are beautiful gentle birds who are going to see their population drop very significantly in the next couple years. Like the passenger pigeon (which was exterminated in less than 50 years) the dove I think will start to see a serious decline. And I’m saddened that I won’t be hearing their calls or their wing whistles. Like most times when humans and creatures mix, the creatures have lost. And very few are mourning them.

Plunderers

I woke at 4 am this morning. With the windows open any outdoor noise wakes me up, although I don't think that's what got me. I woke from a horrible nightmare with a start and then, only then, did I notice the odd thunking sound. It sounded like someone pounding on my fence. I stood up and glanced out the window to see plunderers attacking my bird feeder. Two raccoons decided to make a feast of my seed and were practically pulling the feeder off the shepard's hook. I hissed at them from the upstairs window but they didn't even bother to look up. I woke Jeff up who had the idea of going downstairs and trying to scare them away from there. He flipped the light on and off, opened and slammed the door and the bigger one didn't even bother to jump off the fence. It was only when he went outside (not ten feet from them) that they scurried away. But they were back within seconds. He finally went out and collected the feeder before they went away.

It was eerie, standing there watching them. They don't seem mammalian. Or at least not the type that I'm used to. And they were big. Bigger than I expected. I've only had one other run in with a raccoon before and that was way too close for comfort. I didn't get a good look at its body as I backed away hurriedly from the bushes it had been hiding in. I just remember screaming. Raccoons will not hesitate to go for the eyes if they feel threatened. So I had forbidden Jeff to go outside last night. He didn't listen and I'm very thankful. They would have easily ripped the hook down (it was loose this morning) and destroyed my feeder. The cat, wisely perhaps, chose to watch from the safety of the upstairs window. They easily had a good 20 pounds on her.

I tried to get pictures but none turned out. If I had been thinking (it was 4 after all) I would have just turned on the light and clicked away. Instead I tried to get shots with and without the flash, none of which turned out. After the feeder was in we went back to bed, only to be woken twenty minutes later by a woodpecker who was trying to break through my neighbor's metal gutters. It's become a daily habit with the stupid bird. I hiss at him and he goes away but is normally back within half an hour to try again. I'm not sure how well his tiny little brain is working. Or mine. I'm beginning to think that the feeder might not be such a good idea.

Cardinals Courting

I saw the cutest thing this morning. I was packing up my lunch to get ready for work when the cat started meowing at the open front door. I open the front door but leave the storm door shut so she can watch the birds. This morning she was trying to talk to the beautiful male cardinal that was sitting on the patio eating. I stopped for a moment and watched him. That's when I noticed the female cardinal in the yard.

Scruffy looking female cardinal

Now cardinals mate for life, which means that after courting they breed together each year until one or the other dies. They are not strictly monogamous in the winter but during the breeding season they are. And they always travel together. Normally the male comes down to eat while the females waits in the tree, keeping guard. Then they switch. This morning they were both on the ground. As I watched the male picked up a couple of seeds and then flitted over to the female and passed the food to her beak-to-beak. He then went back to the pile of seeds picked up more, and repeated the process. He was feeding her.

A cardinal at the feeder in winter

It looked like a tiny cardinal kiss when they ever so briefly touched beaks. I read up a bit on the behavior and just as I thought, those cardinals were courting. Mate-feeding normally takes place during courting and for much of the breeding season. It's actually a pretty common practice among courting cardinals, but I'd never seen it in person. As I watched, the male made about 6 trips back and forth from the seed to his mate. It was truly one of the cutest things I've ever seen.

I didn't even think to grab the camera this morning to take some shots (cut me some slack it was 6:30 in the morning), so I've stolen the image below from a Toronto newspaper. Sorry. The other shots are mine.

A Birding Mystery Solved and Word Verification

I'm saddened to say that because of a high number of spam comments recently I've decided to turn on word verification. I was having to delete lots of comments that were clearly spam and this just makes it simpler for me. It will make leaving comments a bit more cumbersome but hopefully not too bad. Sorry about the inconvenience.

My big excitement for the night was that I finally figured out a birding mystery that has been plaguing me for the last two and a half years. Yeah apparently I get a bit obsessive. Anyway. In 2008, Jeff and I went on a Caribbean cruise to celebrate the end of my masters program. It was a very nice trip but I came back with a picture of a bird that really bothered me. It involved an injured bird that I couldn't identify. It was one of the saddest and most interesting day of the cruise for me. And so the bird nagged at me. Until today.

The day we arrived in Belize, Jeff and I had had it. We had been busy and constantly moving for many days now and we were tired and snipping at each other. Not exactly relaxing. Jeff wanted to stay on the boat rather then tender to shore. I reluctantly agreed. I had wanted to see Belize but I was also a bit tired and not sure I wanted to explore by myself. So we parked ourselves on the deck chairs in the sun and relaxed. He worked on a puzzle book and I wrote. Until we noticed movement under some of the deck chairs not far away.

This was our first image of the little guy. He was hiding under the chairs, trying to pull himself up. We didn't want to spook him so we didn't get close. Instead I pulled up a chair a distance away and sketched him. We watched him for about an hour. I made sure no one went too close. Finally when we decided that he wasn't going to be able to escape on his own, we made the agonizing decision to call one of the deck stewards. The crew arrived and gently removed the bird. I remember crying a bit as they took him away since I didn't know what they were going to do with him. I was distracted and sad the rest of the day. But I also realized that the reason I had been so tired and cranky before was that I was missing birds and animals (there aren't many on cruises). I'm incredibly biophiliac. It was wonderful to be so close to a beautiful creature even though I still have no idea what happened to him.

When I came home, I scoured through my bird books and some bird websites, trying to figure out what type of bird it was. I figured it was a juvenile so that made it a bit trickier. The feet were pretty identifiable but I still came up empty. I checked all over with no luck. I even contacted the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology but chickened out before sending them any photos. So it became a mystery. Most of the time I didn't think about it but occasionally I would go back and see what I could find.

This evening I went out birding with my parents. We saw blue-winged teals and an adorable pied-billed grebe. I went to mark them off in my North American Field Guide when I decided to again look for my mystery bird. I was obviously blind. I'm not sure how I missed it before. I flipped the pages and then, as if by magic, the page dropped open. It's an immature Purple Gallinule. It's a perfect example, in the right place. The gallinule is apparently pretty common. I had just been missing the page or something. So my mystery bird is no longer a mystery. Although the fate of that particular individual will never be answered. My hope, naive perhaps, is that it was tendered to shore and given to a local wildlife rehabber. At least that's the story that helps me sleep at night.

Bird Books

Over the last couple years I've become a birder. It started innocently enough when I began reading the Birdchick's blog and learning more about birds. I've always wanted to take nature photos and loved her images. But after reading for only a couple weeks I started noticing the birds around me. I bought a bird guide, which eventually became three or four bird guides. I bought a cheap bird feeder and have gradually moved up to good feeders. I can now recognize all the birds that come to my feeder. And I'm starting to venture farther afield to find more birds. I've become a birder.

So it's no surprise that I've started buying nonfiction titles about birds. This past week has been bird book week. I started with Hope is the Thing With Feathers by Christopher Cokinos. Cokinos tells the fascinating and tragic tale of six bird species that have gone extinct: the Carolina Parakeet, Passenger Pigeons, the Ivory Billed Woodpecker, the Labrador Duck, the Great Auk, and the Heath Hen. I was well aware of the Passenger Pigeon but knew very little about many of the other birds. Cokinos points out that Passenger Pigeons were described in the early 1800s as wonderfully prolific. Within 50 years, they were extinct. An amazing reminder of how fast a species can go from populous to gone. Cokinos includes history of the birds, speculation about their extinction, and his own personal journey to recapture the essence of these birds. Many of the birds have been extinct for a hundred years but Cokinos tracks down old specimens, old environments, and personal descriptions written by the people who actually saw them. An amazing book, sad but inspiring.

After the difficulty of extinction, I wanted something a bit more uplifting. Tim Gallagher's In Search of Birds and Wild Places fit the bill. Gallagher is a falconer, a photographer, a birder, and an adventurer. Tim takes the reader along on some amazing journeys to some of the more remote places on earth. He describes traveling in Iceland and Greenland, searching for gyrfalcons and peregrine falcons. He describes hanging off cliffs in icy weather, boating past icebergs, and trekking in places that few people have every walked through. He describes the beauty of North Padre Island, Texas and Churchill, Manitoba. He visits California to try to save the California Condor and Alberta Canada to watch Prairie Falcons. These stories made me want to get out exploring. I want to photograph birds and nature and spend time in places that no one else have visiting. A fast read that inspired.

My next book is A Year on the Wing by Tim Dee. I've heard good things about this one and am excited to start it. I wonder if I should branch out into other types of books. I figure eventually I'll hit bird overload. But for right now I'm enjoying the birds.

New Feeder

I've been meaning to write about my birthday present from my parents and just hadn't taken the time yet. But I've been enjoying it on a daily basis and figured I'd finally share my new toy. You know you're old when you ask for a new bird feeder for your birthday. Well I'm officially old. And I couldn't love my new feeder more.

The squirrels had destroyed my last one. In one swipe of a paw they had sent it flying to the ground and broke it. When asked by my parents, Jeff had mentioned I wanted a new finch feeder. And not just any finch feeder, an antimicrobial feeder from Wild Birds Unlimited. So I went without for almost two weeks waiting for my birthday. When I opened my gift I knew instantly what I was getting. But I didn't realize that they would include the great rain cover. I hung it up the very next day.

I filled my new feeder with Finch Feed from Wild Birds Unlimited and look what I get. Finches!! Those are five goldfinches (in their winter plumage) eating at my feeder. What you don't see are the three others on top of the hook, the woodpecker waiting his turn, and two chickadees that are waiting for an opening. I have a constant stream of birds. The only ones who haven't come back are the cardinals. Oh..and the squirrels. I watched a squirrel come up to the feeder, sniff it, and walk away. I don't think I have to worry about this new feeder.

Bird Photos

As I sat outside today I started taking pictures of the birds and playing with the zoom on my camera. I took two photos that I'm the most excited about. I love how close they are and how detailed.

A pair of Black Capped Chickadees

A weather-beaten looking Titmouse

For a Lark

I've been drawing robins recently. I'm not sure why. For the past year or so I've been drawing this one particular robin, a character with a mask. Sometimes he's a superhero. Sometimes he's a villian. I think there is probably a graphic novel in here somewhere but I haven't taken the time yet to find it. But yesterday over lunch I sat down and created these images really quick on MS Paint. Nothing artistic. Nothing incredible. Just pure silliness. And I thought I'd share.

It's the devious General Robin with his second-in-command Archduke Cardinal.

On a different note, I'm getting the hell out of dodge this weekend and there won't be any postings for the rest of the week and probably Monday. I'll try to get something up Tuesday but it's a vacation day and I'm not making any promises. Have a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day weekend!

Late Night Visitors

This post is my 400th. I'm both happy or sad about this. On one hand, 400 is a ton of writing. This blog has been a therapist, a forum, and a great excuse to write. I love writing it and I love sharing the interesting things I find. I've enjoyed every step of the way. But on the other hand, it's taken me almost a year and a half to get to 400. That's a lot of days missed. So I'll try to be faster with the next 400. I don't intend to slow down with this anytime soon.

That said, on with the show. I have to share about my new found friend. My new noisy neighbor who keeps me company late at night. Since I broke my leg, I haven't been sleeping well. I can doze off for about 45 minutes at a time. Then I wake up and need to find a new comfortable position so I can get another 45 minutes of sleep. What that means is that I'm up for a good chunk of the night tossing and turning. I've started to dread bedtime because I know that sleep won't come easily. But there is one bright side to the early morning hours.

I think it was the second or third night after my fall that I heard it. He or she (I'm actually not sure) is a Great Horned Owl, a name that cannot help be remind me of Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. Every night, starting shortly after midnight, it begins its calling from the woods right near my house. It will keep up its quiet hooting up until 3. When I first heard the hooting I was intrigued and couldn't sleep. Now I find it soothing. The owl's quiet noises lull me to sleep. I've started looking forward to hearing him. I probably won't ever get a chance to see this magnificent bird but hearing him has certainly eased my insomnia a little. It may still take me an hour or so to fall back to sleep but at least the time is peaceful and relaxed.

If you get a moment, check out the Great Horned Owl entry on the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology. You can even play a recording of the typical hoots of this beautiful bird. Or any other bird. This has to be my favorite site for learning bird calls. Great resource.

Halloween Bird

{Warning: The images below might be a bit icky for some people.}

With the time change, I've been getting up extra early. Even on weekends I'm waking up at 7:30 or 8. I'm much more of a morning person so I'm not complaining. I love the quiet stillness of Saturday mornings. I make a pot of coffee, haul out my notebook and pens, and watch the birds visit my feeder. That had to be the most entertaining purchase I've ever made. I find infinite pleasure in watching the variety of birds that visit. I've had beautiful birds like this gorgeous cardinal that visited during the snowstorm we had in October.

I have nuthatches and chickadees that visit regularly. They are my most frequent visitors. So frequent in fact that I've stopped photographing them. I do watch them with the binoculars though. I was watching this Saturday when a house finch landed on the feeder. I noticed that his head looked a little rough and picked up the binoculars. One half of the head was fine, a perfect finch face. The other side was...not. It looked like the finch's head had exploded. I was fascinated and horrified by it.

Here is the regular side.

Here is the other.

So I found my way to the computer to see if I can figure out what could be wrong with it. It appears to be Avian Pox which means I had to wash my bird feeder again. This is a contagious disease for birds (finches are regularly infected). The finch didn't seem to have too much trouble eating but I had to feel sorry for it. It will eventually starve or be killed by a predator. I watched it most of the morning.

The other birds, like this woodpecker (above), didn't seem to have a problem with it. But for me it was like a train wreck. It was the first injured or ill bird to have visited my feeder and I couldn't help but feel sorry for it. I hope it does okay and comes back. I keep the feeder full. I'll see if I see it again.

Cleansing Post

I need a little cleansing post. Today has been a hard day. It has been filled with unpleasant surprises about illnesses and I'm not even going to discuss the horror story that is my office right now. Things are, pretty up in the air. So instead I'm going to focus on my happy thing for the day.

My feeder has been discovered. Sadly it's been discovered by a squinty (thirteen striped ground squirrel for everyone not in Iowa). He arrives at the feeder, stuffs his cheeks with tons of food, and runs back to his den. And while I'm frustrated that he can empty my feeder in a day, I think he's absolutely adorable when his cheeks are stuffed with seed. Here he is peering over the side of the feeder. Not sure what he's looking at. [Note: I have no idea why these little creatures are called squinties in Iowa. It's the name I grew up with and just seems to be the standard for the state. I'll see if I can find that out]

Here is a black-capped chickadee that has been coming for a couple weeks. Today he fought over the feeder with this white-breasted nuthatch. I've never seen more than one bird on this feeder but I switched food today. It was a nice surprise in a day filled with bad ones.

And here is a little video of my uninvited guest. Enjoy the chubby cheeks. I wonder how much seed he can pack in there. Plus he appears to think that my feeder is a swing. He's a cute little fellow I just wish he ate a little slower.

Thanks for allowing me to share about the happy part of my day.

Biophilia

I'm reading The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner. In the book Weiner, an NPR journalist, travels around the world looking for the happiest places. One of the places he starts his journey at is in Switzerland. He is trying to figure out why the Swiss are so happy when he stumbles upon a word that sums up beautifully one of the things that makes me the happiest: biophilia. 

Have you ever gone walking in the woods? It doesn't matter what mood you have when you enter the woods. If you allow yourself to just be part of the woods you will walk out happier. There is a strange sense of peace we get when you are surrounded by nature. I never realized that there was a word for this feeling. The official definition is "the connections that human beings subconsciously seek with the rest of life". Biophilia was coined by Edward O. Wilson in 1984. Perhaps this could explain why deeply urban dwellers seem to be less happy. There is simply less contact with the natural world. 

This is something I had noticed on my own many times. We took a cruise in October which was wonderful. But I noticed that I was starting to get irritable by the third day. We had been off the boat but Key West was mostly city, and Cozumel was mostly rushed. By Belize, Jeff and I were both frustrated and snapping. Then this little fellow came into my life. 

We were up walking on the deck when we found him. He appeared young and injured and I watched him for over three hours unsure of what to do to help. Mostly I wanted to protect him from people coming over and disturbing him. My hope is that with rest he would be strong again. I sketched him from afar and watched him. And my soul was soothed. The crew captured him (at the request of some other cruisers) and hopefully helped him off the boat to a rehabilitation clinic. That is my only hope. I cried as he was taken away assuming they would kill him. Now I don't know. I have no idea what species he is. If anyone knows, please leave a comment with it. All I know is that spending some time watching and protecting him, made me feel like myself again. I had missed that contact with nature.