esrosedotblog

A pair of ravens have adopted our fountain as a stopping off spot and a place to get a drink.

Ravens are tough birds. They do not tolerate smaller birds and chase them away.

But, we believe in letting nature take its course and if there are to be ravens, then there will be ravens.

They are fascinating birds to watch. They wash their food. And leave bits and pieces near their fountain for later snacks.

I am ambivalent about the other birds but we weren't getting that many anyway. Around here, the population is sparse except during migration.

So black is the new bird costume.

Labels: birds

Before we moved to the desert, a road runner was a cartoon character with a strange beep sound. Beep Beep.

I can testify that if the bird actually beeps it does so in the privacy of its own habitat and not around people.

This morning, we were waiting for our friend Jim to arrive, out front, and we were joined by a road runner. A male. Someone had seen the hen down the street. They travel in pairs.

He was, as usual, curious as to what we were doing and did not flinch at any human thing that we were doing. Of course, we did not run at him or throw anything. We behaved ourselves.

They are a most peculiar bird and as if to live up to their name, will not fly unless and until they absolutely have to. If they can, they prefer running. They will eventually fly of course but not because they want to.

They talk. A harsh squawk. They fuss. They are very interesting. Nod and bob the head, looking us over. Almost challenging us to get closer.

He stayed there as we watched each other. Stood his ground. Eventually I think that he left when the car we were waiting for arrived. By that time we had lost interest in each other. He had other things to do and so did we.

They are not rare by any means. They are very good for their human neighbors because they eat mice and other good sized animals that we consider pests. Unfortunately, this includes lizards so if you have a road runner or two you will not have lizards.

We used to have a nice big one around our house and I remember the day I saw a road runner take off with him. I still mourn the loss.

I am not kidding. Sadness takes over. But lizards grow back and the road runner has his tastes and so be it.

Labels: birds, desert

BUILDING

I wrote about the little birds that are building a nest in my cactus.

They have been hard at it all day, day in, day out.

Amazing.

We do not seem to be a bother to them.

There is a lot more today than when John took this photo.

Fascinating.

Nature in the raw.

They are intense.

I have never seen anything like this up close. We have had nesting birds nearby but never a front row seat.

I have to go near the nest every other day or so to get the hose and water.

Otherwise we are staying away.

Nifty.

Labels: birds, condo, nature

ANYWHERE I HANG MY HAT IS HOME

John came to get me a while ago.

We went and looked out the dining area slider.

There, in a kind of cactus tree I have, part of my "collection", maybe two feet tall are two birds.

Building a nest.

Busy, busy, busy. And pretty much unafraid.

Well the have no reason to be afraid, if the cactus tree doesn't topple of their weight. But they are both in the tree now, in and out, landing, taking off. Bits of thread, grass, the rest.

This is very nice.

This is one of the bird couples who come to visit our water fountain on a regular basis.

Convenient housing nearby.

No. I do not know what kind of bird they are. I don't do birds. I watch them. That is enough. Man names them. They don't care.

Labels: birds

CARRIER

I am in the middle of reading about the huge scam the Brits pulled on the Germans in WWII, fake intelligence to throw them off on many aspects of the war but mostly the DDay location.

There is a chapter on carrier pigeons and their utter ineffectiveness in wartime.

This made me think about it again.

Code Found on Pigeon Baffles British Cryptographers

I also am interested in homing pigeons. I have known some people who had them. I wouldn't want it because of the mess and worry. "Will they come home"?

So I really enjoyed reading this.

Labels: birds, war and peace

RUNNING THE ROAD

Suddenly road runners!

We have a family living nearby. A mom and a pop and at least one baby.

They are running all over our quarter of the complex.

I wonder if people are feeding them. Cat food is very good. Of course they will never leave if that is done so as more kids come they will not go out of the territory.

They are quite inquisitive and nearly fearless. Of course there are no predators except, perhaps, Booker. And they know all about him. They come in the yard and he barks at them. They fly, reluctantly, up to the garage roof and look down. They give him the rattle/buzz sound.

Soon I expect to see some Acme explosives come down at him.

I do not think that even a cat will take them on. They would not back down and their bill will do some serious damage. To say nothing of the spurs on their feet.

They are great fun to watch mostly, I think, because they watch us back. We are extremely interesting to them.

A great social contract.

Labels: birds, nature

HUMMER

I noticed more hummingbirds outside our study window. It faces north and there are not a lot of flowers out there. How come, the hummers?

Yesterday I got my answer. They have built a nest on our Paoli Soleri Arcosanti bells.

I am not sure if the nest will affect the tone of the bells, probably not, or whether a nest is sustainable on the narrow top. But it is holding so far.

I thought that I saw little bird bills looking over the top of the tiny nest.

Nice.

Labels: birds, condo

SING OUT LOUIE!

The mocking birds are singing all night now.

When Booker and I go out at 3AM, there is one singing wildly in the ficus tree just two doors down.

That is just the area where we roam around to pee.

You don't think we would do it in front of our unit do you?

This bird sings very loudly and I whistle back and then he mocks me but in a very complimentary way. His mocks are much more beautifully embellished. I cannot match them.

Booker is used to it now. We don't whistle for or at him but he knows what it means. Looks. Gives a puzzled shake of his head and proceeds with the sniffing that has to precede a successful pee.

I worried that we would scare the bird away.

No chance.

They are notoriously brave. And, I suppose, he knows that we mean no harm. He is safe in a very thick ficus tree and no one, even the natural predators like ravens, are likely to attack.

So he sings. And I whistle back. And a good time is had by all.

Come on Book, time to get breakfast.

Labels: birds

BATH

One worry I had about moving is that we would lose the bird show that we had at the fountain there at the old place.

I needn't have been concerned. There are more birds in our new complex than we have room for at the old fiber glass fountain that was here when we arrived. It has three tiers! Well, four with the top bubbler. Just like the one pictured.

The biggest and dumbest bathers are the doves whose feet are big enough that they can roost and drink, bathe and cool off, in the lowest, biggest level.

Then the mocking birds which use the next tier up.

After that, everyone else on the penultimate pool and the smallest, mostly the hummingbirds hovering over the top which has the bubbler.

A lot of the smaller birds like to sit on the bubbler and let the water run up over them. It is allowed. The pump doesn't care.

I cleaned the fountain out yesterday. Once a month.

I can get almost all the dirt out as I siphon. The hose end just lifts all the junk out.

At the end, all I have to do is mop up with a big towel or rag. A rag is an old towel.

I also pressure clean the line between the pump and the top. Run the hose backward, backflush.

The bubbler on top really gets going. All the silt and little leaves are out and not blocking it.

Birds are very happy.

You don't see any in this picture because we scared them away. Let's get out of here so they can get a bath and a drink.

Labels: birds, condo