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Author Topic: wonderful day in the neighborhood..  (Read 5720 times)

sky otter

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wonderful day in the neighborhood..
« on: July 07, 2012, 08:39:03 am »


ah to borrow mr. rogers song

i luv where i am ..we get all kinds of visitors here..from the mundane working critters to the
strange-o flyovers

today was just so nice to see the workin critters

for the last few days i have been looking at small pieces from the hemlock tree lying on the corner of the patio and wondering..what the heck... 




i really should have figured it out..it's right under where that dirty s hitting bird robin had  a nest and raised some dirty babies

it's one of those look down then up scenarios




a small sparrow-sized bird - yet to be ID'd is refurbishing the robins nest with hemlock
hawks do this in a larger way for sanitation but i've never seen a little bird do it

so i went for the camera and just missed a shot of this little bird with a piece of hemlock the same size winging it's way to the nest...what a lot of work  to get the tiny branches off the hemlock - cart them across and drop a good half of them while tucking them in and around the old nest..

can't wait to id that little worker bird


and then hubby was checking one of the cuke patches and found an old friend
mr. toad..hard at work keepin the bugs down
good thing we moved most of the garden to right around the house  ..so we can get water to it
and i water the rocks for the toads







ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh saturday morning and an adventure without leaving the patio...don't cha just luv it?
i do

 ;D    8)


deuem

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Re: wonderful day in the neighborhood..
« Reply #1 on: July 07, 2012, 09:26:13 am »
Sky, you do know that after posting that we are all waiting to see what type of bird it is. So you are going to have to go back outside and wait for it to fly by again untill you take its photo. Then we want egg photos and baby pictures and first flight photos. Deuem

Offline rose

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Re: wonderful day in the neighborhood..
« Reply #2 on: July 07, 2012, 10:27:42 am »
Sky, thanks for documenting your encounters.  We share the world with some amazing creatures.

I was delighted and honored to see a small frog face  peeping over the edge of the reservoir of a self-watering planter a couple of days ago. It's a long hop from the neighbors fishpond, but I don't know where else he might have come from. I do not normally have aquatic animals in my yard.

And I once watched a pair of hawks doing that same process of nest refurbising a while back. They flew back and forth to their local Nest Depot tree where they would hop out to the tippy ends of the branches and bob up and down while snipping off the greenest twigs. Their determination was single minded and  the bobbing didn't bother them at all, though it made me laugh to see it.

Critter watching is so much fun! Even seeing the first of the cabbage worms and hornworms can give me a thrill. It's an affirmation that the cycle of life continues for another season. (And  it also means that the cactus wrens and the quail  are going to enjoy the feast I am about to put out for them.)

rose




Offline Linda Brown

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Re: wonderful day in the neighborhood..
« Reply #3 on: July 07, 2012, 10:56:36 am »
We are one of the few properties out here where you can find nests lined with fine and soft chestnut horsehair. When I brush my horses and they are shedding I leave the piles of hair blowing in the wind but pretty soon.... discover them neatly folded in amongst the branches. Such artists they are and great repurposing agents too!!!!  Linda

sky otter

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Re: wonderful day in the neighborhood..
« Reply #4 on: July 07, 2012, 12:06:15 pm »
 ;D

linda..i do that with my dog hair..it's a good thing

.................................................


 >:(

ok.. it wasn't a beautiful day in the neighborhood after all...grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

it's hot but i pulled up a chair and my bird book and the binoculars and the camera and got comfy
it didn't take long to see what was really going on..
a damn f****** race war between sparrow tribes

the little chirping or brewer's sparrow...they both have the white eye stripe and buff underbody color..i couldn't get a good look at the top of them..they are fast little flyers..even in this heat
so best guess is chirping sparrow cause i know they are here

in comes the little sparrow..luggin it's cargo that had to match or exceed it's body weight
into the nest...pat - pat into place..sit on the branch and pant..it's high 90's and nasty out there

off it flew..put down the binoculars..incomeing bird.wow, that was fast..must be a pair
nope it's a brown chin sparrow.easily recognized
 brown chin sparrow... the thugs of the sparrow world
the mean spiteful terrorist of the bird world.. (they will build right on top of the blue birds after the eggs are hatch and suffocate the babies..grrrrrrrrrr
they are good little buggers though..
into the nest.. and then plop - out comes a piece of hemlock to hit the patio..
sit on a branch and look around and then off it went

i said..WHAT.? ? ?

watched some more...in came a chick-a-dee..must have been a reporter chick a dee..getting the scoop..checked out the nest..looked at the ground - off it flew

repeat of the branches in..branches out

in comes a bluejay..huh.. must be working for a different news agency..checked out the
scene and off he went

repeat of the branches in and then back out

i went for a cool drink and came back out to squaking in the nest....one of the pair had stayed to guard it and was after the brown chin
yeahhhhhhhhhhhh.. i cheer on the  nest builder

sat back down..neck is hurting..watched the incomeing and tossing out yet again
got really mad at that brown chin and was going for my water hose
hubby says..what are you doing now?.....
i say.
.i'm ending a war..i'm gonna shoot that damn brown chin outta the tree with a blast of water every freakin time he tries to land

hubby says..let um alone..if they manage to have chicks the brown chins will only kill them and then how will you feel to see un feathered wrinkled litte birds on the patio
you shouldn't mess with nature..

i thought about it....i don't like it

i went and got some more cool water and sat and watched the whole thing continue
it was an arms war and neither side was backing down...

if i did get involved would i only be prolonging it? ? ?

oh damn....i am here now typing.. and not happy

i'll let ya know who finally wins

boo hoo...some birds are evil..boo hoo
 ::)

Offline Linda Brown

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Re: wonderful day in the neighborhood..
« Reply #5 on: July 07, 2012, 12:13:44 pm »
Anybody see the striking similarities here? the only thing that we can actually be pleased about is that we seem to be following natures  way.... from the sparrows to us...

Wonder sometimes where the Lady with the hose is.... but that galactic lady has done the same thing I think.... said.... leave it to them... they have to figure it out.....

But I wonder how temped she is to just hose us down.

Strange.... I just heard one of Dads companions at the Naval Research Lab when he said regarding a program being taken away from the Navy and handed to someone else...." We were hosed."  Funny

Rose, was that Ross?   Linda.


sky otter

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Re: wonderful day in the neighborhood..
« Reply #6 on: July 07, 2012, 12:29:32 pm »


linda...REALLY ? ? ?

Offline Linda Brown

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Re: wonderful day in the neighborhood..
« Reply #7 on: July 07, 2012, 12:33:18 pm »
Is that sarcasm I see dripping from the page? :D Linda

sky otter

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Re: wonderful day in the neighborhood..
« Reply #8 on: July 07, 2012, 12:44:49 pm »


no more like disbelief..

but i should expect it from you..shouldn't i

end of comments from me..sigh

Offline Somamech

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Re: wonderful day in the neighborhood..
« Reply #9 on: July 07, 2012, 01:47:15 pm »
Strange.... I just heard one of Dads companions at the Naval Research Lab when he said regarding a program being taken away from the Navy and handed to someone else...." We were hosed."  Funny


The Navy DONT Lose Battles..They just take awhile to Win sometimes  :P

deuem

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Re: wonderful day in the neighborhood..
« Reply #10 on: July 07, 2012, 11:07:57 pm »
Hey, I'm a guy, I would forget the hose and get a 12ga. Yea!, that will stop him. My yard, My rules! LOL
 ( psst, I don't even own a gun, it is just a joke! )
 
Bird Wars! The little dinos of the air, still at it after how many millions of years?
 
If this bird was on an endangered list I would help it out somehow if I could. But nature will win in the end with common birds. 100 million years of Dino winged war. Who knows, maybe this story will have a happy ending. The bird that is making the nest got this far. So he/she made it. They will have off spring that make it too....
 
Deuem

sky otter

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Re: wonderful day in the neighborhood..
« Reply #11 on: July 08, 2012, 07:16:44 am »


well they must have figured it out somehow..or just the builder just gave up..
no birds after 4 pm yesterday..they left me a pile of stuff







we were going to take the nest down after the dirty robin but didn't ..hubby says if they don't return by tomorrow..down comes the bird real estate


bird saga done for now..

bye bye birdie... ;D

Offline Linda Brown

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Re: wonderful day in the neighborhood..
« Reply #12 on: July 08, 2012, 07:20:47 am »
Somamech,

"The Navy DONT Lose Battles..They just take awhile to Win sometimes 

RIGHT

Go Navy.

Looking at my Dads officer sword as I wrote that   ;)
Linda

sky otter

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Re: wonderful day in the neighborhood..
« Reply #13 on: July 08, 2012, 07:22:17 am »
 ???

Offline Linda Brown

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Re: wonderful day in the neighborhood..
« Reply #14 on: July 08, 2012, 07:33:48 am »
Its a wonderful day in the neighborhood Sky Otter and you have been in the middle of an age old confrontation by winged dinosaurs! The comment I made about the idea of hosing those birds was aimed at what might be a creators reaction against all of us for our squabbles. I don't know how you took that. But it obviously was negatively for some reason.

The expression " We have been hosed" was issued by a Naval Intelligence officer by the name of Ross Gunn. He used to work with my Dad at the Naval Research Lab.... there were alot of important power struggles going on at the time regarding the use of atomic weapons and power systems and the Navy had a pretty good handle on things until another agency swept in and took over. Thats what he was referring to....when he said " We've been hosed!"

Later ....He happened to be one of the officers who was sitting in on some very high level meetings in the southwest after a serious flurry of " green fireballs" had been reported and men like Curtis Lemay thought that we were under attack by an enemy force..... there the Navy was again.... quietly in the background of the discussions with LaPaz.

Sometimes information seeps out in the most unusual of ways.... and your confrontation with the birds just reminded me of all of that and that our little squabbles are probably going to be life long too... but that we are all fulfilling some sort of destiny here.

I just meant that I hope Mother Nature doesn't tire of it all ahead of time before we can settle it ourselves because to be " hosed" by her..... would not be a good thing.

Have I explained myself enough?   Linda

 


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