Yellow-rumped Warbler at Rest

A Yellow-rumped Warbler carrion at my youngest son's preschool. The beauty of something so delicate and untouchable...in your hands. An exquisite experience. 

California Thrasher

Over the deliciously long Thanksgiving weekend, I spent a lot of time in the garden. Interspersed with pitching for baseball batting practice, I pruned our St. Catherine's Lace buckwheat. This California Thrasher (Toxostoma redivivium) winters in our yard. Over the two days pruning the buckwheat, we became familiar with each other's presence. I noticed the Thrasher eating the fallen burst pomegranates. I gently pulled one from the tree and placed it two feet before me. Cautiously, the Thrasher approached and took the fruit as I sat and observed. I took this picture with my phone camera, but mostly I just watched trying to take in how it looked, how it moved. The Thrasher is such an exquisite bird with the long curved beak. They are partial to underbrush, so it's typically hard to see them. To be this close felt like an unexpected completely thrilling gift.

A Sparrow's Tiny Departure

An almost eight year old at our house is now officially a free n' two wheelin' bike rider. So exciting, the side by side run, holding onto his bike seat, "Okay, Mom, let go!" And off he goes and goes and goes. While we were at one of our local parks enjoying the flat long pathways, we stumbled upon a baby sparrow. I walked past and noticed a tiny still bird not moving despite my closeness. The sweet young bird still had a few of fluffy little feathers of a baby bird newly fledged from the nest. My sons and I think she may have been mouthed by a bird dog also in the park.

My youngest son sat with the dying bird, laying some sticks flat around it. "What's happening, Mom?" he asked. I said the bird was letting go of its life energy.

Slowly and gracefully over the next fifteen minutes, this bird stopped breathing. The jagged breaths ended. Calm beauty remained.

I dug a small hole, my son gently pushed the lifeless body into it. We covered it with dirt. I am reminded of my dear Moxie. I think of my friend's good friend & family who said goodbye to their son this summer.

“to live in this world

you must be able
to do three things
to love what is mortal;
to hold it

against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go” 
-Mary Oliver
excerpt from In Blackwater Woods

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Enroute to his shack, Eric stumbled upon a fallen Yellow-rumped Warbler. In the space of minutes to travel to the house and back, this tiny carrion lay on the pathway. We examined the warm pliable body, the delicate intestines rudely exposed from a tear above the warbler's left leg.

Most likely a Cooper's Hawk swooped and punched this little bird. Ten minutes after taking these photos, Eric and I returned to an empty slab. Perhaps the hawk returned for her lunch. I will remember next time to look up and examine the trees to document these tiny tragedies.

Cooper's Hawk & Crow Fighter Pilots

In the park next to my son's preschool, I noticed a bit of bird excitement in a towering sycamore. A small flock of crows were in a thither. As I walked closer, I saw the source of their consternation: a perched Cooper's Hawk most likely in search of food in the form of crow fledgling. About six crows dive bombed the Cooper's Hawk in a sortie-like attack. The Cooper's Hawk flew like a jet fighter master, drop descending and and making sharp breaks and turns that easily sloughed off the more cumbersome crow.

The power of the crows was in their numbers. Although the Cooper's Hawk easily outflew them, the successive attacks kept the Cooper's Hawk on the run. But the swift hawk would often dodge a darting crow and turn his/her defense into an attack by flying closely on the tail of the crow. The crow would abort the mission and pull away from the Cooper's Hawk. The crows would team up and return to confront the tireless hawk. The avian scene played like a World War II film filled with dramatic Air Force fight scenes.

Breathtaking to the grounded observer.

Yet Again: The Return of the Egg

Our ability to keep nesting birds out of our outdoor tent is laughable.

The birds built a nest in the far entrance and laid an egg. Now we wait.

Our humane owl bird control failed.

Owl Bird Control

Each year around mother's day, a sparrow family starts making a nest in the tent. Often, they are successful despite our best attempts to block the entrance of the tent and make the location inhospitable.

As the birds began to craft yet another nest this year, Eric resorted to his art degree for some bird control measures.

Eric used a recycled cereal box for the body and head and some scraps to make the eyes and nose. He drew the body using markers.

The owl now hangs menacingly in the tent. If you were a sparrow, you'd be shaking with fear. Actually, after Eric hung it, I watched the sparrows enter the tent without demonstrating the proper fear and trepidation. I went back and tried to remove hospitable nest making areas. For all I know, the sparrows may be back right now with a nest of cuties.

One Small Egg

Found in the yard. About an inch wide and long but missing the reverse side...pecked evenly open. There's a newbie at Camp Ramshackle. I'm not sure where, but I'm looking.

Found Bushtit Nest

The boys and I ventured to Garfield Park in South Pasadena. The conventional playground equipment wasn't as compelling at "The Jungle", an older stone amphitheater a few steps north of the playground. We made our way to "The Jungle" where rains had made a wonderful lake around a picnic table. My oldest made a bridge with found pieces of palm tree fronds from land to table. A group of kids joined in the play and the bridge was widened.

While the kids were playing, I found this bushtit nest on the ground. The intricate beauty of this carefully woven nest takes my breath away. What an exquisite home.

Small Delights in Yard Exploration

Hawk in Flight

The kids and I went to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County to catch the Pavilion of Wings butterfly exhibit before it closes for the season this weekend.

As we picnicked on the lawn, a huge hawk, possibly a juvenile red-tail hawk, swooped low to the ground and landed on the handrail of the walkway to the museum. We got about ten feet from this magnificent creature. Only after it flew away did I remember I had my camera with me. My apologies for the blurry shots and filthy lens. The event is still worth sharing. We watched the giant bird fly east towards the rose garden.

The kids followed suit and took flight.

A few more posts about the NHM:

NHM Members' Loan Service

T-Rex Puppet at LA County NHM

The Nest

From the outside.

On the inside.

In the meantime, a small house finch sits and waits while four eggs warm.

Hummingbird Garden Visitor

While working in the garden at my sons' preschool, my youngest and I had a welcome visitor.

My son got so close. The hummingbird was interested in us and flew away only after my son got about three feet away.

It was exhilarating. We've had the luck to experience some intimate encounters with birds: an accidental aviary, baby birds in the tent, two years in a row.

Pinecone Bird Feeder

My mother gave the boys a Charlie Brown advent calendar. Behind each door is a different project or task. One project was to make a bird feeder. The assembly of the feeder was defined by a simple pictogram: pinecone + peanut butter jar + bird seed.

We had two pinecones on hand.


We slathered them with almond butter (what was in our pantry).


We sprinkled our buttered pinecones with bird seed.


Then we hung them in the tree and bird feeder. The milk carton bird feeder was a prior project from Big Bird's Busy Book.

Blown Bird Nest

I found this empty bird's nest after our recent gusty days. As the nest was so clean, it may have been abandoned before it blew from the tree.

Bird Song Books & Bird Watching

The company behind the fabulous Bird Song books, becker & mayer!, read about my post about The Backyard Birdsong Guide: Western North America and the fix I made to the missing battery cover. Jessica generously sent over a copy with a cover in tact and the more detailed Bird Songs: 250 North American Birds in Song. My family and I are loving it. Thank you, Jessica!

Photo by my oldest son.

With the arrival of the books, we've enjoyed a great wave of bird watching. As I was hanging up laundry, I noticed a California Thrasher. Typically, there are hard to spot because they hide under lower shrubs. I saw the usual cluster of mockingbirds, scrub jays and darting woodpeckers.

In the afternoon, a Turkey Vulture flew over head. I think the vulture was displaced from the fires. It's the first one near our house I've seen in seven years of living here.

At the Arroyo Seco, the kids and I saw a Western Bluebird and an energetic little yellow bird with distinct eye rings. I'm not sure what it was. Very bright yellow. Small. Curious. It perched on a tree above the boys and me while I listened to a local treasure hunter share about his hobby.

I'm hoping our luck holds out, and we'll spot a California Condor. Eric spotted one many years ago resting on a power line off of Calgrove in Santa Clarita.

Tough Week for Birds

My youngest son made these grim bird discoveries. He brought the first carrion to the outdoor dining table proudly announcing "Bird." I believe was a sparrow or a finch.


The second small critter most likely came from the same nest. She/he was found the following morning.

The fire continues to blaze uncontrollably to the north in the Angeles Crest forest.

Fresh Picked Figs

Eric picked these figs last night. Our fig harvest is balanced between ripening on the tree versus birds as eager to eat them as we are. Two figs are still on our tree, the birds' portion of our harvest.

Correction (Eric here): Actually the birds have only gotten two - there are plenty more, we just have to watch closely as they ripen. I left the two bird pecked figs on the tree in hopes that they will finish those easy to reach, nice and ripe figs before moving to the others. (Sorry Julia, for the misunderstanding)

Previously:

Figs Appear

The Backyard Birdsong Guide

I picked up a copy of The Backyard Birdsong Guide: Western North America at an overpriced gardening store now shuttering it's doors. I have contemplated the purchase of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology audio field guide for quite some time but balked at the purchase price. The Western North America version is considerable smaller with fewer birdsongs. But the birds are exactly the ones we see on our property, so I made the dive and bought the book at a 20% discount.


The battery cover was missing. This was the last copy. I hemmed and hawed, then made the purchase. I figured I could make my own cover. I used a scrap piece of cardboard cut to size and covered it with flowered origami paper. The book is enjoyed by all.

Nest Update: Then There Was One

The last finch is still in the nest. It's behind its siblings; they've all fledged and had all their feathers days ago. This one still has a bald head. It's parents and brothers and sisters are still around though so we're hoping it will take it's first flight next week.


I feel bad for it all alone in there but it won't be long.