A Book in the Hand

A book in the hand is worth dozens on your favorite Internet superstore. And here's your chance to get one, free!

I've never reviewed a book, at least not in the formal sense. And, happily for me, and lucky for you, really, I'm not about to.

But I am passing along information about a worthwhile contest run by the guys over at 10,000 Birds. It's worthwhile because the rewards are so great. Not only the material side (free copies of Bird: The Definitive Visual Guide), but the reward of the first task you must complete to be eligible. There will be a total of five tasks, and here I'm only focusing on the first task.

Most superficially, the book as a prize. It looks very interesting, very stylish, very thorough, and very approachable, whether you are a devoted ornithologist or casually interested. Disclaimer: I haven't read it, or even seen it up close, so I'm going on reviews of people I have faith in (see what 10,000 Birds, Born Again Birdwatcher, and Bill Schmoker had to say). But it's the first task that I think will reap the most reward.

The first task? Write an essay. I won't say about what or how long it has to be, you can read that at the 10,000 Birds site. But I will say what an opportunity! Lately I feel I barely have time to do anything, let alone sit and compose my thoughts. I mean really compose, to really string together the right words to create the right impression that gets the right thoughts and right feelings across to . . . well, to you. In a sense, I long for school days where I had to sit and write, upon the pain of death if an assignment wasn't completed. Ah, hyperbole: no real students were harmed while fulfilling homework assignments, at least not in my school. That I was aware of.

Anyway, my point: take advantage of the chance to sit and compose an essay, instead of a relatively meaning letter grade you might win a book - something you can actually use! Even if it's simply used to re-gift it in a few weeks. . . .

Take shot, and good luck. Maybe, if I carve out some spare moments here and there, I'll compete with you. May the best word processor win!

Don't Fear the Reaper

Assuming you're reaping rewards, not negatives, how awesome is it to reap what you sow?

Really, nothing beats positive payback. Two years ago we started a two-pronged attack to improve our four acres of land. We started a concerted effort to remove exotic and invasive plants and we started to landscape our yard with natives. Our first improvement was ripping out a pair of yuccas and a couple of hostas that lined the side of our house. The tall windows from the family room overlooked these plants, and while vaguely nice looking, they weren't very attractive.

We replaced them with several species of native plants. American Beauties is a pretty nice line of plants, specifically promoting native species, and for our side garden we specifically targeted:

• Trumpet Creeper (Lonicera sempervirens)
• Bee Balm (Mondarda didyma)
• Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
• Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
• Brown-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia triloba)
• Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
• Labrador Violet (Viola labradorica)

Helpful Hint: Birders, marry a botanist! Landscaping your yard becomes much easier if one of you already knows their plants!

Anyway, from earlier this summer:

The native wildflowers we planted last year came in pretty thick
this year, and a bit taller than we expected. We may relocate
some of the taller species and replace them with shorter ones.
© Mike Powers 2007

All summer long we had a front-row seat while Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, various butterflies, and other insects probed the flowers for nectar.

Now that it's November the flowers, of course, are long dead, but the seeds have set and are ripe for the picking. We can stand in our family room and watch seed eaters pick through these seed heads.

American Goldfinch picking out seeds
from the Purple Coneflowers. © Mike Powers 2007

In October we saw the first bird visit our native wildflowers. Unlike chickadees, the finches will sit all day and thoroughly exhaust a seed bank if they feel safe. As long as we move slowly, we can get right up to the windows to watch.

How often can you shoot birds with a macro lens?
© Mike Powers 2007

Not much action took place for a couple of weeks, but this weekend we had another encounter with goldfinches and coneflowers. We had to be content with a backside view.

Female goldfinch picking seeds from Purple Coneflower.
© Mike Powers 2007

While working the seed hull to get to the meat, though, she was checking out all around her.

Female goldfinch using her tiny bill to shell the seed.
© Mike Powers 2007

Dark-eyed Juncos are now back in numbers. We don't see them often in the summer months, though we do have a couple that breed on our hill. In earlier winters they've often used this "side garden," presumably only for cover. Now it seems for both cover and food.

Female Dark-eyed Junco harvesting seeds from Brown-eyed Susan.
© Mike Powers 2007

This female is showing some bluish sheen in some feathers, looks kind of Indigo Bunting like. Real, or trick of the light?

Hopefully we'll get many more visits from a diversity of species.

Post title credit: Don't Fear the Reaper (1976), Blue Oyster Cult

Bye Bye Birdies?

If you have the thirteen minutes and a broadband connection you might be interested in this piece from the CBC (not Christmas Bird Count, but Canadian Broadcasting Corporation).

Bye Bye Birdies

Why is monoculture dangerous? And how are modern trends in farming, forestry and housing destroying tens of millions of common birds?

Nothing you probably haven't heard before, but the various issues and their effects are presented well, especially for the general public (that is, non-birding citizens).

I and the Bird No. 61

I will venture a guess that most people who wind up on my semi-regularly updated blog are coming from the latest "I and the Bird," so it probably requires no explanation. To you, welcome to The Feather and Flower, thank you for dropping by. I hope you'll return periodically as I continue to muse, periodically, on birds, birding, and nature. In addition, some muddlings as I try to come to grips with age old questions, such as, "Why am I here, in the blogosphere, and where, if anywhere, do I intend to go?" More on those answers in days or weeks to come, interspersed with more entertaining fare.

For those who don't know "I and the Bird," welcome to you, too!

Here is my all-to-basic introduction: it's simply a collection of links to various blogs, highlighting some of their best posts from the past two weeks. The host, themselves a blogger, presents these selected writings in some stylized way. For example, previous "I and the Birds" include video clips, quiz questions, poetry, essays about birds, birding, and nature seem to be logical, and probably expected. Read more from the brains behind the project, 10000Birds: I and the Bird.

The best way to learn about "I and the Bird"? Check it out yourself! Like any endeavor, what you get out of it equals what you put into it. Sit back, put your feet up, put down the remote: you won't need to channel surf away from N8's presentation of I and the Bird, As Seen on TV.

Here We Are Now, Entertain Us

If you've read Ron Pittaway's Winter Finch forecast (posted here, with comments by Matt Young), you know we're expecting a good flight of several irruptive species. In the past couple weeks there have been lots of reports on the local listserve about Pine Siskins, Purple Finches, Red Crossbills, and Evening Grosbeaks in the area, especially at bird feeders.

We finally put out our feeders this weekend. It's a bit of a balancing act on our hill: you want to put them out to see the birds, but you don't want to feed a bear. That happened to us last spring, to the detriment of our feeding station. All of the feeders were fine, but the structure to hang them on was beyond repair. I did build a new one soon after it was torn down, but this spring/summer we only fed the hummingbirds. Hopefully we're off the bear's feeding route.

Not wanting to miss out on all of the finch action we hung them up last weekend. The first bird came within an hour: a Cooper's Hawk, who perhaps remembered bombing through our yard repeatedly last winter.

Soon after it left we had the usual yard suspects, and lots of them. The flurry of activity included more than 20 Black-capped Chickadees, at least six Tufted Titmice, two each of Red- and White-breasted Nuthatches, a handful of Dark-eyed (Slate-colored) Juncos, and a thistle feeder full of American Goldfinches. Purple Finches are typically around, and this weekend one female arrived, along with seven House Finches (which I haven't seen on our hill in ages).

Female Purple Finch. © Mike Powers 2003

But the show stopper was this female Evening Grosbeak, who arrived Saturday afternoon and spent a good 20 minutes gobbling down what it could.

Female Evening Grosbeak, picking through a
mix of seeds for the sunflowers. © Mike Powers 2007

We haven't seen her since yesterday, hopefully she'll be back with some of her buddies. I love watching these guys, not just because they've become such a rarity at feeders out east. Of course, they can eat you out of house and home, but I figure if you're going to feed the birds you can't complain when they accept your invitation.

Pine Siskins have visited our feeders in earlier
years, will they come again this year? © Mike Powers 2002

We've got the thistle all set, can't wait to see if we can attract some siskins (which are around now), and redpolls (which aren't really expected until December or January).

Post title credit: Smells Like Teen Spirit (1991), Nirvana

Wanting What You Have

Things, as always, are crazy-busy, and I have some half-dozen half-written blog posts I will eventually publish online. Which road was paved with good intentions? I always forget.



Anyway, during my commute to work last week I pulled over to grab a shot of the fall colors in the southern tier of New York. It's not supposed to be a "good year" for leaf peeping, but as the saying goes, it's not about having what you want, it's wanting what you have. And I'll take scenery like this any day. Yes, the only good thing about my commute to work, which mostly transverses farmland and scenery like this: the blissful chance to shed the work day as I near home.

Post title credit: Soak Up the Sun (2002), Sheryl Crow

By Any Other Name

I'm always inspired and often humbled by the creativity of poets, song writers, essayists, novelists, and writers in general. Whether they create people, situations, events, and locations out of thin air, or simply re-tell a familiar story in a captivating way, I'm always impressed how combining words, the right words, can teach, share experiences, entertain, or all three.

The titles are works of art unto themselves. Imparting a concept or idea in one or a few words is a huge challenge, one that we average mortals typically fail. But a real word smith comes up with the exactly right combination.

When scanning bookshelves, CDs or records (remember records?) and movie listings, it's the titles that have multiple interpretations, not-so-obvious meanings, or specific-but-little-known references that grab me. Now, when surfing through the satellite radio, I find I either stop on bands that I already know or bands that have names that are intriguing . Maybe I'm more in awe of marketing teams rather than the artists themselves.

Regardless, whether I stay on that station depends on the music, but the name gets their sound in my head.

Blogs are no exception, and I often find myself surfing through a variety of nature-oriented blogs just to learn what the title means. I'm a sucker for a good blog name, just like a good title for a novel, album, movie, or band. Of course, the content and style keeps readers returning, just like the band with an attention-grabbing name better have the music to hold your attention.

Some blog titles are straight-forward and direct, much like the musicians who are known well enough that their name alone captures attention. These titles use the strategy hit upon by musicians like Eric Clapton, Paul Simon, Ryan Adams, Ella Fitzgerald, and a bazillion others. No catchy name needed, their reputation tells you what to expect. Bill Schmoker's Birding Blog will obviously attract folks who know either Bill, his photos, or his birding exploits. Those who don’t yet know Bill just need a recommendation (here's mine: check him out, you’ll like him). Ditto with Mike's Digiscoping and Birding Blog, Laura’s Birding Blog, Bill of the Birds, Julie Zickafoose, and a host of others.

Birdwise, these track names such as Black-throated Blue Warbler, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Yellow-legged Gull, and Red-bellied Woodpecker. And just like these birds, there is plenty of room for the unexpected: female Ruby-throats and Black-throated Blues don't match their names very well, if at all.

Some titles hint at what you're going to find on the other end of that hyperlink: A DC Birding Blog, Biological Ramblings, Conservation Conversations, The Birdchaser. There is a real talent to coming up with a title that conveys a clear intention in a stylish and catchy way, and you know what you're going to find: posts focused on birding in the District of Columbia*, the natural world, conservation issues, and chasing birds (rarities and others), respectively. In my current, not so thought out classification system, these names are akin to band names like The Beatles, Smashing Pumpkins, Led Zeppelin, and the Grateful Dead.

And in the birding world? Maybe Black-tailed Godwit or Red-legged Kittiwake. "I get black-tailed and red-legged, but what's a godwit and a kittiwake?" asks the uninitiated.

Then there are those that make you think a bit more. You might get an inkling of what lies in wait, but what do the names actually mean? What do you think of these?

• 10,000 Birds – is that the author’s species list? Or maybe the number of blackbirds in a nearby winter roost (that’d be pretty low, but estimates are estimates)?
• BellTower Birding – bird lists collected by someone who works in a cathedral’s bell tower (does anyone actually work in a bell tower anymore?)?
• The Drinking Bird – blogging about novelty toys, or are they called “scientifically-inspired apparatuses” (if I’m going to have to call a comic book a “graphic novel” . . . )?
• Born Again Bird Watcher – hardcore Christian birding, which apparently would be different than hardcore secular birding (curiouser and curiouser, there are so many ways to enjoy birds these days)?
• Rigor Vitae: Life Unyielding - I don't know where to start on this one. My first thought was rigor mortis, but that's because I watch too many CSI-type shows.
• George Bristow's Secret Freezer - OK, I have got to stop watching CSI, that leaves a very disturbing image in my head.
  

And that's just a sample. Please note that all of my knee-jerk interpretations are dead wrong (try a link, you'll see, and they're all worth reading).

Like band and bird names, some of these I eventually understood, others I haven't the slightest clue. Some I have meditated on and I have come up with my own ideas, author intent be damned. But, to all of you, whether singled out here or not, thank you for leaving the room for interpretation, and challenging me and others to deduce your intentions. For fun, I'll leave it to you to come up with band and/or bird names that fit this category.

PostScript
Obviously, I’m leaving out dozens, if not hundreds of blogs that deal with birds, and hundreds, if not thousands of blogs that deal with nature, the environment, and conservation. These are only a few and I encourage you to check them out – they’re all found in my blog roll to the right. You will find entertaining, informative, well-written essays, often with the author's own art work (photos, sketches, paintings, what have you).

By the way, my current favorite blog name: Burning Silo. If that were a band, I’d stop and listen.

* A DC Birding Blog left the nation's capital behind, now operating from New Jersey. Goes to show that in the blogosphere, the three necessities are not location, location, location, but content, content, content**.

** A sure-fire winner: one of those "contents" should be "pictures," at least in my humble preference.