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Friday, March 28, 2014

The Consequence of Reporting on Sturnus vulgaris (European starlings)





On Sunday, March 16th 2014, the day before a number of folks were due to celebrate the Saint Patrick's Day holiday, I realized another holiday was taking place. The holiday I am referring to is the 124th anniversary of the arrival of the bird type known as Sturnus vulgaris (European starlings) in New York City, the city where I live and have an urban garden that this bird type is now visiting. It appears they truly enjoy noshing here as evidenced by the photos above.

Friday, March 14, 2014

MARCH: The new month of NO's?

No sun - no moon! 
No morn - no noon - 
No dawn - no dusk - no proper time of day. 
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease, 
No comfortable feel in any member - 
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, 
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds! 
November! 

Thomas Hood wrote a poem called "No," which is posted atop this entry. Hood's poem may be familiar to TLLG's readers for I've referred to it in a number of cyber venues. including a prior post here on Blogger.

But, it is not November that has been a month of no's for me, for November in bygone years is when birds, (including tufted titmouses) visited my rooftop garden (in 2012)! And so did cardinals (2012 and 2013)!

Moreover, this past November, as most TLLG readers know, I was graced by the extended visit of Emily, a lone Baltimore oriole. As I have stated on TLLG's FB Page, Emily arrived on November 16th 2013 and visited me daily until December 26 2013; then she returned on January 30th 2014, but her visits since that time have been on a sporadic basis: the last time I saw her was on February 16th 2014, the third day of GBBC (Great Backyard Bird Count). Not only has Emily stayed away, but so have Cam and Mac, my cardinal couple, and I have seen no tufted titmouses either! 

Therefore, the month of no's for me, has been March.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Ode to a Tufted Titmouse and Dearly Departed Flora


It has often been said that if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. I don't know much about making God laugh, but I do know that if I want to make my muse laugh, I'll tell her my plans, which is something I not only told her last week, but also posted here on Blogger, where I stated that in going forward with this blog, "I'll return to posting more in depth content within my blogging venues: Bloggertumblr as well as hometalkI'll leave the shorter content for FB readers, who will always be directed to my blogging in case they want to read more."

A week has passed and my postings have been confined to Facebook, not only my page, but the pages of others such as Birds, The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, The Ellen Show, and WBU-Paramus

I find it difficult to give up old habits and routines, but be that as it may, today's post is an attempt to act on the plan I laid out in my previous entry here on Blogger, and so without further ado, I give you today's post where I am honoring a very sweet bird.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

An UPDATE: Tweeting and Reflecting (Details on The New Direction for TLLG on Blogger)


Tweet! Tweet! (View One)
I also posted this image on WBU-MICH FB Page
Tweet! Tweet! (View Two)
I also posted this image on TLLG'S FB Page

It has been over a month since I posted here on Blogger, and I'd like to use today's entry as an opportunity to state what my intentions are for this blog in the days to come, for I feel I have gotten away from my original hope re this endeavor, an endeavor I began on the last day of 2009, when I set up this blog, stating:

"Now that I've gotten the setting up of my blog underway (and making my New Year's resolution to stick with a posting schedule, it seems I may be passée. I understand many people have moved on to Tweeting. It is my life story summed up in ten words: at the airport when the ship comes into the dock. Being a reflective soul, I'll probably stick to blogging over tweeting. Besides, as it is, while some of my posts will be snippets and captions, others may border on mini essays. My temperament reminds me of Herb Gardener, whom I happened to meet while working at a theater (but that is as 'they' say, another story), and he told me that before becoming a playwright, he was a cartoonist and when the 'bubbles of dialogue got bigger than the cartoon-characters, it was time to be a playwright.' Similarly, as opposed to tweeting, blogs let you generate more in-depth content. I see them having greater resilience in terms of perception. But they require what many people seem to consider long-term commitment today:setting aside 20-90 minutes daily, weekly or semi-weekly. Still some bloggers are providing insightful or informative blogs which I hope to do also. I am in it for the long haul, and perhaps the Charles Schultz cartoon posted below sums it up:"





Now, today, March 6, 2014, as I look back on my initial (December 2009) intent for this blog, which was at a time I knew very little about social media, I realize that in some ways, I've succumbed to the "pressure" of tweeting, albeit through my Facebook (FB) and Pinterest postings being automatically tweeted (it's rare that I compose a direct tweet from twitter), and I've neglected what is near, as well as dear, to my soul: generating more in-depth content.