A Gray Catbird is on "the pink carpet!" Tuesday's Truths for Week Eighty-Six

As I stated in this past Sunday's post, I  recently encountered a Great Egret for the first time in my long life. This brought the number of new birds I've seen in this Year of the Bird up to ten. 

The other first time meeting of avian creatures that I've seen during this Year of the Bird, include (in alphabetical order) an American Coot, a Bufflehead Duck, a Great Blue Heron, a Northern Pintail, a Red-Bellied Woodpecker, a Red-Tailed Hawk, a Red-Winged Black Bird, a Ruddy Duck, and a couple of Wooden Ducks. 

And, now I've met my eleventh bird, who happens to be a Gray Catbird. My encounter with this bird type actually occurred shortly after I saw my first Great Egret, a little over three weeks ago, when I was in Central Park, This creature can be seen in the image atop this entry, he/she seems to be watching me as I watch him/her.

October 1st 2018

St. Thérèse de Lisieux

Another October 1st is upon us and as always the day honors St. Thérèse de Lisieux, a saint whose framed photo (seen in the image directly above) hangs above my desk. As I've mentioned a number of times here on Blogger, including an entry I made in 2011, I moved into my apartment on her feast day in 1992.

Many of my years here have not been easy, with health-related issues frequently interrupting my work. But I'm hoping for some success with my endeavors (selling my photo-art, kaleidoscopic, as well as fauna-based) which I have had uploaded to my gallery pages on Fine Art America, and/or my booking presentations that feature issues related to my Words In Our Beak book series) will alleviate some of my financial burden.

This past Saturday, I had the pleasure of spending part of my "Saturday in the Park," with Jenny (one of Cam 's biggest fans who is also an advocate for us being given an event at a bookstore on the UWS).

Friday in the Octave of Easter & Arbor Day

Today is Friday in The Octave of Easter; and because it is the last Friday in April, it is also Arbor Day. I've always appreciated Patrick McDonnell's (creator of the Mutts comic strip) "take" re this event and have posted a copy of it atop this entry. As you can see, McDonnell's characters Earl and Mooch seem to know how much birds appreciate trees as evidenced in their planting one, which is appreciated by an avian creature.

I have also planted trees in containers that are in my rooftop garden and have not only been blessed by the beauty they bring to my place; as well as by their often unspoken help to our environment; many birds have come to visit because of them...

Some Facts Regarding Laughing Gulls (Wednesday's Wisdom)

In a recent entry here on Blogger, I mentioned that I had been to Long Beach and learned something new about the Ring-billed seagull: "they pant, like dogs which releases heat through evaporation of moisture along the bird's mouth, throat and lungs" and "because birds lack sweat glands, they do not sweat to cool off like we do. A bird will open its mouth and breath faster, which increases the airflow."

On that same day I noticed a Laughing Gull doing the same thing as evidenced in the photo atop this entry. This avian creature is new to me and marks the twelfth new bird whom I've seen in this Year of the Bird.

My last time seeing a bird who was new to me (who happened to be a gray/grey catbird) occurred on 5/29/2018, an encounter which I wrote here on Blogger at that time.

Be that as it may, since today is Wednesday, the day I set aside for my Wednesday's Wisdom series, I'll be using this opportunity to share some information about the Laughing Gull. After all, part of the definition of wisdom, "or sapience is the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and insight."

And the gull seen here is certainly using his/her wisdom to cool down on a hot summer day, however there are a number of other interesting facts re this bird type.