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: Blogger, tumblr as well as hometalk. I'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.

Monday's Musings: Is it titmice or titmouses? That is the question!

The little bird featured in the photograph that's atop this entry is known as a Baeolophus bicolor AKA Tufted Titmouse. He/she is enjoying black-oil sunflower seeds from an umbrella style bird feeder that's atop an urban hedge in my rooftop garden.

IN HONOR OF EARTH DAY

The photo featured atop this entry is of a tufted titmouse who is taking in the sights of Central Park. I took the image this past Saturday, April 15th 2017. I have posted a very similar one here on Blogger, in a recent blog post, where I wrote about this sweet bird type.

In any event, on the day that I witnessed this bird, watching, I had come to the park to distract my mind, from the sadness I was feeing over having been blown off by someone who had planned to meet with me (which I subsequently blogged about this past Monday).

Therefore, I was honored and humbled to see this tufted titmouse, as well as to meet another bird type; who can be seen in the pictures below.

If you have been following me here on Blogger and or on Facebook, you probably know that after some research, I had thought the creature was a Savannah sparrow.

And, you may also know, that I have recently learned that this creature is a White-throated sparrow, which I discussed in one of yesterday's entries here on Blogger.

In any event, last Saturday when I encountered the tufted titmouse as well as the White-throated sparrow, I saw a number of bird types, including an American robin, who can be seen in the next set of pictures.

As you can see, this creature is doing some flora-ing (what birds call the act of observing flowers, a habit which is discussed in the book Words In Our Beak Volume One.)

Meet Wink: The Tenacious Finch!

I am in a bit of a funk over something that may be occurring re the health and well being of one of the birds which visits my garden, and, therefore, in my (unsuccessful) attempts to clarify what is going on with her, I was unable to post here on blogger yesterday as is my norm on Fridays!

The bird which I am concerned about is one of my house finches, who, as you can surmise from the images posted above, seems to be having an "issue" with her right eye!

Thursday's Tid-Bit Re The Tufted Tit Mouse

Cam, "my" female cardinal, and I have been engaged in the process of tying up loose ends for our sequel to the book, Words In My Beak Volume One.

This means I've been going through a vast number of images to determine which ones will make the cut regarding being included in volume two.

I won't be giving away the story by telling you that the bird type known as a tufted tit mouse (who is featured in the image atop this blog entry, where he/she is spending time in my rooftop garden), will be featured in volume two.

Wednesday's Wisdom: One Cure for Rejection, Keep your eye on the birdie!

TUFTED TITMOUSES ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

TUFTED TITMOUSES ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

TUFTED TITMOUSES ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

TUFTED TITMOUSES ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

Today's entry is not part of the regular posting schedule I announced this past Monday, rather it is an extra posting which I mentioned might be something I will do from time to time.

My reason for today's entry is to let you know that the photography book project that I have spent much time preparing and is one I referenced when I altered my blog schedule this past August has rejected my proposal stating, "...and thanks for formatting the files to meet our request. G.S. thanks you for your submission 'It’s the Little Things,' which he personally reviewed. Unfortunately our program is set for years to come, and adding new books to our program is the absolute exception. I wish you all the best for the publication of your interesting project...") is to keep looking for another publisher, which I am doing."

Hence here is my Wednesday Wisdom: Probably one of the best cures for a rejected proposal is to look for other places to submit work and I found one based in the northwest portion of the United States who said it would be a long shot as their content focused on the wildlife in that area of our country.

STILL, when I told her my angle, she told me to send a PDF to her, which I did this past Monday after receiving the rejection.

THE OTHER CURE for rejection is to cull photos; so I went through some pictures I took of titmouses whom I encountered in Central Park in February 2019 and some of the images I came across are featured atop this entry.

THINKING OF STARR SAPHIR

CAM, A FEMALE CARDINAL

If you follow TLLG here on Blogger or Facebook, dear reader, then you know that recently much of my content has dealt with the escapades of Cam (the cardinal pictured in the image above), as well as the tales of her unnamed (as of this posting) beau, pictured in the image below...

MAC, A MALE CARDINAL

...and of their romantic interlude (indicated in the following image).

MAC AND CAM: A CARDINAL COUPLE

I'm thrilled with the aforementioned couple, and could continue to write about them for some time to come, but I am dedicating today's post (through the "escapades" of the array of all the birds which visit my garden) to Starr Saphir, a dearly departed birder, who you may read about by clicking here.

Ms. Saphir was known to many for the bird walks that she led in Central Park. Even though I live very near to this park, I've never been on one of her bird walks; or any other bird "event," for that matter, as my interest in birds as well as their antics, is fairly new: I have the feathered creatures to thank for it because they showed up in my garden without an invitation or lure of food other than the vegetation in my garden!

My Encounter With a Tufted Tit Mouse

Yesterday on TLLG’s FB Page, I mentioned that on the afternoon that I encountered a Savannah sparrow in Central Park, I had also come upon an American robin playing with a piece of string.

There were other bird types that I saw on that same day including a tufted tit mouse, who can be seen in all the images accompanying this posting.

According to Cornell, a tufted tit mouse is “a little gray bird with an echoing voice, the Tufted Titmouse is common in eastern deciduous forests and a frequent visitor to feeders. The large black eyes, small, round bill, and brushy crest gives these birds a quiet but eager expression that matches the way they flit through canopies, hang from twig-ends, and drop in to bird feeders. When a titmouse finds a large seed, you’ll see it carry the prize to a perch and crack it with sharp whacks of its stout bill.”

I first met this bird type in 2012 when I was graced the creature visiting my rooftop garden, and if you’d like to read about my encounters with a tufted tit mouse during that time, please refer to my blog clicking here.

Birds of feather... (Monday's Memo)

THESE BIRD TYPES ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

THESE BIRD TYPES ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

This past Saturday while walking in Central Park, I came upon a fence where a house sparrow, a female Northern cardinal and a white-breasted sparrow were perching.

On a "neighboring" fence a lone tufted titmouse was hanging out with a couple of white-breasted sparrows. This is evidenced in the photos I took which are posted directly above this entry.

Seeing these different bird types spending time in each others company got me thinking about the origin of the idiom: Birds of a feather flock together.

A Bird in my Hand...

TUFTED TITMOUSES ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

TUFTED TITMOUSES ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

TUFTED TITMOUSES ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

TUFTED TITMOUSES ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

The bird type featured in the photos atop this entry is a tufted titmouse who I came upon yesterday (he was one of many in within that variety that happened to be there) while walking in The Ramble section of Central Park. Temperatures were very bitter, especially with the windchill but I took off my gloves and put some black-oil sunflower seeds in my hand, as I know that, in cold conditions, tufted titmouses have been known to eat out of someone's bare hand.

"another year over AND a new one just begun . . . " PART TWO-H-2 (Oct 11th — Oct 24th 2012)

Today's entry here on Blogger is part two-H-2 of a series of posts pertaining to a year-end review for special occurrences in my urban garden for the year 2012 (the schedule for this series is described in part one as well as part two-A of this topic) and, as I've said, because October 2012 was the month Hurricane Sandy hit the area near to where I live, my garden went through another upheaval, so I will be posting the review for October in three parts.

"another year over AND a new one just begun . . . " PART TWO-H-3 (Oct 24th — Oct 31st 2012)

Today's entry here on Blogger is part two-H-3 of a series of posts pertaining to a year-end review for special occurrences in my rooftop garden for the year 2012 (the schedule for this series is described in part one as well as part two-A of this topic) and, as I've said, because October 2012 was the month since a hurricane, now known as Super Storm Sandy hit the area near to where I live, my garden went through another upheaval, so I will be posting the review for October in three parts. The first part of October's review covered days which included the dates from October 1st through October 10th of 2012, and is what I discussed in a post on Wednesday, and yesterday, Thursday, January 18th, my review for October covered the dates from October 11th through October 24th; and today, Friday the nineteenth I will cover the remainder of October.

So without further ado, I "give" you today's entry, and I'll start with the five images atop this posting which feature some of my mourning doves doing a reenactment of a childern's song known as Five Little Pumpkins. 

On October the twenty-fifth, the day after Juan V and I had last worked together, and when these images were taken, I had been glad to see that some of my visiting mourning doves had finally become comfortable around my Jack-O-Lanterns; Jack-O-Lanterns which Juan V and I had placed in my garden when we had done our decorating for the 2012 Halloween season earlier in the month.

As you can surmise from these images, my mourning doves were quite animated around my Jack-O-Lanterns, but a lone house finch ultimately did appear on the scene to take part in the antics, as can be seen in the image below.

With only six days to go until Halloween, my feathered friends were in a feisty mood; but they also had pensive moments, as if predicting a storm (which would come to be known as the destructive Hurricane Sandy) was heading our way.

I'm told birds can feel it when severe weather conditions are about to occur; and perhaps that was on the minds, as well as in the hearts, of some of my birds as they pondered whilst sitting on the branches of my Actinida kolomikta and Actimida (AKA Kiwi Vines) as seen below.

Be that as it may, whether the birds were soul searching; or making plans to prepare for Hurricane Sandy whilst they "perched" on the branches of my kiwi vine, a few of them still found time to "make use" of my Halloween decor; and not just with my "feisty" Jack-O-Lanterns!

Some saw it fitting to "perch" on my Halloween pumpkin as evidenced by the "actions" of a lone mourning dove seen in the images below.

Mourning Dove Stares SHAMELESSLY Into my Neighbor's Window!

Mourning Dove Stares SHAMELESSLY Into My Window!

Mourning Dove Stares SHAMELESSLY Onto my Neighbor's Balcony!

At this time in October of 2012, it cerainly seemed that of all my visiting birds, the mourning dove was the most daring or shamelessly curious of all; in fact, at this time in October of 2012, it had been quite some time since Cam (my "lone" female cardinal) had visited my garden and I was quite concerned about her well being!

After a lot of googling and numerous phone calls I was consoled by the fact that she had gotten out of town re the news that Hurricane Sandy was about to hit our area. 

However, in the event Cam was still around, I tried another type of feeder, one that had a tray secured to it, as she often enjoyed eating "crumbs" that fell from a feeder rather than getting her food directly from the feeder itself. 

But the weather conditions  pre-Sandy began to produce heavy winds, and I did not want my "alternative" feeder to fall from the bracket from which I had hung it, and so I placed it on a table in my garden. Once again, the shameless mourning doves were the first ones to check it out, and some photo-ops of them doing this are posted below.

And, as you can see, my Jack-O-Lantern laughed heartily as he watched the mourning doves "interact" with the "alternative" feeder. The female house finch was a little more cautious about trying to eat from the feeder as she seemed to study it from her "perspective" atop the branches of my kiwi vine! This is evident in the photographs I've posted below.

But she has reason to be cautious given her compromised eyesight (as you can deduce from the images posted above which show her eye is crusted over, or totally missing).

The plight of this finch re her eye sight is something I "introduced" in yesterday's post, and, as I promised there, I will get back to this topic at another time once this series is complete.

And eventually she did try out the feeder as seen in the image posted below, which is one you may recognize from a previous post here on Blogger.

The female finches' counterpart, the red male house finch has similar struggles with his eyesight, and instead of braving the "alternative" feeder, he "settled" for the "crumbs" left over from the mourning doves' noshing. This can be seen in the images posted below.

The latter of the images, dear reader, is one you may recognize from a prior post (November 2012) here on Blogger.

As for my tufted titmouse, who was still fairly new to my garden, he/she had no problems adjusting to the feeder as evidenced in the images below which are ones that you may recognize from a previous post (October 2012) here on Blogger.

But adjusting to a different feeder in my garden was one of the least of the challenges which my visiting birds would have in the last few days of October in the final days of October 2012, when my garden underwent another upheaval as I prepared it for Hurricane Sandy!

At first, before I had any clue as to how heavy the rains would be, I simply placed trays of bird seed under tables in the hopes that their food would not get soggy and lo and behold a bluejay appeared and ran across my garden's "floor" to avail himself/herself of it as seen in the image posted below.

And as the winds picked up, I laid my bouncer chair (a chair which was described earlier in this series) on its side so that it would not blow over and so that I could put trays of seed under it in order to "protect" the bird seed from getting too soggy, as the rain was coming down in droves! My efforts and the reactions of a couple of of my birds may be seen in the photo-ops which are posted below.

Re the anticipated heavy winds, I not only laid my bouncer chair on its side; I also removed my "fireplace-fixture-planter" and the ornamental grasses known as Ophipogon planiscapus (AKA Black Mondo Grass) triplets they support, from the north end of my terrace; and I placed the "fireplace-fixture-planter" on its side as seen in the image below.

The red arrows superimposed over the image indicate the moving of my my "fireplace-fixture-planter;" I moved it as a safety precaution re the predicted high winds, but also I thought I could support the bird feeders with the "planter."

Moreover, I removed my marble table top from its pedestal and put it inside my apartment. I was used to lugging my garden "stuff" in and out of my apartment, which I had most recently done to prepare for my so-called renovation in September of 2012 as discussed in a previous post.

And I moved this pedestal near to my door (and did the same thing with most of my flowers, ornamental grasses, plants, shrubs and trees) as things are less vulnerable to the wrath of wind if they are near my door. I ultimately placed my dome-style feeder on the pedestal as my having the feeder near my door meant I could replenish it more easily in inclement weather.

It's not very surprising that the first bird to check out the dome feeder in this location was — you guessed it — my shamelessly curious mourning dove — and a couple of photo-ops of him/her assessing the situation are posted below.

As always, the house finches were more cautious about feeder arrangements, but a house finch did eventually make herself cozy as she noshed as evidenced in the image below.

I still feel sad for her when I think of the struggle she endues with her eyesight and this image shows her affliction.

But on a lighter note, the tufted titmouse made its way to my dome feeder atop a pedestal. He/she can be seen in the image below.

However, as careful as I had been to make my garden safe for myself and my neighbors with Hurricane Sandy increasing in storm category every minute; my friend Michael came to help me as I ultimately had to move things in my garden to safer parts of my "yard." 

And I also had to bring a number of objects — large and small — into my studio apartment; and although I didn't move my trees and shrubs inside as I had had to do with my renovation, it was still a big job, for which I'm not complaining; rather I'm including it as information on the highs and lows (as well some how-to tips) of urban container gardening.

The other thing we moved before the storm got more powerful was my "fireplace-fixture-planter," the planter I had moved earlier that day as I mentioned earlier in today's posting. We put it nearer to my door so that I could get to it easily to replenish it if need be, and we secured the feeders both on to and under my "fireplace-fixture-planter."

A partial view of what we did can be seen in the image posted below.

And the following are photo-ops on how visiting birds responded to our solution on October 29th 2012, which was two days before Hurricane Sandy dissipated. 

As you can see, dear reader, an array of birds visited me in the midst of the heavy rains and high winds brought on by Hurricane Sandy, a hurricane that would ultimately devastate many people on the Eastern Seaboard and a hurricane that displaced many birds!

I did not see Cam (my lone female cardinal) but her male companion who I've only seen here on one occasion did stop by on October 30th, the day the storm was in full force, and his photo-op may be seen below.

I was glad he availed himself of the "system" which Michael and I had devised and even joked that perhaps Cam, not wanting to ruin her hair in the rain, sent him for take-out! Cam is usually the only cardinal who comes for the food and i was grateful that she was being helped.

Also, the tufted titmouse visited during the storm, carefully studying our feeder system before diving in as seen in the two  images below which show a sequence of his/her reactions.

The first image shows her assessing the situation; the second shows her going for it (as indicated with a red arrow).

I am very grateful to say that I did not sustain any danage during Sandy's wrath, and by the last day of October, October the thirty-first, Halloween, I did have a few trick treaters which included newbies to my garden, house sparrows and white-throated sparrows and they can be seen in the photo-ops below.

And this brings me to the conclusion of my review for October 2012, and I'll see you tomorrow for my review of November 2012 re the events in my garden.