At one point it was so windy during yesterday's "bomb cyclone" (a
winter storm that hit
NYC with a vengeance), that the "mohawk" of a male
cardinal who was visiting
my rooftop garden was blowing back and forth. Not even the stiffest hairspray could've helped his situation, as evidenced by the image atop this entry, where he is alighting upon the branches of my
kiwi vines, while a lone male
house sparrow tries to hold his own in the background.
New Yorkers were warned to have essentials on hand, such as "bread and milk," but in these types of weather conditions, what I make sure to have available is nourishment in three of my
bird feeders (one that's a house-style, one that's a wreath-style, and one that's a suet cage) for the members of avian community who visit my garden.
The "house-style feeder" (that accommodates black-oil sunflower seeds*) looks like the a large version of a "house trinket" used in the Monopoly board game, as evidenced in the next set of pictures.
The male cardinal and as well as both genders of sparrows appeared to enjoy dining from there, even when yesterday's snowfall was at it's heaviest. Normally, the
house finches who visit here, like to eat from this feeder, but I didn't see a single one of that bird type during the snowstorm.
Additionally, under most weather conditions, the female cardinal is a frequent visitor to this feeder, however, yesterday, she spent her time at my "wreath-style" whole peanut feeder, which you can see in the following set of pictures.
And when the male cardinal wasn't noshing from the "Monopoly-house" style feeder, he availed himself of nourishment from my wreath-style feeder, as evidenced in the pictures below.
The same was true for the sparrows, in addition to dining at my house-style feeder, they availed themselves of nourishment from my wreath-style feeder, as evidenced in the next few images.
As you might have guessed if you follow this blog,
blue jays, also hung out at my wreath-style feeder. In the first picture below, a jay's face is nearly covered with snow, in the other set of photos, you can see that the jays made a trip — as a family — to my peanut feeder.
In addition to some birds availing themselves of nourishment from my house-style and wreath-style bird feeders, some took advantage of my suet-cage feeders.
And, there you have it dear reader, the "story" of how a number of wild birds found nourishment in my garden during yesterday's "bomb cyclone."
*REFERNCES: I made a quick reference towards the beginning of this post to black-oil sunflower seeds, they are one of Cam's favorites, as mentioned in all versions (hard-cover, soft -cover and digital) of her book, Words In Our Beak Volume One.
HARDCOVER:
AND
SOFTCOVER:
DIGITAL:
(TWO OPTIONS)
ePub: http://amzn.to/2kzWGw0
iBook: http://apple.co/2nHZMBq
Today, January 5th, is a good time to order it as it's National Bird Day, a day which (according to
Holiday Insights or HI),
"was established by bird activists. It calls upon people to recognize the plight of captive birds. It also draws attention to exploitation of birds in the U.S. pet industry. On this day, organizers suggest we reflect upon the conditions of birds held in captivity."
HI goes on to suggest that on this day one should "take a few minutes to watch and observe birds, as well as to feed them."
Cam and I agree with HI on this, but we also suggest that if you have not had a chance to get a version of Words In Our Beak Volume One, that you do so in honor of National Bird Day.
Moreover, the month of January is a great time to curl up and read a book.
As the writer Jean-Paul Sartre
supposedly once said,
"To read a poem in January is as lovely as to go for a walk in June," and I dare say that reading Cam's book in January, would be "
as lovely as to go for a walk in June."
ADDENDUM FALL 2018:
The digital versions of Volume One within the Words In Our Beak book series that are mentioned in this entry may only remain available for a limited time, but hardcover versions of Volume One, Two and Three can now be found wherever books are sold.
Please click here to go to my blog post that provides details as to where you can get these books. Additionally, I have rendered some images from these books into other formats and they are available via Fine Art America (FAA). Some of my other photographs (Black & White Collection, Kaleidoscopic Images and the famous Mandarin duck who visited NYC) can also be found on my FAA pages.
ADDENDUM SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER 2021:
When the third volume of the hard-cover version of Words In Our Beak was released, I withdrew from promoting my former versions of Words In Our Beak.
The very first one is an iBook and went into Apple's book store in 2015.
This was followed by an ePub version...
... that is available on Amazon and was also published in 2015.
Its press release can be read by clicking here.
... I've been advised to make mention of my early versions of volume one of Words In Our Beak, they do vary ever so slightly in content from the hard-cover version of volume one.
As of this addendum, I do not intend to create digital or soft-cover versions of Words In Our Beak Volume Two or Words In Our Beak Volume Three.
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