Facts About Sparrows (Wednesday's Wisdom)

The other day when I was on Broadway I noticed some tulips swaying in the wind, but it was not until I put my camera’s memory card in the computer that I noticed a young female House sparrow had been catching some rays alongside those flowers.

"His eye is on the sparrow...."

 

During yet another snowstorm which occurred in my area this past Thursday, it was very discncerting for me to notice a pigeon's (seen in the three images atop this entry where he is in my garden) injury through the long lens of my camera.

The Red-Winged Blackbird

Yesterday (here on Blogger) I mentioned that it was Look Up In The Sky Day (LUITSD) and discussed the importance of noticing nature's details which is part for the basis for LUITSD.

However, as you undoubtedly know, dear reader, one doesn't have to look up at the sky to observe aspects of nature. The other day when I was in Central Park, I saw a male Red-Winged Blackbird (in breeding plumage these birds are solid black, with red wing-patches). 

He was among leaves that were on the ground, munching on a peanut, and can be seen in the photograph atop this entry...

Friday's Fact: Valentine's Day is in SIX Days! (So Get Off the Fence)

Most everyone knows that "metaphorically, sitting on the fence is straddling the position between two ideas without committing to either of them."

And when I see various squirrel types "on the fence," in Central Park, it has prompted me to check out the idiom's origin.

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.

"Whistler of the North"

I took the photo of a White-throated Sparrow atop that is atop this entry when I was giving a "tour" of the Hallett Nature Sanctuary (in Central Park) to JS, the woman who allowed me to exchange copies of my book series (Words In Our Beak)...

MY BOOK SERIES

... for a  Douglas Fir Christmas Tree from Canada, where she lives.

At the time I did not realize that the song this bird sings is associated with Canada, and is often called "Whistler of the North," but this past Saturday, I came upon a you Tube video featuring this creature and his/her Canadian ties.

The White-throated sparrow has visited my rooftop garden in bygone years and is featured in volume three of my book series. If you are interested in my books, here's the purchase info:


Volume One: ISBN: 9780996378529
Book Seller Info: http://bit.ly/2AFZDCz
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2zxVujM
Barnes & Noble On-Line: http://bit.ly/2AAnB26
book culture On Columbus (a bookstore on the UWS in NYC): http://bit.ly/2FsC1Uf

Volume Two: ISBN: 9780996378536
Book Seller Info: http://bit.ly/2q75g8e
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2DY0mz0
Barnes & Noble On-Line: http://bit.ly/2G65m6H

Volume Three: ISBN: 978099637853

Book Seller Info: http://bit.ly/2IzH2iu

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2IYkmpA
Barnes & Noble On-Line: http://bit.ly/2vedQot

EACH OF THESE BOOKS CAN BE ORDERED FROM ANY PLACE SELLING BOOKS BY GIVING THEM THE TITLE, OR ISBN, OR MY NAME, PATRICIA YOUNGQUIST.

Saturday's Sequel: I've met my 14th bird!

This past Saturday while walking in Central Park and being memorized by the antics of a cinnamon colored squirrel (which I wrote about in Monday's post here in Blogger) I also encountered a bird type unfamiliar to me, making this my fourteenth new acquaintance in this Year of the Bird. I have since learned the creature who I noticed is a Song Sparrow and the little one can be seen in the image atop this entry where he/she is ignoring the fact that a fence had a padlock (although there seemed to be no reason for the lock — it wasn't securing anything).

"A Walk in the Park"

Cambridge Press defines the idiom, "a walk in the park," as "something that is very easy to do, and usually pleasant." And indeed, my walk in Central Park yesterday was pleasant. I went there to check out the squirrels since this is Squirrel Awareness Month (as I initially mentioned in my October third entry here on Blogger) and I did not come across the "cinnamon variant" which was the type I encountered last week, but I did meet up with a Black Squirrel who can be seen in the photo atop this entry. In by gone years I've only seen this type in the winter so it was a nice surprise to see this creature frolicking amongst the pigeons...

PIGEONS ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

PIGEONS ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

.... and having some quality time alone.

According to Wiki, "The black squirrel occurs as a melanistic subgroup of both the eastern gray squirrel and the fox squirrel. Their habitat extends throughout the Midwestern United States, in some areas of the Northeastern United States, eastern Canada, and also in the United Kingdom. The overall population of black squirrels is small when compared to that of the gray squirrel. The black fur color can occur naturally as a mutation in populations of gray squirrels, but it is rare. The rarity of the black squirrel has caused many people to admire them, and the black squirrels enjoy great affection in some places as mascots."

A Reason One Might Stay "on the fence" (Tuesday's Truths WK 82)

OTHER STARLINGS ARE FEATURED IN "WIOB VOL 3"

OTHER CARDINALS ARE FEATURED IN "WIOB"

OTHER CARDINALS ARE FEATURED IN "WIOB"

There have been quite a number of occasions when I've been in Central Park where I've encountered various members of the wildlife community on one of the many fences.These creatures include a European starling, a white-throated sparrow, a female as well as a male cardinal, black squirrels and "ordinary" squirrels (as evidenced in the photo atop this entry).

Whenever I come upon this situation of seeing a creature on a given fence, the expression "on the fence," comes to mind. As you most likely know, dear reader, "on the fence," refers to one who is undecided about a position that  he/she is taking on a given issue.

This Thursday's Tale is FROM the birds! (Sparrows Speak out about Spring Training)

THESE BIRD TYPES ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

THESE BIRD TYPES ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

While walking in Central Park, this past Tuesday, January the thirtieth, I came upon a lone blue jay who was leaning a sympathetic ear to a couple of house house sparrows (as evidenced in the photograph atop this entry).

"Saturday (January the 27th) in the Park"

Yesterday, Saturday, January 27, 2017, I took a walk in Central Park with the intention of observing Mallard ducks on the eighth anniversary of J.D. Salinger's death, and, indeed, I did see a number of these birds.

However, I also came upon a lone White-throated sparrow who is featured in the photograph atop this entry. This bird type is included in a video produced by The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, which is included in one of my recent posts here on Blogger.

Thursday's Tale: Yet another walk in the park. (A View From OAK Bridge)

This past Monday, even though temperatures were only in the twenty-degree range, with "real feel" temperatures much colder, I took a walk in Central Park; to see how our wildlife was faring in the bitter cold.

After all, beyond-frigid temperatures haven't stopped me from going to the park before. As you may recall, from a previous post here on Blogger, I took a walk in Central Park earlier in the month when temperatures were far below what they were this past Monday.

The first photograph atop this entry was featured in the aforementioned blog entry, and I'm including it in this posting as I have a correction to make, for I stated that the view being featured in the image was a view from Bow Bridge, but I had a senior moment in stating this, the view is actually from the Oak Bridge, which I returned to Monday afternoon and took the following picture of the same subject from that vantage point.

The only difference is I zoomed in quite a bit (so a view of one of NYC's sky-lines is not included here as it was in the image I took earlier in January). I zoomed so that I could capture a bird type whom I've never seen in Central Park, or anywhere else for that matter.

I've indicated this bird by affixing an orange square to the second photo below (which is a duplicate of the first one that's there).

A passerby indicated that the bird who was new to me was a type of Egret. However, I did not take her at her word before writing this post, as I don't want to be accused of reporting fake news, which I inadvertently did when I referred to the view from this bridge as being from the Bow Bridge; and not the Oak Bridge, as I've just stated.

Upon my realizing that I'd confused the Bow Bridge with the Oak Bridge, I thought of a passage from Joan Didion's, Goodbye to All That, an essay on Didion's decision to leave NYC (which she ultimately moved back to years later):

".... All I could do during those years was talk long-distance to the boy I already knew I would never marry in the spring. I would stay in New York, I told him, just six months, and I could see the Brooklyn Bridge from my window. As it turned out the bridge was the Triborough, and I stayed eight years.
—-
     In retrospect it seems to me that those days before I knew the names of all the bridges were happier than the ones that came later..."

Meanwhile, in terms of the bird who was new to me, I thought that I was ultimately able to find out his/her correct type from someone in my Twitter feed. Susan M. Thom, Esq solved my mystery, after I tweeted images of this bird and asked for an identification (since I could not find it in my own research).

Saturday's Sentiments

 MALE CARDINALS ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

FEMALE CARDINALS ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

The photographs atop this entry featuring a male and female Northern cardinal (respectively) in my rooftop garden, where they are alighting on the branches of my kiwi vines. They are two of many pictures that I took during the "bomb cyclone" (a winter storm which occurred on 1-4-2018 here in NYC).

On another note, do you notice a little house sparrow at the bottom of the second image? Under any "normal" weather conditions, these bird types do not tend to get along as evidenced by the You Tube video posted below.



I discovered the video (which is featured on a web-page for The Cornell Lab of Ornithology) when I was researching a different topic about wildbirds on the Internet.

As you can see, this clip features a "battle" of the Northern cardinal and the White-throated sparrow, but I have witnessed "battles" between an array of one type of avian species against another type, when they are spending time at my place.

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.)

Not Fake News: A Case of Mistaken Identity! (This bird is not a Savannah sparrow!)

Last Saturday, while walking in Central Park, I came upon the bird featured in the photographs atop this entry. I had never seen this fauna type before and the creature truly fascinated me! I took a number of photos of my sighting, and in the days that followed my chance meeting with the bird, I included my images in posts here on Blogger as well as in my entries on tumblr and Facebook.

However, prior to any of my postings, I reached out to wild life experts to see if I was correct in determining that the sweet looking creature I had met in the park was a Savannah sparrow. Everyone that I contacted confirmed that my assessment was correct and I began to publish my entries on the aforementioned social media platforms, as well as on Cornell's Lab of Orinithology's FB Page.

A few days later, I received a comment (on my Cornell posting) from Jennifer DeSelle-Milam, stating, "Looks like a white-throated sparrow to me. They also have yellow lores." 

"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.