Rainy Days are FOR THE BIRDS!

IMAGE CREDIT

As far as I know, birds (other than the ones in the Peanuts comic strip atop this entry) never have to use an umbrella when the rain is falling.

In the first volume of the Words In Our Beak series, which is pictured below...

SEE PRESS RELEASE

... Cam, the protagonist (who is the cardinal featured on the book's cover and in the following pictures taken in my rooftop garden, where her story is set) explains that the reason birds tolerate rain is because they have "something" on their feathers that makes rain drops just slide right off.

CAM, THE NARRATOR OF "WORDS IN OUR BEAK"

CAM, THE NARRATOR OF "WORDS IN OUR BEAK"

CAM, THE NARRATOR OF "WORDS IN OUR BEAK"

Cam goes on to say that this "something" on the feathers "is an oil that coats feathers and provides waterproofing, which is important since the only thing worse than being cold, is being cold and wet."

Friday Follow-Up

According to Snoopy, "We know that Spring is neat when it begins to get windy," as evidenced in the Peanuts Comic Strip posted atop of this blog entry. As of this posting, the official onset of spring is still twelve days away, but the tulips in my rooftop garden apparently having gotten the memo.

Saturday's Sequel: My last convo with Ellen.

The woman seen in the image atop this entry was taken in bygone years and features my dearly departed friend, Ellen Rachel McConnell Blakeman, whom I've known since the third grade.

Ellen passed from this life on February 11, 2018, which is something I discussed in this past Saturday's blog entry, the same day a memorial service was being held for Ellen in her home state, Illinois.

I think the last time she and I spoke may have been exactly a month before her death, and I say this because I recall telling Ellen that the gutters on the rental apartment building where I live had burst and fallen off the building. This accident was probably caused from the heavy snow falls that we'd been having in NYC, starting with January's "bomb cyclone."

A photo of the gutters that crashed off the building where I live and landed in the backyard of a neighbor can be seen in the next image, which was taken from the vantage point of my rooftop garden.

The EXIF info associated with this picture indicates I took it on on January 11, 2018, which was (as I've been saying), one month before Ellen died.

At the time when I heard the loud crash when the gutters fell, I thought chunks of ice and heavy snow had fallen from buildings across the courtyard, as this has been the case for many years.

However, when I ventured out on to my rooftop garden, to see what had caused the unusually loud noise, I saw the fallen gutters in my neighbor's backyard. Over the years Ms. S (the tenant who lives there), her young daughter, their cat, and their friends, have spent a lot of time out in the yard — no matter what the weather conditions are occurring. Therefore, it was more than a lucky thing that nobody had been there at the time.

The orange arrow that I've affixed to the image indicates a frequently used hula hoop in Ms. S's yard.

The smaller orange arrow directly across from it is pointing over the fence that separate the building where she lives from the one where I live; and the "stocky" arrow is pointing towards where one of the gutters had been prior to falling.

Birds + Cold Feet ("bomb cyclone" Follow-Up)

MALE CARDINALS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 1

MALE CARDINALS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 1

MALE CARDINALS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 1

As of today, January the twenty-sixth, it has been a little over three weeks since a winter snowstorm that has been categorized as a "bomb cyclone" hit NYC with a vengeance. The three photographs atop this entry were taken during that storm.

They feature the same lone male cardinal perched upon the branches of the kiwi vines growing in my rooftop garden; alighting upon a metal railing that surrounds it, and "standing" on the ledge of one of my bird feeders (which is a "House Feeder" variety).

Upon seeing these images, dear reader, you may be asking yourself the same question that I asked myself: Why Don’t Birds Get Cold Feet?

My question led me to do some research on the matter and I found a number of helpful articles, including one posted by The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, which you may refer to by clicking here.

One of the facts the aforementioned article points out is: "... songbirds do get very cold feet: the surface temperature of their toes may be barely above freezing even as the bird maintains its core body temperature above 100°F (38°C). But most birds don’t succumb to frostbite because there is so little fluid in the cells of their feet, and their feet are mostly tendons and bones with little muscle or nerve tissue..."

In any event, we've had some very cold days here in NYC since that storm, but that hasn't stopped wild birds from getting out and about. I can almost here them mimicking Frank Sinatra singing the lyric lines from the song, New York, New York: "If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere, it's up to you, New York, New York..."

MALE CARDINALS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 1

Tuesday's Truths are FROM the birds! (Especially the House Sparrows)

CARDINALS ARE FEATURED IN "WORDS IN OUR BEAK"

Hello, and welcome to week seventy-second segment of my Tuesday's Truths series, where I'll be telling you why house sparrows make such good birders.

During the "bomb cyclone," a winter storm that hit NYC with a vengeance a little over two weeks ago, I did a lot of bird watching from windows in my apartment which look out on to my rooftop garden; and it seemed a Northern cardinal was doing some people-ing at the same time (as evidenced in the photograph atop this entry).

Those of you who have read, Words In Our Beak Volume One,

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might recall, that the term, "people-ing," is one coined by Cam, a female cardinal, (and the story teller of this book), when she explained that it is a term which birds use when they watch people.

In any event, as you can see in the image atop this entry, in addition to people-ing, birds also do birding, and re this activity, house sparrows know just what to wear, did you notice a male one in the image atop this entry? He's perching on some vines to the left of the cardinal and truly blends in with his surroundings, which is what everyone who watches birds needs to do.

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.

Throw Back Thursday: The "bomb cyclone"

MALE CARDINALS ARE FEATURED IN "WORDS IN OUR BEAK"

MALE CARDINALS ARE FEATURED IN "WORDS IN OUR BEAK"

THESE BIRD TYPES ARE FEATURED IN "WORDS IN OUR BEAK"

Throwback Thursday: It has been one week since the "bomb cyclone" hit NYC with a vengeance and photographs atop this entry feature cardinals, as well as a lone house sparrow, riding out the storm in my rooftop garden.

I've written a couple of blog entries about this which feature an array of wildbirds spending time here during the event. These posts include pictures of  a number of wild bird types, as well as cool facts re how they survived the "bomb cyclone." You can reference them by clicking here.

Tuesday's Truths (WK 70) are from The Spruce: "Fun Facts About Woodpeckers — Bird Trivia"

DOWNY WOODPECKERS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 3

DOWNY WOODPECKERS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 3

DOWNY WOODPECKERS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 3

DOWNY WOODPECKERS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 3

As I write this blog post for Tuesday, it's Sunday, and the temperature outside is six degrees, but it's going up to nineteen degrees, which will be up seven degrees from Saturday.

The bitter cold temperatures that we've had for a quite a number of days in a row, here in NYC, has caused the snow on the surface of my rooftop garden to freeze, which will make it difficult for me to gain access to my wreath-style bird feeder in order to replenish it with peanuts. And, as you can see from the images atop this entry, where a lone downy woodpecker is dining from it, I need to refill the wreath because my supply of peanuts has dwindled.

MONDAY'S MEMO: BRING THE SHOVEL INSIDE!

In answer to the question your posing in the comic strip (atop this entry), Snoopy, it helps that you have a shovel! I forgot to bring mine in the night before the snow (from the winter storm known as a "bomb cyclone") fell on to the surface of my rooftop garden.

My shovel was almost completely buried in snow, as evidenced in the photos directly below.

I'll be making a memo to bring it inside the next time a snowstorm is predicted.

The Feast of the Epiphany 2018

Today is The Feast of the Epiphany. According to a web-page on Holiday Insights, "Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar were the three kings (also known as the Three Wise Men) who saw the star over Bethlehem when Christ was born. They followed it to find the Christ child on January 6th. They brought the Christ child gold, frankincense and myrrh." —  And they did it without mobile phones, contrary to what the cartoon atop this entry suggests.

Yesterday's "bomb cyclone."

MALE CARDINALS ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

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.

Thursday's Trivia

I have just read a piece of trivia which stated that "a raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top," however, my cynical champage-filled-flute figurine (featured in the image atop this entry), says that is probably fake news.

She claims that depending on how much champagne one has had, it may LOOK like a raisin is bouncing up and down continuously, however,...

Whether a raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top, is of little concern to a feisty Northern mockingbird, who visits my rooftop garden, all he/she cares about is that I provide raisins for him/her to eat; as evidenced in the photograph  below.

NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRDS RE FEATURED IN VOL 3

We will be having snow storm in NYC today that'd being called a “bomb cyclone." Therefore the only food I will be able to offer my visiting birds are suet cakes, peanuts in their shells and black-oil sunflower seeds which can go into my hanging bird feeders.

The media always warns folks to have "milk and bread" on hand during storms like the one which is predicted, but I also make sure that my bird feeders have been filled.

I'll report on how my avian visitors fare in the “bomb cyclone" in tomorrow's blog entry. I'm sure that I will be very preoccupied tending to their needs as well as taking pictures of them.

The 2 WK (almost) Anniversary of STELLA

American robin

As of today, March the 27th 2017,  it will be one week since the "bombogenesis" nor'easter (snowstorm) named, Stella, did her (ahem) "magic" in many parts of the northeastern part of the United States. The snow which fell during her time in NYC, where I live and have my rooftop garden, was not our first snowfall for March of 2017.

The picture atop this entry, which was taken in my place, shows an American robin alighting upon the branches of my kiwi vines, during a snowfall that occurred here on a little over three weeks ago on the10th of March. Some folks in NYC found it unnerving because during the month of February, we had some very warm days, which followed our groundhog's prediction of an early spring.

However, that aforementioned snowfall during the month of March, when an early spring had been predicted, was not a first for NYC.

In his mini-essay, TOMORROW SNOW,  (which was published on March the 20th in 1948), E.B. White discussed this phenomenon.

Because I grew up in Illinois, I'm no stranger to snow occurring during the month of March. And, I do recall some severe snow storms happening in this month. However, I never got to observe the antics of wild birds as I did during Stella. I've written about it in my recent entries here on Blogger, which I posted on March 14th, March 15th, March 16th, and, March 18th.

Today I'd like to share something new that I learned re the small songbirds (who are also called perching birds or passerines): "They have very little feeling in their feet because their feet have few nerves and blood vessels. This adaptation allows songbirds to land on cold perches such as wires when the weather is frosty." 

During Stella, I certainly observed a number of small songbirds (including an American robin), who seemed to cope well in terms of having their tootsies tolerating the elements.

American robin

American robin

This continued to be the case five days after most of the snow from Stella had melted, but stubborn patches of frozen-snow remained.

American robin

Wednesday's Wisdom: Robert Burns nailed it! ("The best laid schemes of mice and men...")

The picture atop this blog entry is a screenshot of an image that was included in my newsfeed for my Facebook Page for The Last Leaf Gardener.

It came from the FB Page for Gowanus Nursery in Brooklyn; a place where I have gotten a number of the trees (as well as other flora varieties) that grow in my rooftop garden, which is still in a state of winter-to-spring-limbo, as evidenced by the following image.

This photograph was taken by Kreshnik Vushaj. It is a picture which I included in yesterday's entry here on Blogger.

Like the folks at Gowanus nursery, who had scheduled a re-opening (after their winter hiatus) for March 18th 2017; I've been anticipating de-winterizing my rooftop garden; and I had planned to do so with Juan V, a few days before Gowanus's intended date.

However STELLA (the "bombogenesis" nor'easter), decided to visit our area causing all of us to rethink our gardening plans! Juan V and I have rescheduled the date to de-winterize, and Gowanus has rescheduled their season opener, which I saw in my newsfeed; and have posted below.

As you can see, they now hope to open one week later than planed. Juan V and I have also opted to reschedule one week later than planed! We hope to de-winterize a week from today, but from the looks of my garden, as seen in Kreshnik Vushaj's photo, I'm not sure if the weather will be in line with our plans. And last I heard, we are ruled by weather, it is not ruled by us!

So, while I'm hunkered down as far as gardening is concerned, let me take the opportunity to show you some aspects of my garden. I am thankful to Kreshnik Vushaj for my being able to do this, for he surprised me by emailing me a few more views of my wonderful garden.

Here are the copies of Kreshnik Vushaj's photographs, which I've marked up with arrows and numbers in order to tell you what's what.

The arrow marked with numeral one is referring to my Canadian Palm Tree, seen in a solo photo-op below.

The picture of my Canadian Palm Tree is an image I've included in a number of entries here on Blogger, but thanks to Vusha, you can now have a sense of where it stands in relation to the flora and objects which I have here. But getting back to the aforementioned image taken by Kreshnik Vushaj, the arrow indicated with the numeral two, is my bird bath. I have to really monitor the conditions of the water in that bath, for as you can surmise, frozen temps might crack the bird bath; as it is a ceramic piece.

Numbers three-five indicate where I have some of my bird-feeders, while number six indicates the location of much of my flora, huddled together near the building's wall, where they are somewhat protected from the high winds. The next  picture by Kreshnik Vushaj,

shows my place from a different angle. Once again, numeral one indicates the Canadian Palm Tree, the number two indicates my bird bath, and the number three indicates one of my bird feeders (the one which accommodates whole peanuts). However in this image, the number four indicates a small bowl holding water for my visiting birds. The water in both the bird bath and this bowl can easily freeze over in these conditions, so I have to monitor it carefully, which I do, as water is very important to a bird's survival. The number five in this image, as well as in Vushaj's other image, indicates my bird feeder that I call a Monopoly Feeder. I gave it that name because it looks like one of the trinkets from the infamous board game. And, again, as it did in Vushaj's previous image, the number six indicates the location of much of my flora, huddled together near the building's wall.

In Vushaj's next photo,

the ceramic bird bath is noted by the number one; and one of my whole peanut feeders is referenced by the number two. Number three is referencing the birds' water bowl; number four points to the Monopoly feeder; number five indicates my huddled plants; and, the number six is  pointing at my Canadian Palm Tree.

And with that, I'll leave you with an unmarked photograph by Kreshnik Vusha,

and a recommendation that should you ever need any painting done or interior construction contract related services, contact Kreshnik Vushaj's company Tani & Nick Painting Corp.

I live in a rental apartment, so I have not personally seen Kreshnik Vushaj's work close-up, but I've seen it from the distance of my rooftop to the building he has been working on. Moreover, if Kreshnik Vushaj can take such detailed photos, as evidenced in his pictures here, I imagine his attention to detail in assignments is unsurpassed.

Upon reflection, had Juan V and I  been able to do our de-winterizing when we had planned, I might not have had the opportunity to ask Kreshnik Vushaj to take some images for me. I did on a chance encounter, knowing he has access to interesting vantage points of my garden; as evidenced here.

Therefore I cannot be too disappointed re postponements for as Robert Burns knew, “The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft a-gley.”

Tuesday's Truths WK 33: STELLA's occurrence was one week ago!

Welcome to Week Thirty-Three of my Tuesday's Truths series. As of today, March the twenty-first, it will be one week since the "bombogenesis" Nor'Easter, named, STELLA, hit NYC and much of the Eastern seaboard of our country.

You can most likely imagine the consequences of a storm of such magnitude, and they pretty much left me homebound, where I spent my time making sure my avian visitors had plenty of water as well as food to eat.

My posts that covered STELLA and her aftermath can be found here on Blogger, they mostly deal with the impact that STELLA had on my rooftop garden as well as my feathered friends who frequent it. The garden is on a roof extension, and a partial view of it can be seen below,

beneath my string lights, in an image which was taken yesterday, March the 20th, by a workman (who is named Kreshnik Vushaj). He is on assignment at a building two doors west of me.

As for the photo atop this entry, of a Common Grackle, it was taken by yours truly, this past Sunday when I was in Central Park. That was the first time I'd been there since the storm. The temperatures were still cold and frozen snow covered non paves surfaces; but the sun's heat, and the antics of a lone Common Grackle warmed me up.

Two Birds

Two days after the "bombogenesis" nor'Easter named STELLA did her stuff in NYC (and other parts of the northeastern portion of the United States), two songbirds, an American Robin and a house sparrow, were having a conversation in my rooftop garden. The robin listened intently as you can surmise from the photo directly above.

Suddenly, for no apparent reason, the sparrow took off, leaving the dumb-founded robin to question the situation by murmuring,

"Was it something I said?," and my overhearing the robin wondering this aloud, caused me to think of a Mutt's comic strip which I've posted directly below.

I featured this strip in a prior post here on Blogger and if you'd like to reference the entry, please click here.

In any event I was subsequently surprised to learn (by chance) that "Was it something I said?," is the name of a British comedy panel game show.

Be that as it may, my learning of the name of a British comedy series did not give me the answer as to why the robin took off so suddenly.

But I wasn't about to bet on it, which is what one of Mark Twain's characters (in The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County) might've done — at least the one in Retold Mark Twain, by Pegi Bevins, as evidenced text image directly below.

In any event when most folks hear references relating to two birds, the idiom, "You can kill two birds with one stone," often comes up. I don't particularly like the wording of this idiom: the idea of killing any bird with any thing is repulsive to me. Still this idiom has been around since the 1600's.

According to a webpage, "the phrase appears in a 1632 book by J. Morgan Gent and a 1655-1656 exchange between Thomas Hobbes and John Bramhall. Though its precise origin is unclear, the earliest English appearances of the phrase date back to the 17th century."

The aforementioned reference goes on to say, "Some experts date the origins of the phrase back even further, to Greek and Roman mythology and the story of Icarus and Daedalus, who constructed wings to escape from the Labyrinth in Crete. Daedalus is said to have obtained the feathers used to make the pair's famous wings by killing two birds with a single stone. Another common theory attributes the phrase to the Roman poet Ovid."

Regardless of the story of Icarus and Daedalus, or maybe because of it, I have a distaste for the idiom, and prefer to associate two birds with the following nursery rhyme.

"There were two birds sitting on a stone,

Fa, la, la, la, lal, de.

One flew away, and then there was one,

Fa, la, la, la, lal, de.

The other flew after, and then there was none,

Fa, la, la, la, lal, de.

And so the poor stone was left all alone,

Fa, la, la, la, lal, de!"

But all of this analyzing of two birds has not helped me to learn why the sparrow took off so suddenly, leaving the robin to wonder "wth" happened?

Throwback Thursday: Mr. Eugene Schieffelin (He was for the birds, especially starlings.)

The photograph atop today's entry was taken during this past Tuesday's nor'Easter; a "bombogenesis," winter storm named STELLA. It's a picture featuring a representative of one of the dozens upon dozens of dozens of European starlings who spent the entire day in my rooftop garden, eating and squawking (not sedate like the one seen here) while the blizzard raged on (as evidenced in the following images).

This bird type that I'm speaking of is a member of the Sturnus vulgaris family whom are also known by the common name of European starling. Evidently this variety of bird was brought to NYC from England by Eugene Schieffelin in March of 1890, and he subsequently released them in Central Park. 

I first learned of Eugene Schieffelin's antics in March of 2014 and wrote about the news-worthy topic on TLLG's Facebook Page. I also wrote about it on hometalk, with a follow-up entry here on Blogger. 

Now, in preparation for today's throwback Thursday post, I've read other interesting information re Eugene Schieffelin's "responsibility" in bringing starlings across the pond, as well as interesting facts re this ubiquitous bird type, all of which I'm sharing in this entry.