Squirrel Appreciation Day 2021

Today, January 21st, is the annual day to celebrate Squirrel Apppreciation Day. I've written about this holiday within a number of venues including entires on this blog.

These animals can provide a lot of entertainment when you observe them as I've done in both Central Park and Riverside Park over the years when I've encountered various types including Cinnamon Variant squirrels, Black squirrels and Eastern gray squirrels.

On July 8th 2020, shortly after NYC started to begin easing up on lockdown restrictions (many of which were subsequently put back in place) which had been in effect since March due  to the devastating consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, I had the chance to watch squirrels from my window for they began to visit the Ailanthus Trees in my buildings courtyard and as you might surmise from the photo-ops atop this entry, their antics gave me many reaons to smile during those isolating times.

Today is Squirrel Appreciation Day 2020 (Tuesday's Truths WK 160)

A little birdie, specifically a house sparrow is tweeting about the fact that today, January 21st is Squirrel Appreciation Day! Although I've written about this holiday in bygone years, had I not heard his tweet, I would've forgotten and missed a chance to give out a shout to the Black Squirrel who spends a lot of time (during all kinds of weather ) on the grounds alongside the Delacorte Theatre.

Sunday's Sentiment: National Black Cat Day (An Excuse to Celebrate Black Squirrels Too?)

Today is National Black Cat Day. According to many sources, including holidayscalendar.com, this occasion is "celebrated on October 27th, just four days before Halloween... National Black Cat Day is a holiday which celebrates an animal (who) has an image problem. Black cats are not only considered bad luck in the United States but they are also one of the cats that is the least likely to be adopted...

While no one is exactly sure when National Black Cat Day was founded, what is known is that the attitudes about these particular felines are different during different parts of history and in different parts of the world. For example, in Great Britain and Japan, a black cat is considered good luck. However, in the United States, it has come to symbolize bad luck or evil forces. In some parts of the world, if a black cat crosses your path, then it’s considered to be a bad omen. In folklore, black cats are often depicted as agents of evil or even evil itself. In some parts of Europe, they were considered so evil that they were burned alive by superstitious villagers in giant midsummer bonfires..."

I don't have a black cat (or any cat for that matter), but I do have a figurine of someone dressed as a black cat for Halloween.

He/she can be modeling his/her costume in the pictures atop this entry.

Certain Squirrels in NYC's Central Park (Tuesday's Truths WK 122)

There is a special looking squirrel (at least to me) who seems to be a loner spending time on the grassy area on the northwest side of Oak Bridge in Central Park; as seen in the photo atop this entry and in the pictures directly below.

As of this entry, I have not learned the exact ID for him/her but here is what the Squirrel Census Commander has to say about it:

"Most likely this specimen is an eastern gray who's color phase is between a cinnamon and black. While I've never seen one exactly like this I'm sure it's possible."

If I find out more re this creature, I will put an addendum in this entry. Meanwhile, a few yards north of this area, near The Shakespeare Gardens (which are in the vicinity of the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre)...

Monday's Second Memo re Observing Squirrels (It's from Bill Whitehead)

Twenty six days ago,  here on Blogger, I announced that October is Squirrel Awareness Month and ten days later on October 13th, I discussed the fact that a Squirrel Census was taking place in NYC's CentralPark. The census has now come and gone, but when I saw Bill Whitehead's 10-27-2018 cartoon (a copy of it is posted atop this entry), I thought about those involved in the squirrel counting event.

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."

Birds Preening

THE STORY OF MOURNING DOVES IS FEATURED IN  VOL 1

This past Saturday after my encounter with a cinnamon-colored squirrel (a variant of the Common Gray variety) in Central Park, I came upon a Mallard duck preening and he can be seen in the first image atop this entry.

I am fascinating with the preening process, which I've witnessed many birds doing, including a mourning dove when he/she alighted upon the branches of an Ailanthus tree in my courtyard (as evidenced in the second photo above). Details re mourning doves and their preening process are included in volume one of my book series, Words In Our Beak. And information about Ailanthus trees is included in volume three.

FALL 2018 ADDENDUM: 

Hardcover versions of Volume One, Two and Three can now be found wherever books are sold.

MY BOOK SERIES

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.

Central Park Squirrel Census Ends in 1 WK!

IMAGE CREDIT

I've just been reminded that the Central Park Squirrel Census will be ending a week from today on October 20th 2018.

Because it is Squirrel Awareness Month, I knew the census was taking place, but my mind, as you may have guessed, dear reader, has been preoccupied with the delays in the release of the third volume of my book series, Words In Our Beak...

SEE PRESS RELEASE

... but as I've mentioned here on Blogger in recent posts, I'm making it a point to not get discouraged re my circumstances and to (among other things) focus more than usual on squirrels during their month for awareness (which is always October). 

No matter what life is bringing your way, STOP AND SMELL THE FLOWERS

COMMON GRACKLES ARE FEATURED IN VOL 3

Last Tuesday when I went to Central Park, I was on a mission to get a disappointment off my mind by observing squirrels as away of honoring Squirrel Awareness Month (which always occurs in October). I wrote about that particular experience (and included photographs of those busy-tailed creatures) in last Wednesday's posting here on Blogger.

One thing I did not discuss in the aforementioned entry is that while on my way to take in the antics of such entertaining furry creatures, I came across numerous Common Grackles and I shared some of the peanuts that I had intended for the squirrels with them.

A "representative" for this bird type noshing on one of my peanuts can be seen in the image atop this entry. I am aware that grackles like peanuts because I've often seen them in my rooftop garden, munching on this legume.

Tuesday's Truths, the Ninety-Second Week: "Vous pouvez porter blanc toute l' année!"

CoCo Chanel's quote, "Vous pouvez porter blanc toute l' année," that's within the title of today's post may sound familiar to you, dear reader, as it was included in the title of a blog post that I published here on the Tuesday after Labor Day in 2011 (although at that time I was not running my Tuesday's Truths series).

Incidentally, the picture atop this entry was also featured in the aforementioned entry. When I wrote that entry, I referred to the white flowers which were growing in my rooftop garden including a variety of Echinacea, such as the one seen in the photos directly below....

...  as well as the flowers growing on my Autumn Clematis.

I'm not sure why I didn't mention (in the blog post which I've been referencing) the white flowers produced by my Tree Peony — AKA Paeonia suffruiticosa — whose flowers are featured in the images below...

THIS PEONY IS FEATURED IN VOLUME ONE

THIS PEONY IS FEATURED IN VOLUME ONE

THIS PEONY IS FEATURED IN VOLUME ONE

... perhaps I failed to do so because by the Tuesday after Labor Day in 2011 this particular shrub was long past its thriving days (which always occur in April through early May).

This Wednesday's Wisdom is for Snowmen (And it's from Linus!)

Today, March 21st, marked the first full day of spring for 2018, the season "officially" began yesterday at 12:15 PM in NYC, but you would never know it from our weather, as I mentioned in yesterday's blog post.

And today, on our first full day of spring for the 2018 season, we are having our fourth nor'Easter since the new year began (a newspaper article re the event can be found by clicking here).

However, in spite of the inclement weather, I took a walk within nearby Central Park, and came upon a lone black squirrel (pictured directly above) nibbling on an abandoned snowball. On another side of the park, towards the lake, I came upon a snow-person holding a fishing pole.

The creation can be seen in the next picture (where the pole is indicated by a red arrow that I affixed to my photo).

Upon my seeing this snow creature, I recalled a Peanuts comic strip in which Linus had created a snowman standing on his head (and I've posted a copy of the strip directly below).

This strip was published 1-6-1975.

"Saturday in Park ..."

I've just returned home from taking a walk in Central Park, where it is currently twelve degrees, and the real feel is less than that. However, these cold temperatures did not deter a number of folks, who like yours truly, often heed the wisdom found in the lyric lines of the song, Saturday in the Park, by the band called Chicago.

The lines I'm thinking of go like this:

"...Funny days in the park

Every day's the Fourth of July

Funny days in the park

Every day's the Fourth of July..."

For indeed it was a very funny day in the park! Even a lone squirrel was attempting to make a snow angel, as evidenced in the image below.

And a couple of other squirrels proved they were New Yorkers because they were "wearing" black as seen in the next set of pictures.

A web-page for hercampus.com has this to say as to why us folks who live in NYC wear black: "Wearing black is our way of letting the world know that we are not guests of New York making our way through the city like any other transient visitor. We are the inhabitants of the infamously uninhabitable– survivalists in the place that reveals who has what it takes. New Yorkers wear black as a symbol of pride, a badge of honor, an indication that this is the city to which we belong."

Even though I mostly wear black, I'm not sure about this observation, I think it's a little precious sounding, but one thing that I am pretty sure about is this: If today were February second, (which is Ground Hog Day), NYC dwellers would probably be looking at six more weeks of winter, for as you can see (in the middle photo above), this little creature saw his/her shadow!

It wasn't Saturday in the Park, and it wasn't the 4th of July; it was Thursday, the 13th of December, and baby, it was COLD outside!

This past Thursday was bitter cold here in NYC, but I still took a brisk walk in nearby Central Park, where the lake was completely frozen, as evidenced in the photograph atop this entry. I also noticed a lone blue jay who was not letting the bitter day stop him/her from having a picnic in the tree tops while doing some people-ing (this is featured in the next set of pictures).

BLUE JAYS ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

BLUE JAYS ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

BLUE JAYS ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

BLUE JAYS ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

BLUE JAYS ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

Additionally a squirrel paid no attention to the frigid temperatures. He/she seemed to also enjoy doing a bit of peopleing from his/her nose-bleed seat high up in the tree tops.

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.

Tuesday's Truths WK 32: The National Month of Peanuts (and other things)

Welcome to Week Thirty-One of my Tuesday's Truths series. Today, March the Seventh, is the first Tuesday of this month for 2017. Because we are already at the seventh day mark for this month of March, I'd like to point out that one of the observances associated with it, causes March to be known as National Peanut Month. And, I dare say one could proclaim peanuts are for the birds!