A Pictorial Tale of Two Pigeons

PIGEONS ARE FEATURED IN WIOB

PIGEONS ARE FEATURED IN WIOB

PIGEONS ARE FEATURED IN WIOB

PIGEONS ARE FEATURED IN WIOB

PIGEONS ARE FEATURED IN WIOB

PIGEONS ARE FEATURED IN WIOB

PIGEONS ARE FEATURED IN WIOB

PIGEONS ARE FEATURED IN WIOB

PIGEONS ARE FEATURED IN WIOB

PIGEONS ARE FEATURED IN WIOB

PIGEONS ARE FEATURED IN WIOB

PIGEONS ARE FEATURED IN WIOB

PIGEONS ARE FEATURED IN WIOB

PIGEONS ARE FEATURED IN WIOB

PIGEONS ARE FEATURED IN WIOB

PIGEONS ARE FEATURED IN WIOB

PIGEONS ARE FEATURED IN WIOB

PIGEONS ARE FEATURED IN WIOB

PIGEONS ARE FEATURED IN WIOB

PIGEONS ARE FEATURED IN WIOB

These two pigeons spent time together in my garden the other day. For your information, this bird one of many types featured in my three volume book series, Words In Our Beak.  The stories are set in my rooftop garden.

MY BOOK SERIES

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID, Bible Readers: Scripture needs to say "AS a sparrow..." (Wednesday's Wisdom)

SPARROWS ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

SPARROWS ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

SPARROWS ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

The other week I saw a male house sparrow bathing in a puddle that was on the part of a greenway that runs along the Hudson River.

Upon my seeing the little creature I instantly thought of Henry David Thoreau's quote which was in response to how he felt when this bird type was visiting his property.

He is known to have said “I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance than I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn.”

The Fire Island Lighthouse is for the birds! (Wednesday's Wisdom)

Many web-pages (including Punchbowl) concur, "Today is National Lighthouse Day! On this day in 1789, the United States Congress approved an Act 'for the establishment and support of lighthouses, beacons, buoys, and public piers.' This piece of legislation commissioned the first Federal lighthouse, which was constructed at the entrance of Chesapeake Bay. Two hundred years later, Congress designated August 7th as National Lighthouse Day to commemorate this important moment in history and to celebrate these beautiful structures.

For centuries, lighthouses have served as beacons of light, guiding ships safely to harbor through storms, fog, or dark of night. To celebrate National Lighthouse Day, visit a local lighthouse near you or donate to a lighthouse preservation society."

The lighthouse featured in the image atop this entry and directly below...

... is The Fire Island Lighthouse, a lighthouse that has 182 steps which I've climbed in two occasions.

Wednesday's Wisdom Facts Re "4 calling birds"

Yesterday, was the third day of  Christmas; and here on Blogger, I weighed in with my musings re that particular holiday and included some thoughts on the second as well as the first day of Christmas.

Today is known as the fourth day of Christmas, the day when someone's true love gave to them four calling birds or four colly birds; depending on one's interpretation of the story told within the song, The Twelve Days of Christmas.

Growing up, I was always led to believe that on the fourth day of Christmas someone's true love gave to them, four calling birds, three french hens, two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree. Now, after all these years of singing the twelve days, I've discovered one's true love was never given calling birds; rather he/she was most likely given colly or coaly birds!

According to "research and speculative detective work" done by John R. Henderson, "the version of the Twelve Days of Christmas that we know today dates back only as far as 1909, when arranger Frederic Austin's transcription of the words and his own tune were published in London. The three earliest printed versions (with no music) date back to about 1780, and it is noteworthy that the order of the gifts was different than the Twentieth Century version. The song was old when it was first published. One scholar has found what she thinks are elements of the song in a damaged manuscript from the seventh century, the time of Beowulf, the great heroic pagan poem.

"Most of what we know about the Anglo-Celtic pagan religion comes from Christian writers condemning it. What the Anglo-Celts actually believed will never be known for sure, but there are clues. We know numbers had special signifigance to them, and we know that birds were honored as holy symbols of fertility. That in itself might actually provide even more evidence of the song's true non-Christian origins."

Henderson states that on the fourth day of Christmas, one was given four colly birds and he claims "the birds are really Colly Birds, not Calling Birds. Colly birds may be any of several coal-black birds – crows, jackdaws, rooks, or ravens. These birds of the night carry the power and mystery of the dark season of the year. The raven was the bird of battle. Four is an important number to link with the darkness, since Four is the number of the Earth, which, though now asleep and filled in darkness, remains fertile and a potent elemental source of power. "

I have no pictures of crows, jackdaws, rooks or ravens in the collection of bird images that I've taken over the years. Therefore, I'm representing these coal-colored birds by featuring images (atop this entry) of figurines based on crow varieties.

The Fourth Day of Christmas 2018

IMAGE CREDIT

It's The Fourth Day of Christmas, the day (according to a song) when someone's true love gave to them four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree.

Re calling birds, I referenced them on FB a couple of days before Christmas when I mentioned the issues I was having with my landline due to Verizon's cable out age.

I'm still having that issue and it looks like I will until January 23rd 2019, but as of yesterday I can join the calling birds in terms of using a phone in my home.  I now have a temporary one for making calls. Time will tell if I can receive calls on it, but people can leave a message on my voice mail which is not affected by the cable outage, and I'll return their call on my temporary phone.

In terms of four calling birds mentioned in the aforementioned song, I've come upon a blog post (in The History Of Ornithology) where the author (Bob Montgomerie) states, "The CALLING BIRDS of day 4 are the most interesting to me as the original said ‘colly birds’ and subsequent variants said the birds were ‘canary’, ‘collie’, ‘colley’, ‘colour’d’, ‘curley’, ‘coloured’, ‘corley’, and finally ‘calling’ by Austin in 1909 published with his new tune. I am surprised no one ever suggested ‘collared’. The original ‘colly bird’ was the European Blackbird (Turdus merula) as ‘colly’ meant ‘black’ as in ‘coaly’, and is why border collies bear that name. The subsequent versions are undoubtedly the result of mis-hearings and misinterpretations."

Another web reference to the meaning of four calling birds states, "The 'four calling birds' that we sing about today were, at different times, 'four canary birds' and 'our mockingbirds,' and before that they show up as 'colly birds' or 'collie birds,' which is the archaic term for blackbirds. There were however, for some reason, always four of them."

I never heard of mockingbirds being associated with the song so that may or may not be fake news!

Be that as it may, here's one more "blurb" that I came upon re the four calling birds mentioned in the song. A Catholic-based web-page states, "The four calling birds are associated with both the four evangelists and their gospels–   Saints Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; and the four major prophets– Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel."

And that's it for today dear reader, after all, there's only so much one can, or should say, re four calling birds!

Here's Tuesday's Truths WK 57: The Tribute In Light Endangers Birds Migrating

It's the fifty-fifth week of my Tuesday's Truths series!

Today is also the somber day after the sixteenth anniversary of the September Eleventh Terrorists attacks, which occurred on September 11, 2001. Therefore I am dedicating this entry to a harsh fact regarding The Tribute In Light, which shines all night long on the anniversary of the September Eleventh Terrorists attacks. A photograph of The Tribute In Light (from a web-page associated with NPR), can be seen atop this entry.

This installation is the work of "artists Paul Myoda and Julian LaVerdiere (who on the night of the attacks) watched from Brooklyn as an ashy and gaseous cloud formed over the remnants of the World Trade Center. The lights that illuminated Ground Zero during rescue efforts set this plume of smoke aglow, and through it, both men felt they could still see the buildings. This mirage gave them an idea, which they eventually turned into 'Tribute in Light,' an ephemeral memorial that has served as a vigil for victims on the anniversary of the attacks every year since."

This year, according to an article published by People (where the quotation above is also from), "The installation’s collection of 88 beams will illuminate the night sky above Lower Manhattan on Monday night, creating two pillars of light that will stretch four-miles-high. The display has become one of the most recognized and unique public art installations in the world since its unveiling on March 11, 2002...

... 'When the lights appeared for the first time, it was one of the most peaceful and silent events I had ever witnessed,' Myoda says. 'Until that night, I don’t recall ever being in New York and hearing so little. When the lights were on, everything seemed to stop. It was incredibly quiet.'

As one construction worker told the artists, after six months of looking into a pit, 'people could start looking up again. '

'That night was the first time that it seemed like everybody could gaze into the infinite, and not into an abyss,' LaVerdiere says.

Since then, the installation has been put into operation every evening of September 11, and turned off just before dawn the following morning."

I've seen the Tribute In Light, and it is a sight to behold, but, unfortunately, this installation has been traumatic for migratory birds. In 2015, Quartz reported that "New York’s Tribute in Light to 9/11 is stunning to both people and birds."

The aforementioned article states the "beautiful 9/11 memorial, the Tribute in Light, had to be turned off and on multiple times last night to make sure migratory birds in the area didn’t lose their way, Gothamist reports."

Monday's Musings 2: Session 35 & N'tl Bird Day

A #CLAPBECAUSEWECAREPARTICIPANT

The photo-op directly above is from tonight's (May the fourth) #ClapBecauseWeCare session, where many participants announced: "May the fourth* be with you, first responders, health care professionals and essential workers. BRAVO! BRAVO!"

*"May the Fourth be with you," is the catchphrase of Star Wars Day on May 4th, the unofficial holiday celebrating the Star Wars franchise. It is a pun on a famous line from Star Wars, May the Force be with you.

"God gives every bird its food, but he does not throw it into the nest."

The quote, "God gives every bird its food, but he does not throw it into the nest," which is attributed to Josiah Gilbert Holland (an American novelist and poet), is layered with meaning; but since this is not a dissertation, but rather it is a blog post (albeit a belated one as it was scheduled for yesterday) I am only focusing on one aspect of the quotation, and that is the literal translation.

Since God does not throw food into the birds' nests and since I can't see their nests, I provide food for birds that visit my rooftop garden in a variety of ways; and this blog entry is a pictorial account of some of the ways I do this as well as some of the ways my visiting birds respond to my efforts, and one of my visiting mourning doves is sitting atop my one of my urban hedges and staring at me through my window as I write this because he wants to make sure his brood is included in the photo-ops within this entry. Due to the fact this posting is about birds that eat in my garden it would be hard not to include him, as the mourning doves nosh here more than any other visiting bird and often I'm concerned that their overwhelming presence will deter other feathered creatures from enjoying a bite to eat on my roof extension garden!

February First

I confess that I feel that I don't have much to offer re the onset of February in this year of 2019 except to reiterate what Snoopy has to say re the date of 2-1 (in the comic strip that I've posted atop this blog entry). What I can do, dear reader, is to remind you that February is National Bird-Feeding Month.

Wednesday's Wisdom: Listen to the Birds!

I live near to Central Park, which can be seen in the photograph (from a web-page) atop this entry. 

During the dozens upon dozens of years in my travels to work places or medical facilities, I have gone to and from my destinations by walking on several different paths within the park. Yet, it is only over the past couple of years, that I’ve heard any of the numerous birds who visit there, in the act of singing.

Wednesday's Wisdom Perching Birds' Footwork

The images atop this blog post have to do with an exotic Canadian Palm tree that I've had in my rooftop garden since Christmas time. The first picture is one that you may recognize as I included it in a prior entry here on Blogger, and it was taken before any snow fell for the 2016-2017 winter season.

You might also recognize the second and third photographs as they are included in an entry here on Blogger that I published this past January. The "traditional" Christmas tree seen in the third image (towards the top in the center) was taken down in February, but my Canadian Palm Tree is still standing in the southwest corner of my rooftop garden.

I got both of the trees from Sébastien, who can be seen in the image below,

on the left side of the photo, and he proclaimed that the Canadian Palm tree along with all the (Christmas trees he sells) is Gluten Free.

The trees were delivered to me by way of his cart,

and I requested that he leave the tag (stating EXOTIC CANADIAN PALM TREE) intact. My request has proven to be good for my visiting birds, for a number of them have used the palm tree's tag as a place to perch while enjoying suet from a basket-like bird feeder that I've hung on that tree, as evidenced by the photos below.

NOT SO FAST: #MaytheFourth is for the birds!

This past Saturday —  which was May the Fourth — here on Blogger, I reminded readers that it was World Naked Gardening Day, but in order to not scare the many people whose windows look out onto my rooftop garden, I didn't tend to it in the buff.

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!

"another year over AND a new one just begun ." PART TWO-G-3 (Sept. 21st — Sept. 30th 2012)

Under "normal" circumstances, regarding this blog, Tuesday's posts are "reserved" for "directing" readers to my posts on tumblr, in other words, usually, if it's Tuesday, it must be tumblr! 

However, if you have been reading my entries on Blogger these past few days, you will recall that today has been "reserved" for part two-G-3 of my 2012-2013 year in review (re events that occurred in my garden) as I stated in describing my schedule in part one and in parts two-G1 as well as in part two-G2 of this series of "review" posts.

Today's series concludes the events in my garden for September 21st through September 30th of 2012, and I'll begin where I left off in yesterday's post, which was with the image posted above atop today's blog entry, minus the circles which have been superimposed on this photograph.

The 5th Anniversary of Harper Lee's Passing

The author, Harper Lee, known mostly for her novel, "To Kill A Mockingbird," died five years ago today (2-19-2016). In honor of her memory I'm sharing three photo-ops (atop this posting) of a Northern mockingbird who hung out with a Mourning dove in my garden during yesterday's snowstorm.