THE SILENT TREATMENT: American Robins ARE Hoppin' & A Bobbin' BUT...

AMERICAN ROBIN

AMERICAN ROBIN

AMERICAN ROBIN

AMERICAN ROBIN

AMERICAN ROBIN

AMERICAN ROBIN

The photographs atop this blog entry are of an American Robin that I came upon when I was walking in Central Park. I've seen a number of members of this bird type during my walks in Central Park, which is a fact I mentioned here on Blogger. I've also seen them when I've cycled (on a tandem) to The Little Red Lighthouse, but on those occasions it is usually too dark to take a decent photograph of this (or any) bird type.

When I first started noticing the presence of robins in both Central Park and near The Little Red Lighthouse, I nearly had a long term case of ohrwurms caused by my recalling the song "Rocking Robin."

Ohrwurms, as you may know, is the term given to the "condition" of having a song stuck in your head and seeing robins on a daily basis as I walked through Central Park, certainly prompted me to sing,"He rocks in the tree tops all day long .... Hoppin' and a-boppin' and singing his song. All the little birdies on Jaybird street, love to hear the robin go tweet, tweet, tweet... Rockin' robin, rock, rock, Rockin' robin, rock rock...." 

But in reality the robins I saw in Central Park or near The Little Red Lighthouse were not "rockin' in the treetops," but they were "hoppin' and a-boppin" across the ground. And I never heard any of those robin go "tweet, tweet, tweet!" They have all been silent.

Father's Day is FOR THE BIRDS!

This past Monday, June 13th, six days before today's holiday of Father's Day, I heard a sound in my garden. I still don't have my replacement glasses (which I need as my accident last month resulted in them being ruined as you can see from the image above), so I relied on my Canon 70D's long lens to see what was causing the unusual noise. The conditions were not optimal for photographing. It was in the wee (and still dark) hours of the morning. Also I was inside my place looking out through a broken window. 

Still, I followed the noise from the vantage point of being behind a camera, then realized a baby bird or very young fledging, was alongside the American Robin who has been visiting my urban garden which is in close proximity to NYC's Central Park. I was thrilled for I've never seen such a young robin! However, both of these birds were hiding behind one of my clay pots, and with that, as well as the conditions I've just described, the images I did get are unclear, but I'm posting them anyway (below).

AMERICAN ROBINS

AMERICAN ROBINS

For as I mentioned in a recent post here on Blogger, when photo-ops do not turn out as I would like, I try to console myself with the wisdom that E.B. White spoke of in his essay, "Remembrance is Sufficient."

Recalling an Event from June 4th 2016 (Throwback Thursday)

ROBINS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 3

Yesterday for the first time in this new year, a lone American robin came to visit my rooftop garden and he can be seen in the picture atop this entry.

Significance of a Robin's Red Breast

DIFFERENT ROBINS ARE FEATURED IN VOLUME 3 

The robin-themed song, Rockin' Robin, is on my mind because I recently encountered a "rockin' robin" when I was in The Ramble portion of Central Park and came upon a lone American Robin who was not rockin' in the treetops but rather was rockin' on the ground as seen in the picture atop this entry....

Wednesday's Wisdom: Writer's Block Insights

Today, is the eighty-seventh anniversary for The New Yorker publishing UNWRITTEN, a mini essay by E.B. White. I've posted a copy of it atop this blog entry, and it is a piece of writing that you may recognize from prior entries here on Blogger, as I have referred to this in a few posts; but never on the anniversary of the publication.

If you follow any of my cyber-venues, then you probably have realized that E.B. White's writings are something I truly appreciate. This essay speaks to me in terms of my unwillingness to write about things "that stand out clear as pictures in (my) head." 

For me, some of those pictures in my head are the actions of an American robin visiting my rooftop garden who looked as if he was doing the hokey-pokey (as evidenced in the photos below).

And I even researched the hokey-pokey where I discovered the following image (on Mental Floss);

But even though I saw another American robin in Central Park, who looked to be doing the hokey- pokey (as evidenced in the next picture),

I kept my robin-doing-the-hokey-pokey observation in my head and did not share it via writing. I'm not sure if this was because I thought doing so would "prove to be embarrassing," as White suggests (in the essay atop this entry) to be a reason for an idea to remain in one's head and go unwritten, or if it's because I felt who cares about my equating a bird's movements with the hokey-pokey.

Robins: A harbinger of spring?

Spring 2021 sprung in the area where I live a  few hours ago (5:37 A.M. EDT.).

In many areas, the bird type known as a robin is thought to be a harbinger of spring as the one in pictures atop this entry might indicate (they were taken in my garden a few days ago). But I don't see robins being a sign of spring in my place, for they spend time here year round.

Holy Saturday 2021

It is such a blessing to be visited by a robin anytime but especially on Holy Saturday (which is today). Did you know that robins (the bird type featured in the image direcly above) are associated with a tale about the crucifixion of Jesus?

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

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?

“Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light.”

TULIPS

Earlier in the week, upon my hearing the news of the terrorist's attacks in Belgium, I thought of CB, a woman in my hood who died in February of 2014. Among others, CB was survived by her sister who, as far as I know, still lives in Belgium. I've only met CB's sister, once, and the occasion was at the luncheon which was held after CB's funeral mass.

As for CB, I initially met her in the 1980's when I was doing some volunteer work for SL, a widow of the man who had headed The William Morris Agency. SL lived in the luxury building, where CB and her husband had a penthouse apartment overlooking Central Park. There is an entrance to Central Park directly across that building, and it one that I’ve used numerous times over my many years in New York City.

And it is at that entrance one can see a tribute to Theodore Roethke, the American poet who lived between the years of 1908 and 1963. Many poets were influenced by his teachings and/or writings including the poet, Sylvia Plath.

Pearl, a lovely American Robin

The bird in the photograph above goes by the name of Pearl. In this picture, she can be seen in her home which is on the grounds of The Raptor Trust in New Jersey. The Raptor Trust, as you may know, either from your own experience, or from my posts here on Blogger,  is a bird rehab facility in New Jersey. I learned about the organization through The Wild Bird Fund, a bird rehab facility in NYC.

Pearl belongs to the bird type known as the American Robin (AKA Turdus migratorius). I was introduced to her this past Friday when a dear gentleman, FR, drove our mutual friend, DD-S, as well as his dog, Uli, and me from NYC to Millington New Jersey; where The Raptor Trust is located. I had the distinct honor of sharing the backseat with FR's chow chow, Uli (a nickname for Ulysses).

He is a dog you may recognize as I featured him in a post here on Blogger this past August, in honor of National Dog Day. Uli was a great travel companion and didn't bark about the fact that his animal type is not allowed within the grounds of The Raptor Trust. The reasons for their rule are obvious, even Uli understands!

Some Reasons Robin's Bathe So Much (Tuesday's Truths Week 81)

ROBINS ARE FEATURED IN VOLUME 3

ROBINS ARE FEATURED IN VOLUME 3

ROBINS ARE FEATURED IN VOLUME 3

ROBINS ARE FEATURED IN VOLUME 3

When I was in Central Park on the day before Earth Day, I saw many wonderful happenings, which I wrote about in a recent entry here on Blogger.

Something I did not include in the aforementioned post is that I witnessed an American Robin bathing in a small body of water in close proximity to a little water fall. He/she can be seen in the act of bathing within the photos directly above.

Musings Re the song "Baby, It's Cold Outside!"

ROBINS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 3

Yesterday, an American Robin spent a good amount of time in the urban garden that I have on my roof extension here in NYC. He/she can be seen in the image atop this posting. I think him/her is the same American Robin (who visited me this past Friday), that I wrote about in an entry which I published on that day. As you can see the creature is very puffed up! Puffing up, as you may know, dear reader, is a "task" birds perform for many reasons, including to keep warm!

My Visiting Birds & "The Last Song"

The photograph atop this blog entry was taken a little over a month ago on July 8th 2016. It features a very young American Robin spending time atop a table that I have in my urban (NYC) rooftop garden. In the picture he/she is standing alongside saucers that I fill with pomegranates, blueberries, raspberries, currants and raisins. It is one of my small ways of saying thank you to the array of birds that visit my place.

3 Weeks in the 2017 Season for my Crocuses (among other things)

Today, March the 19th, is the eve of the onset of the Spring season for 2017. March the 19th is also the day many observe The Feast of Saint Joseph. I have a small statue of him on a shelf above my desk.

It can be seen in the picture atop this entry in the company of Saint Francis and Saint Jude, who are standing to his right (or lefthand side of the image).

On E.B. White's "DRESSING UP"

The same afternoon that I encountered a Savannah sparrow (seen in the first image atop this entry) in Central Park, I came upon an American robin playing with a piece of string (as seen in the second image above). My seeing the robin doing this prompted me to think of an essay by E.B. White which I've posted below.

As you can see the essay was published seventy-one years ago today on April 20th, 1946. And like the sparrow who was playing with a small length of confetti, in White's essay, the American robin that I came upon spent a bit of time with the piece of string (another photo can be seen below).

But also like White's sparrow, this American robin, became bored. Indeed as White surmised, "It is a wearisome thing to be overdressed  in the early morning." Only in this case, the time frame was not early morning, but mid to late afternoon. The sun was hot which is another circumstance when being overdressed is "wearisome."

Tuesday's Truths WK 60: American Robin's Eye Placement

Hello, and welcome to the fifty-eighth week of my Tuesday's Truths series, which is being dedicated to the American robin's eye placement.

Here's the deal, a few days ago, to avoid Central Park's congestion (the powers that be were setting up barricades for a huge event), I made my way west to Riverside Park (RSP) so that I could go down by the Hudson River side.

As I passed through RSP, I was delighted to encounter a lone American robin (seen in the image atop this entry), especially since this bird type has not been to my rooftop garden for a number of days.

My Winter Storm Follow-UP is for the birds!

Yesterday was the day after the snow storm in NYC. I got up very early with the intention of making sure the bird feeders, as well as the bird saucers, that I have placed in my rooftop garden, were not covered with snow, and, that they had food in them.

I was especially on the look out to see if the American Robin, as well as the Northern mockingbird, who had dined here during the blizzard, returned. I was fairly sure that the European starlings, sparrows, house finches, blue jays, dark-eyed juncoes, and mourning doves, who had also visited my place during the storm, made it through the night; but I was not as confident about the robin's or the mockingbird's ability to survive the cold temperatures. Yet I was hopeful that they were able to do so. I replenished their saucers, and made sure that there were still suet cakes in the bird feeders. I also had my camera ready to take their pictures.

I was concentrating on my anticipation of their arrival, when I felt as if someone was watching me. I went to the window, and did not see anyone, or any creature; including European starlings, sparrows, house finches, blue jays, dark-eyed juncoes, or mourning doves; nor did I see the robin or the mockingbird; but I felt an intense stare upon me.

It was at that point when I noticed an unmistakable splash of vibrant red within the Ailanthus Trees (which are in the courtyard of the building where I live). Instantly I knew that the red had to belong to a cardinal! My camera's long lens confirmed my guess, and I took the photograph that is atop this blog entry, and as you can see, he did appear to be staring my way.

Thankfully I was able to take a few photos of him, besides the image atop this entry, a couple more can be seen directly below, and, as you can see he is very puffed up in an effort to withstand the bitter cold.

It has been quite some time since I've seen a cardinal in my immediate vicinity, although I have seen them in Central Park. As I mentioned in a recent post here on Blogger, the nearby construction has deterred cardinals from coming here, but I had gotten a quick glimpse of one in my garden, a little over a week ago. Unfortunately his stay was for such a brief moment that I missed a chance to get a photo-op of the brilliant red fellow!

In any event, when a chaplain that I am well aquatinted with, heard about that quick visit from the cardinal which I just spoke of, he told me that the presence of a cardinal at this time could be a sign.

He felt this way because the soft cover version of the digital book, Words In Our Beak Volume One,

that I wrote with Cam, is on the brink of being reproduced. I've hit a few snags with each of the production companies, but they are ones that can be remedied, in a relatively short amount of time — HOPEFULLY.

Meanwhile, I'm very grateful to report that the robin and the mocking bird weathered the bitter cold night after the storm, and came to nosh from a suet-basket in my garden during the afternoon hours (as seen below),

on the day I saw the cardinal in the tree tops!

ADDENDUM FALL 2018: 

The non-hardcover version (or 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.

MY BOOK SERIES

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.