Crows vs. Owl

A Sunday morning walk, around the levee that keeps our neighborhood from the marshy bay. As we walked the portion that backs up to a street, we heard the oh-so-familiar argument of crows droning on in the tall trees of someone's yard. As we got closer, the volume and intensity increased. We imagined those folks in their house, cursing the crows, as they were trying to sleep in on the holiday weekend. We stopped to count how many crows we could see among the leaves. The tree was alive with movement. Suddenly, the cawing changed tempo and pitch, and the group started to fly off. As they rose from the tree like a black cloud, we saw one white bird in their midst. It was a huge owl, whose heavy square head and wide wingspread looked awkward and graceful all at once. The twenty or more crows dove at him and surrounded him. He flapped his wings slowly and moved away easily as they tried to peck and warn him. They came at him from all sides, but he never seemed to get flustered or hit. We watched in awe as the feathered pack flew on through the neighborhood to alight in the next set of tall trees. They went on to awaken yet another family.

More waxwing

When I got home the day I saw the waxwings in the morning, the holly tree was stripped of berries, except for the very bottom of the tree along one branch. The birds had returned during the day, Barb reported, but flew away when the dog approached. But just now, I heard the unusual whir of their call and saw the tree moving. More than 10 cedar waxwings sat high in the tree, sunning themselves in the last rays of the day. I grabbed the binoculars and watched their beauty. One grabbed a mosquito-eater bug out of the sky and gobbled it down.

When some neighbor banged a garbage can loudly, they flew in a great rush out of the tree and disappeared. The body is dun-colored around the "shoulders" and then transistions to yellow on the belly. The yellow is exactly the same yellow as some of the holly leaves, and so they blend in quite well. Except for the fact that they are very large birds, and have a dramatic crest and that they flair up, and look like they are wearing incredible eye makeup. They are Broadway birds..

Also, the peonies are blooming. They are such old-fashioned flowers. Something about their shape and delicate whiteness makes me think I am looking at a victorian painting of a flower, not a real flower.

Cedar Waxwings!

Our holly tree is still full of fruit, this year - the robins that usually come in January didn't eat it all this year. There were plenty of robins in the neighborhood, but perhaps because of our remodeling disruption, they didn't linger in our yard. This morning the tree was alive with action - a flock of beautiful cedar waxwings were downing the red berries with gusto.



I stood close to the door with my binoculars, in awe of their gorgeous feathers and colors. A bird would pluck a berry off, hold it in his mouth for a second, then swallow it whole and pluck another one off a second later.

Feathered friends

We took a hike this morning out on the marsh near our home, where the waste water plant meets the wetlands meets the bay. A bunch of birdwatchers were already out on the path, equipped with binoculars and khaki clothing. One woman had a spyglass mounted on a tripod and was closely inspecting some pelicans that had come to roost near the pond. They looked like swans from a distance, with extremely white feathers and bulky bodies. The rest of the birds, a wide variety of ducks, grebes, gulls, cormorants, and so forth, were all sharing the area with glee, ducking and fishing and preening themselves. A flock of some tiny birds gathered on the pond's shore. When we walked past, they arose in a glorious pattern of flashing brown and white underbellies. Goofy looking shorebirds walked upon their bright orange stilt-like legs, with their knees bending backwards.

None of them minded the others. They all knew there are plenty bugs and fish to go around, and that when they tuck their heads under their wings to sleep, no other of their kind would be the one to disturb them. Don't you wish we got along as well as they do?

Robin's 'hood

I have written here before about the yearly visitation by a large flock of robins. They often arrive around new year's, but this year, in the rain, they arrived yesterday. We saw a very large flock during our morning walk... they are more numerous than ever before, though individually, the birds look a little thin (perhaps from sharing the resources among a larger flock).

I rushed home to put out more seed in the backyard, but as of this morning, they hadn't discovered the feeder or the tree full of juicy holly berries that they so enjoy. There must be a hundred of the beautiful birds... they are circling the neighborhood and decorating the trees as the last of the leaves fall.