I’d like to recommend a couple of books about birds: first is by Amy Tan, called The Backyard Bird Chronicles. Absolutely lovely; second is by Frieda Hughes, George: A Magpie Memoir.
Over at my Substack I published a couple of long-ish pieces about our front porch robins – one here and the other here. I’ve become one of those old people who talks about birds all the time.
Overwhelmed by the news? Consumed with horror that someone you had previously thought to be sane is shrieking anti-Israel/antisemitic nonsense in the public square or pulling down posters of kidnapped children and stomping their feet till they get a ceasefire so that their friends at Hamas can commit October 7th over and over again (their stated desire)? I have a couple of lovely reads for you: 1) The Last Lighthouse Keeper in America, and 2) Baby Puffins in Iceland – cutely called pufflings – meet their saviours.
Currently hooked on Hummingbird Nest live feed – that nest is a work of art. Also hooked on Big Bear Bald Eagle nest live feed, but given the cruelty of Mother Nature, it has been a bit depressing. Ravens scavenged the first clutch (undeveloped eggs) – which made me weep – but we are now on a watch for the second clutch. Magnificent birds, all. And so, so courageous. I wrote about our own bird experiences here and here.
Our second clutch of robins for 2021 flew the nest earlier this week. (I wrote about our 2020 clutches here.) There were three, born Bastille Day: Etienne, Jil and Daniel (named after singers Etienne Daho, Jil Caplan and Daniel Balavoine). Daniel left first, then Jil and…a full 24 hours later, Etienne was still sitting there, enjoying his space and enjoying his parents bringing him worms. He was like one of those kids who won’t move out of his parents house – a real failure to launch. What was truly comical – and a bit unnerving – was that Eleanor and Henri (Etienne’s parents) spent the last few hours he was in the nest perched in our cherry tree (located just behind the nest) squawking at their son. And I mean, squawking really loudly. We had never seen this behaviour. They appeared to be frantic, and we started to worry that maybe Etienne was sick or injured and couldn’t fly. I called a friend of mine who does wildlife rehabilitation and described the situation. She assured me that Etienne was fine and that his parents were simply encouraging him to leave. In other words, it was robin flight school. What they were squawking was, “Fly, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly, FLY!!!!!” And finally, he did. We shall miss them and hope for a third year of clutches in 2022, a third year that we are able to witness.
…posted on Medium – about robins and some cool things that happened in 2020.
I have discovered something I probably already knew – that there was a great reason my cats used to keep their little noses pinned to the window when there was a bird in the vicinity. They are such a delight to behold (birds, I mean, though cats are, too)! We have a nest on our porch – will write more about it later, as until the babies have fledged, I shall not exhale. But in the meantime, enjoy this video of birds singing opera – oh yes, they are!
Years ago I followed many animal-cams. In particular, I loved watching a heron family rear their wee ones. Don’t know why I got out of the habit, but I’ve found a new family – take a peek. They (the osprey mum and dad) are in Maine, and their names are Steve and Rachel. Currently, they have three eggs. Can’t wait to see those eggs hatch and the babies grow.
