The Missus says for my New Year’s resolution, I should have a bath.
All right! I’ll show her I’m a tough guy. Just because it’s freezing…. I’ll take it like a man.
Krrrrrrikey! What was I thinking?!
That’s enough of that. If she doesn’t like it, she can just smell me later.
This spotted towhee has been living here for quite a while.
His wife is somewhere nearby but she’s more camera shy.
She looks much like her flashy husband, but her colours are slightly muted.
They have been nesting on the ground inside my fenced garden, usually under the thick rosemary bush. But this year I cut the rosemary back quite a bit, not thinking I was making the usual nesting area less inviting.
So the towhees chose the messiest corner of the garden where I had not weeded, and put a nest in the mess. I let the poppies grow up in the raised bed, thinking it would hide the weeds until I could get to them. Little did I know I was also helping hide a towhee nest.
I sneaked in there with my camera and got a picture of one towhee baby still in the nest. Mother had flown out when I came close but she went right back after I left. Now I’m hoping the baby will make it through the next critical days and weeks.
There’s no question of catching up with my weeding in this part of the jungle now.
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“Floyd! You’ve been at the suet block forever!” says Johnny Junco. “Don’t you think you should give me a turn?”
“Bah! Go eat the seeds I drop,” says Floyd.
Rufus and his Missus zoom in as soon as Floyd takes a break. “How is it?” asks Rufus.
“A lot of fat before you can get to the good stuff,” she says.
“Well, why don’t you get right into the cage?” Rufus says. “You’re slim enough.”
“Why thank you,” the Missus says. “How kind of you to say so. I hadn’t thought of that. But you stand guard in case Floyd or his girlfriend, Bossy Flossie, comes back.”
“I guess I’ll just have to pick at what drops on the ground,” Johnny says. “Those guys are just too big for me to take on. But at least there’s something for everyone.”
Folks! Dickie here. I wasn’t going to make a New Year’s resolution, but something happened to change my mind. I’m sorry to tell you we’ve got thieves in the woodshed. Well, at the very least, they’re freeloaders.
Here’s what happened. Flossie and Flora Flicker and their brother Floyd were checking out breakfast joints….
“I’ve been picking at the ground for those ant eggs and beetles, but they’ve all gone into hiding,” said Flossie.
“Give it up. I know a better place,” called Flora.
“What did you say?” Flossie shouted. “I had my head in the sand there for a minute. Didn’t hear what you said.”
“I said, Flossie, there are easier ways to get a meal around here. Your brother, Floyd has already gone to look. So, are you interested?”
“I know the sunflower seeds are stashed around here, in the woodpile,” Floyd mumbled. “I bet Rufus Towhee knows where they are, but he hasn’t been very helpful.”
“I was just about to tell Floyd about the sunflower seeds in the jar,” said Rufus, “but then he found this big ugly bug. I just had to turn my back. Can’t stand to watch him crunching away on it.”
“And now for dessert!”
“I do feel a little bit bad, eating Dickie’s sunflower seeds. He’ll be so disappointed when he sees they’re gone.”
“Oh deardeardear! They found my stash. And Floyd is bigger than I am. Did you see that spear of a beak on him? Well … lesson learned. My first New Year’s resolution – I’m going to have to start getting up earlier and get my share.”
Sorry. It’s not about Chinese food, although I would love to have some right about now.
The brightness of the sky today got “dim some” when the fog rolled in. After days of heavy rain, the clouds regrouped and pondered their next mode of attack, increasingly darkening the sky as the day wore on.
After a while, the fog moved into our place higher up on the hill, and we lived in a cloud for much of the day.
Even Rufus, the spotted towhee, had trouble finding the feeder until Goldie (the golden crowned sparrow) chirped to let him in on the meal.
By the way, Rufus and Goldie both invite you to check out Anneli’s bargains for her books at https://wordsfromanneli.com/2021/11/21/book-bargains/
A great deal until Christmas.
This towhee and the eastern towhee both used to be called rufous- sided towhees, but to differentiate it from the eastern towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus), it is now called a spotted towhee (Pipilo maculatus).
Rufus is trying to figure out the best way to get into Lincoln the squirrel’s food.
“Have you ever been undecided, and had a foot in each camp?” he asks.
He finally decided to just go for it. Showing off his acrobatic skills.
No, he didn’t get put in jail for stealing Lincoln’s sunflower seeds. He’s just hiding here in plain sight. Nothing can get him here behind this maze of twigs.
“And no,” he says, ” I didn’t pull an all-nighter. My eyes are always red.”
A new birdfeeder presented unexpected challenges for some birds. The seeds were visible, but access to them was different from the way it was done in the old feeders. All the outlets for the seeds are near the bottom of this new feeder.
Very simple for most of the birds. The sparrow has it figured out. “Come on down,” he calls, but the towhee, on the top right, is still puzzled.
“Nice seeds, but how in the heck do you get at them?”
“Whatcha doin’ up there, Rufus?” the Oregon junco called.
“ARRRGGHH! These are the darndest things. I can see them. Why can’t I get at them?”
“You just stick your head in the red dish … look … like this!”
“I just don’t get it. I’m looking right at the seeds, and I can’t get them.”
Honestly, I don’t know what else to say to him. What a dimwit.
“I guess you could always have some suet, Rufus.”
Brand new feeder, brand new seeds,
Specially made to suit their needs.
High-tech model, high-tech spout
Way too hard to figure out.
Rufus hammers, Rufus picks,
He’s exhausted all his tricks.
Junco coaxes, junco shows,
Why is it that junco knows,
How to get them, how to eat?
Rufus must admit defeat.
He can’t get it, he can’t do it,
Junco points up at the suet.
Don’t go hungry, don’t despair,
Eat that suet over there.
Feeling stupid, feeling dumb,
What a birdbrain I’ve become.
Rufus gorges, Rufus gobbles,
Now so fat, his flying wobbles.
wordsfromanneli 