Category Archives: Animals
Golden-Crowned Sparrow
November is haiku month for me.
smooth and unruffled
he contemplates his safety
competing for seeds
Bath Time
Sooty, the fox sparrow, is overjoyed to find a bathtub, even as the fall weather cools down.
“Feels so good to cool my heels.”
“Maybe a little splash under the armpits will freshen me up.”
Then he spies something.
“A-a-a-a-k-k-k-k! What dirty birdy pooped in the pool?”
“Oh, deardeardear! I hope I didn’t get any on me!”
“Only one thing to do. Time for a vigorous showery birdbath and hope nothing sticks.”
“What are YOU looking at? Did you have a shower today? Don’t talk to me if you’re not clean.”
Nimble Fingers
If I hadn’t been able to watch squirrels up close in our yard, I might never have learned how dexterous their hands are. They can spin a walnut around to get at all the parts. Their little fingers are more nimble than those of some humans.
Watch how easily Crispin spins the walnut shell around to get at all the parts.
Little fingers work so well,
Flipping ’round the walnut shell,
Making sure to get the best
Walnut meat, and then digest.
Foraging
Red-shafted flickers, part of the woodpecker family, have long beaks that are great for probing for insects and grubs. They will also eat fruit and seeds. Whatever is on the menu, their beaks come in handy.
Here is a mother flicker teaching junior all about poking holes in trees to find something to eat. As always, mother bird is looking out for danger every few seconds. You can’t let your guard down with hawks and owls around.
They are not picky about which restaurant they dine at. If they think there might be something good in the siding of that house, why not see if there’s an appetizer in there?
They don’t mind picking at seeds when the bugs are hard to find. This suet block was not in the shape of a duck when I first put it out there. We must have an artistic bunch of birds visiting here.
In this short video clip, you can see that flickers don’t mind checking out the ground for bugs either. Here is where that beak comes in really handy. The dirt is just flying. And again, the flicker checks for danger at the slightest movement. Right near the end of the clip, do you see what got its attention as it flew by? I can’t tell if it’s a tiny bird or an insect, but the flicker was aware of it and on alert before going back to its excavating.
I dug, dug, dug,
For a bug, bug, bug,
Sometimes I’d find a seed.
I pick, pick, pick,
And flick, flick, flick,
The dirt more than I need.
But yum, yum, yum,
I hum, hum, hum,
I followed up my hunch.
It’s fun, fun, fun,
Bugs run, run, run,
But thanks a bunch for lunch.
Fake Hummer
I found a perfect place for me,
A safe and sheltered perch,
As long as no one tips my tree,
Dislodged, oh, how I’d lurch.
I know the truth is hard to see,
But I’m not really there,
The framework of the lamp is me,
Shaped by the sun so fair.
Like Watching Paint Dry
Might as well do my nails while I’m watching the walnuts dry.
In the lower level, by the woodstove, the walnuts are bagged and almost ready to be hung above the woodstove to finish drying. I think I’ll have to get another burlap bag or maybe two more, to hold all those nuts as they dry. All the messy work of scraping the black goo from the shells has been done. Now we wait. Most days, I sneak a few to bring out to the squirrels.
I wonder if there will be any walnuts left by Christmas.
Puppy at the Beach
When Emma was only about a year old, we took her for an outing at the beach one day.
What looked to us to be just tired sea grasses was probably a shoreline full of life.
“Did I see something move out there?”
“Whoah! Is that water closer than it was a second ago?”
“Are we safe here?”
“Okay, then. Just say the word, and I’ll go bring you that bird I saw down the beach.”
I’m sure I saw a movement there
Way down along the beach,
I’ll go and chase it if I dare…
But naw, it’s out of reach.
And anyway these waves are big,
The worst thing is they’re wet,
But pups like me don’t give a fig,
They haven’t hurt me yet.
So I’ll be brave and daring too,
I’ll chase those birds around,
I’ll show my folks what I can do,
And what a pup they’ve found.
Emma’s Story
When I was just a baby, my older sister Ruby was the boss. She was always trying to tell me what to do.
One day, Anneli took my bed away, and I tried to claim what was left of it – just the inside part was left.
Ruby was playing the part of Miss Know-it-all.
Something moved out on the grass. Don’t forget, we’re hunting dogs. It’s our job to chase anything that moves.
But Anneli didn’t bring us food and she didn’t look like she was sorry for anything. She just laughed and said, “What are you doing in the wheelbarrow?”
Soon, while Ruby went to chase the rabbit, Anneli told me everything was okay. She had another bed fixed up for me on the deck. I tried for some compensation, but she didn’t go for it.
When she put me into the special bed on the bedroom deck, I was going to gloat a bit about how I had messed up her sliding door with nose prints. I was going to tell her, “Haha! So there! That’s what you get for making me worry about my bed,” but before I could tell her all that, I succumbed to the softness of the bed’s furry pillowcase, and off I went to Doggie Dreamland.
More Nuts Than Ever
I’m tired of washing, pitting, and freezing plums. The pears and apples are finished except for one winter apple tree that will be ready in about three weeks. So now it’s time to have a look at the walnut tree.
A closer look will show a few walnuts still hanging on. Some look dark and some quite green, but that is only the outer husk you are looking at. As the nut grows and the husk dries out, the nut and what’s left of its husk fall to the ground.
This one shouldn’t be too hard to pop out of its husk, but beware, the inside of that green coating stains like crazy. It would make a perfect “walnut” furniture stain. My hands always seem to end up looking like part of a walnut end table.
Once the husk is off the walnut, you can see the walnut that we are more familiar with, but it still needs some drying time. A burlap bag hung on the wall beside the woodstove is the perfect place to dry the walnuts.
Every couple of days I sneak some and take them to the woodshed as an offering to my squirrels.
“Thank you, Anneli,” Crispin chatters.
I love to have a change of food,
A different kind of nut,
The walnuts put me in a mood,
That makes me pat my gut.
The hazelnuts are such a treat,
I’ve packed a lot away,
But walnuts have delicious meat,
They’re best of all, I’d say.
I bite a hazelnut and run,
To hide it in a cache,
But walnuts are too big, no fun,
To lug them to my stash.
And this is why it’s oh, so fine,
To have them brought to me,
I know that all of them are mine,
To be devoured with glee.
wordsfromanneli 