"What a thousand acres of Silphiums looked like when they tickled the bellies of the buffalo is a question never again to be answered, and perhaps not even asked." -Aldo Leopold
“On no subject are our ideas more warped and pitiable than on death. Instead of the sympathy, the friendly union, of life and death so apparent in Nature, we are taught that death is an accident, a deplorable punishment for the oldest sin, the arch-enemy of life, etc. Town children, especially, are steeped in this death orthodoxy, for the natural beauties of death are seldom seen or taught in towns.”
-John Muir-
“Barred Owl”
“The fearfully good, the orthodox, of this laborious patchwork of modern civilization cry “Heresy” on every one whose sympathies reach a single hair’s breadth beyond the boundary epidermis of our own species.”
-John Muir-
“Grey Catbird”
“Rainy days and Mondays always get me down”
-Karen Carpenter-
“Cooper’s Hawk”
Did you know…?
-The first nest of the Le Conte’s Sparrow was was not discovered until almost 100 years after the bird was first described by science.
“Le Conte’s Sparrow”
So, the president pardoned two turkeys today, named “Gobble” and “Gobble” apparently. Who writes this stuff? The country slaughters near 60 million birds and sparing these two is supposed to make it all okay? Don’t get me wrong, next to chicken and salmon, turkey flesh is one of my favorite animal protein sources. What I am suggesting is that the Wednesday before Thanksgiving should be designated as another national holiday in which everyone who plans on eating turkey on that special Thursday must find and hug one first. Think about it. The amount of calories spent in this endeavor should just about equal that which will be ingested by the glutton. I’m not sure which of my favorite ideas for a new national holiday will catch on first, this one or my idea for a national “punch a weatherman in the face” day. Happy Thanksgiving.
Anyway, did you know…?
-During the 1930’s the Wild Turkey population was estimated to be less than 30,000 birds. Through hunting regulations and habitat management there are now between 5-10 million birds in this country.
“Wild Turkey!”
I have a challenge for myself that I have not yet built up the courage to try. I want to one day go into a wooded lot and only feed on insects or other invertebrates I find in the trees, shrubs and forest floor. Have you ever watched an insect-eating song bird closely as the scavenge about for bugs? It is truly amazing how often they are able to find and capture prey items. Often they seem to pick them out nowhere, gulp them down and continue on the hunt. The photo below pictures a southern-bound, female Scarlet Tanager as it eats a larvae of some kind that it just pulled from inside a small branch.
“Autumn Scarlet Tanager”
Although I still have quite a few images from this year’s nest in my “to process” list, this one may be my favorite pic for the year. In this image the smallest chick, who was always the last to be fed, is looking up at mom and seeming to wonder where her share of the latest kill was. Mom is taking a break after tearing apart and passing out the meat. She has a look around before taking again to the wind to find more. While watching the nest I was always excited to see this small one be able to swallow down a large piece of meat and I was always prompted to send the camera’s mirror flapping.
“Hungry Eyes”
It is late summer/early autumn and the warblers and other songbirds are moving en masse south to their tropical wintering grounds. Bring your binoculars to one of several wooded lots in the St. Louis metropolitan area this time of year and you’re almost sure to find one of the birds pictured here, the American Redstart. I am calling this particular bird a mature female, although it is possible this may be an immature female or first year male. Females and young males have yellow where adult males are always dressed for Halloween in reddish orange and dark browns. This observation has prompted many a birder to call these guys the “American Yellowstart” .
This is one of the easiest warblers for new birders to identify, not only for its flashy coloration and pattern but for its particular behaviors as well. These guys will usually position their wings low and drooped when sitting still and almost always are fanning their flashy tail feathers. These birds are quite active and display a lot of “flycatching” behavior and will actually hover-preen. Watching them hunt is a treat and as they catch flying insects you can literally hear these little guys snapping their beaks shut. They can be quite responsive to pishing.
As mentioned above, this bird is heading south where it will over winter somewhere between northern Mexico and northern South America. It has an extremely large breeding range, nesting anywhere between the gulf states and Alaska where it can find deciduous or mixed deciduous/coniferous forests. These guys will also readily nest in secondary woodlands and forests, making them one of the few species who has not been altogether troubled by logging.
I wish this guy the best in her/his long journey south. I am getting quite addicted to shooting these guys just when they are heading out. I’m already looking forward to the spring.
“American Yellowstart”
Monday greetings, human. Another great day at work instead of taking pictures of birds. I heard the migratory songbird fallout was quite nice around the St. Louis area today. Good thing I was at work. One or two days a week being able to do what I want just doesn’t seem to be enough anymore. I will have a week’s vacation coming up next month, but that seems a long way off.
Anyway, I’m finally getting around to processing some photos of the Red-shouldered Hawk nest I photographed over several weeks this past May. Here, this little one is showing off one of those innate behaviors. I’m sure those of you with human babies wish they could do something like this a lot earlier than they do. Have a great week.
“Red-shouldered Hawk Nest”
Hello again. Today I am starting a new blog series that I am calling “Mondays Are For The Birds” and today’s first spotlight bird is this Red-eyed Vireo. For anyone fool-hardy enough to do some summer hiking in the deciduous woodlands and forests of the Missouri Ozarks, the Red-eyed Vireo shouldn’t be new to you. When almost all other songbirds have given up claims to their nesting grounds and quit vocalizing for the season, the REVI is just warming up. In the middle of a sweltering summer’s day one will still hear the questions this guy’s song seems to ask. “Who are you, who am I, Here I am, Look at me, In this tree!”
This photo was taken recently during the fall migration. This species along with other vireos and warblers will eat primarily caterpillars and other arthropods during spring migration and throughout the summer breeding season, but in fall will switch to a diet primarily consisting of berries, such as those found on the wild grape.
Thanks for visiting today. I hope you like the photo and I hope you had the best possible Monday.
“Red-Eyed Vireo”
A Thousand Acres of Silphiums 