Tag Archives: birds

Bird Talk, Arizona Lingo Style

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Bird Talk

 

Spent an hour out on my sister’s patio that is a few yards from the draw. This is the bird conversation that I overheard:

Beaver, beaver, beaver, beaver

chip chip chip chip

Whee whee whee whee

daring do, daring do, daring do, daring do

cherry cherry cherry cherry

who’re you? who’re you? who’re you? who’re you?

chip chip chip chip chip chip chip chip

Pretty bird. Pretty pretty pretty

choo choo choo choo choo choo choo choo

wheet wheet

cheerio cheerio cheerio cheerio

beaver, beaver, beaver, beaver, beaver, beaver.

pretty pretty pretty pretty

trrrrrrrr trrrrrrrr trrrrrrr trrrrr

oooeeeooooeee ooeee oooeee

pooooreeee poooreeee pooorrrreee

cheater cheater

pretty bird pretty bird

chee chee chee chee chee chee chee

cheater cheater cheater cheater

t t t t t t t t t
Peter, Peter, Peter, Peter, Peter, Peter

whilygig? whirlygig? whirlygig? whirlygig?

Does anyone know any of these bird languages?

(Click on the photos below to enlarge and read the captions.)

This guy shared the terrace with me but was silent.
As was this guy.
This is the draw, with the green behind it.
And this is another silent denizen of the terrace. I’m sure you all know my lingo, however.

CFFC: Birds

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So glad to finally find a bird prompt. The first photo I took perhaps a month ago and I’ve wanted to post it. The small birds hopping around my pool edge are more current. For some reason I didn’t want to crop, but wanted to show their size by leaving them in the larger frame. The oriole I took earlier this year. Please click on photos to enlarge.

For: https://cityofsprings.wordpress.com/2021/03/23/cees-fun-foto-challenge-birds/

Over Head

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Over Head

Lying in the hammock, searching for my words,
I come up with nothing, so I consult the birds.
They lift up off my trees to circle in a ring
as though they’re reconnoitering every single thing.

Swooping to partake of swirling clouds of  gnats,
eying all my fruit trees, teasing both the cats,
who, crouched up on the roof, dream culinary wishes—
far above their heads, those tiny feathered fishes

far out of their reach, but so mesmerizing that 
they far exceed temptation of squirrel or of rat.
Cats find bird movements insolent, drifting high up there.
Such an outrê thing to do, floating in the air!

Prompt words today are consult, insolent, outré and reconnoiter.

Mystery Bird: Sapsucker or Woodpecker?

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Please click on photos for larger views.

They are golden-fronted woodpeckers!  V.J., who identified them, is my hero. A twenty-year-old mystery is solved.

These two birds (or two like them) have been visiting the top of my very tall palm trees every morning for years. I always thought they were red-breasted woodpeckers, but only one has a pinkish spot on its head and the other is more golden-headed. Their markings look exactly like a red-breasted woodpecker or a sapsucker, but I can’t find any sapsucker with that colored head. Can anyone tell me what they are?

Bird Weekly Photo Challenge: Birds Beginning with the Letter D.

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This duck came all the way across the lake to see us, hoping for crumbs. Sadly, we had none.
Sorry, Duckie.
Dilly bird
“D”etail of Long-tailed Darter
De Tail of Long-tailed Darter
Dressed-up Detritus Bird
Little Duck

Okay, I cheated a bit. Just no real doves or darters in my photo files. I made these detritus birds out of shells and a fruit crate that washed ashore during past years at the beach. Keeps me out of trouble.

For the Bird Weekly Challenge

Your Own Backyard

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Click on photos to enlarge and view as slideshow.

Both of the flowers that were emerging 24 hours ago have matured into their full glory and now shriveled up and fallen off the bush.
The agave from my garden has accepted its new place and decided to bloom and the palm tree whose leaves were cropped off by marauding cows before the fence went up, has put out new branches.
I found this perfect little succulent “flower” lying on the brick sidewalk
Did the salt from the seashells make you thirsty, Diego?
This is my present view of the lot from my studio.
More birds
Small bee, large lens

Stasis and Flux

Laughter is the flux of life, aiding in the flow
as we face gloomy prospects everywhere we go.
Better just to stay at home and enjoy what we’re given
It does no good to cry about the way our life’s been riven
into “then” and “now.” Whereas the world was once a race,
now we walk on tiptoe, remaining in our place,
observing what is close at hand—the blessings that surround us—
looking for the beauty in the space that lies around us.
Flowers, birds and family. Sunset skies, the trees.
Life may end where it began, here with the birds and bees.

The whole world is a miracle, and we are just a part of it.
Remember, there was no mankind way back at the start of it.
If we pass to oblivion and all our buildings crumble,
nature will go on again, our history just a mumble
that beings of the future will stumble on and wonder
why we chose to pillage and why we chose to plunder
when we could have just sat back to wonder at this world
where everything we ever needed lay securely curled.
Breathe her air, enjoy her fruits, enjoy simple things.
Open your eyes and ears and heart to all that nature brings.

Prompts for today are tiptoe, given, gloomy and flux.

Spying on Birds

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Spying on Birds
A little bird flew around for an hour today with a balled-up Kleenex in her beak, looking for a place to build her nest. Her mate accompanied her and they investigated the plumeria tree for a long time but it is without leaves at the moment. In a few weeks it would be a possibility. Her mate then stood lookout on the Plumeria while she investigated the bamboo and bougainvillea. Finally, she settled on the big cactus..It was fun observing.
Then a vermillion flycatcher took over the lookout branch. If that is a Kleenex I dropped, some of my DNA will be in the nest!!
Click on photos to enlarge them.