Baby Bird Season

It’s springtime and our garden is bursting with new life. Butterflies laying eggs, plants and flowers blooming, and today’s most exciting: a towhee mama bird sitting on her eggs in a nest! But wait, you have to hear the whole story. George was gardening when the bird flew out of a small fir tree that we have by the pond – we keep it in a pot and use it as our Christmas tree. He kiddingly said to her, “What, you have a nest in there?” After peeking in he saw that indeed she did! She’s so well hidden, this is what you see at a glance:

Mother towhee hidden in fir tree

I didn’t want to disturb her, so I used a long lens to get a photo of her on the nest. She blends in so well with the tree, but the eye she’s keeping on me sparkles.

Towhee mama bird on nest

Her nest is made of loosely woven pine needles. I waited until she flew off for a moment, took a quick photo of her four beautiful blue speckled eggs, then backed off so she wouldn’t be upset.

Towhee eggs in nest

Oh, it’s a great time for a quick reminder. Please don’t prune your trees and shrubs during nesting season, which is all spring and summer. George’s rule of thumb in the Bay Area: don’t prune from President’s Day to Labor Day. Since nests are so well hidden (exhibit A being the photo above), don’t rely on being able to spot the nests before pruning. Also, George points out that hummingbirds build nests all year round here, so please be very careful even during the fall and winter.

Book Review: Once Upon a Flock

Illustrator and chicken-lover Lauren Scheuer is a  Facebook friend of George’s and mine. George and Lauren have even skyped to discuss chicken maladies, swap cute-hen-stories, and show off their animal families to each other.  As soon as I found out that Lauren was having a book published I pre-ordered it. And the minute Once Upon a Flock: Life With My Soulful Chickens arrived I rushed it up to George, and he pretty much read it in one sitting (well, lying…).

George wrote a wonderful book review on Amazon, and with his permission I’m reprinting it here:

A Love Story Like No Other ….

If you are wondering what it is about the backyard/small-flock revolution going on today, this absolutely charming book will spell it out for you. For those of us already in this mess, you can’t put it down. Your mind keeps saying “Yes!” and “YES!!!” again and again. And you find you have fallen in love with her hens as well as your own, again. And if you as yet do not have hens, you will find yourself wanting to adopt a family of girls for yourselves.

This is a book to enjoy alone, with your family, and with your hens too! Lauren deeply loves her accidental second family. She pinpoints precisely the moment that she realized she had been changed forever. I remembered along with her, as I was reading, the same moment for me when I had my long-since gone Divine, a beautiful Leghorn, lovingly settle up next to me and I knew I could never eat chicken again. Lauren has mastered writing as well as illustration. Both complement each other all through this book.

I won’t spoil one of the nuggets of this book, except to say that Lauren captures the truth about real love: it is indeed a horse or a bicycle that you unwaveringly get right back up on. And I’m sure Pigeon is forever emblazoned in our hearts as a result. It made me love Lauren for the wonderful heart she is; a place I’m sure everyone reading this book will find themselves.

One reservation is that this book will get worn out from repeated reads far too soon, and a second copy will be in the cards. Wabi-sabi aside, my only real reservation was that it ended too soon. BUT, paradoxically, it ended at exactly where it needed to end. I found that kindred spirit in seeing that everything really important to the reader is right in your backyard. Maybe that’s what it is for hen people, like myself. You can’t ever get enough. And it is, at the same time, all you need. Time spent with your hens as well as with this fabulous book is time spent well, indeed! Congratulations, Lauren.

Happy Peeps-Day!

From my vintage postcard collection, here are two wonderful chicken-themed Easter cards sent to Miss Ada May Rhoads of San Jose, California.  In the first one, three proud hens and a rooster watch over their clutch of eggs…

A beautiful art-nouveau daffodil design adorns the left side of the frame. This postcard was mailed in 1915 from Ada May’s absent-minded but attentive friend in Sacramento, who addressed it to “Baby Rhodes”, and wrote: “Little Sweetheart – I have forgotten your name but I’m writing you just the same. Lovingly, Belle Nick.”

The second card was mailed to Ada May in 1913, with no message other than “From Auntie Jones.” I love the jumble of peeps scampering from an egg in a field of lilies-of-the-valley. I especially value these old postcards that are embossed. On this one, each chick is individually embossed, as are the  flowers, and of course – the jagged edges of the egg.

Happy Easter everyone!

Early Birds and Night Owls

I’m an early bird.  At this time of year, the sky has just barely started to brighten as I emerge from BART to walk to work. Then, like a cruel trick, daylight savings steals even that bit of welcome light from me, and I have to wait again for the spring sun to rise earlier. George is a night owl. He’s ecstatic that he’ll have another hour of light in the evening. This is my blended photographic collage, for you night owls:

And this is my latest collage, with the same pocket watch photograph, for early birds like me.

Whichever you are, don’t forget to spring ahead tonight!

Not a Hummingbird

I freely admit that I’m hummingbird-crazy. For a photographer, what better subject than an exquisite feisty bird whose feathers gleam and flash as they dart and hover in the air? And then there are the challenges of getting a great shot – those flashy feathers only show up momentarily as they catch the light, and they rarely rest for more than a moment. But once in a while I catch a not-too-bad photo of another bird. Lately our dogwood tree has been filled with these guys.

George, my go-to guy for bird identification, wasn’t home, but our very smart friend Jessica saved the day with a quick i.d.: it’s a Golden crowned Sparrow. This one was quiet, posing as I took the photo, but Jessie described their “lovely, melancholy song of three falling notes: tweee twee twee.” Thanks Jess!

Hope

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. and the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

It’s All in the Tail

With a stunning clear day, a lot of luck, and some patience I caught my first favorite photograph of 2013.

This male Anna’s Hummingbird hovered in the sky, checking me out before darting to one of the feeders that George constantly replenishes. I’ve never gotten such a clear shot of a hummer’s spread tail feathers.

Male Anna’s use their spread tail feathers to intimidate rivals or threats. They also use the feathers during an amazing courtship display. Have you ever seen a hummingbird fly high up in the air and then dive quickly down? If you heard a “chirp” during the dive, it wasn’t a vocalization. Two UC Berkeley students discovered in 2008 that the sound is caused by the bird flaring its tail feathers near the bottom of the dive. According to their research: “At the bottom of the dive, the bird flares its tail for 60 milliseconds. The inner vanes of the bird’s two outer tail feathers vibrate in the 50 mph airstream to produce a brief chirp.”

And so – a cherished moment and my first favorite photo of the year!

Tilden Botanic Garden

What to do for George’s birthday? We hadn’t taken a walk through the Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park for a while, so we headed up there after birthday brunch. The Garden is amazing, ten acres of native plants, including many rare and endangered. We were welcomed by two red-tailed hawks, circling high above.

One dipped a bit lower, riding the warm air.

A dragonfly zipped by and rested on a branch for a moment.

There have been some additions and changes to the Garden since we last visited. Or maybe we never noticed this stand of Darlingtonia californica, or California Pitcher Plant, a carnivorous plant.

The California Pipevine, or Dutchman’s Pipe (Aristolochia californica) is resplendent in several places through the Garden. And although we didn’t see any mature Pipevine Swallowtail butterflies, we saw several caterpillars. This one had just shed its skin.

This is a Dutchman’s Pipe seed pod.

On to an amazing display of Humboldt’s Lily. There were several towering up to about 6 feet high, just covered with flowers.

A single Humboldt’s Lily flower.

The honeybees and bumblebees were out in full force. Here’s a honeybee, with a pollen pack on its leg, busy feeding from a flower on a flannelbush shrub.

I couldn’t believe how many bees were on the many flowers of a Matilija Poppy plant. This one flower had at least ten bees coming and going for the half hour we sat and watched, amazed.

A wonderful birthday walk in the Garden, and now … a nap.

Have you been to the Tilden Botanic Garden? Is there a Botanic Garden in your city? What’s your favorite plant or animal there?

More Hummingbird Happiness

If you saw my recent blog post, Hummingbird Happiness, you know what my favorite bird is. I’ve been sitting for hours in our garden this past week, waiting for the hummers to dive down from their tree-perches to get nectar from our flowers. One flitted around the stand of agapanthus flowers.

Hummingbird at agapanthus flower

Another preferred the buddleia (butterfly bush).

Hummingbird at buddleia

Someone just asked me how to get photos of hummingbirds, since they move so quickly. It’s definitely a challenge to get clear, in-focus photos of them. A lot of it is patience, waiting for them to come to a spot where you can get a clear shot. And focusing can be near-impossible, especially when they’re hovering. One trick is to pre-focus on something stationary where you anticipate they will be, then take the shot when they enter that area.

Hummingbird at buddleia

And of course, the first step to getting great photos of hummingbirds and other birds and critters is to plant lots of flowers and other sources of nectar and food for them.

Hummingbird Happiness

What’s your favorite bird? I admit that I can’t ever get enough of hummingbirds. They’re so amazing and so unlikely. The smallest birds in the world, and the most expert hoverers.

Fast and feisty, flashing iridescent feathers as they perch for a moment before zooming away.

We spent a wonderful day in our friend Joan’s garden. The hummingbirds were dancing from feeder to flower, pausing in the orange tree, then back for more nectar. When photographing hummers, I’m most thrilled at capturing those magical moments when they’re zipping past …

or hovering for a moment …

or feeding from flowers.

There’s a towering flax plant in Joan’s garden which the hummingbirds just couldn’t get enough of. Hovering to drink…

Curving down to drink …

Even drinking straight on!

A view from the back shows the bright green iridescent feathers.

Finally, after visiting flower after flower on the flax plant, this hummer’s beak was covered with pollen!

Did you notice the other visitor to the flax? See the honeybee gathering nectar at the bottom-right flower, with a bright orange pollen ball on its leg!

What’s your favorite bird? Do you have feeders or flowers for birds in your garden? Do hummers pass through your area while migrating, or stay year-round?