And That's How Plants Spread

I spotted this Hermit Thrush out my office window. And watched as it was singing.

Which I thought was kind of odd, singing this time of year.

Turns out it wasn't singing. It was puking.

I watched as it spit out red berry after red berry. 

WTF?

By the time I realized what was going and grabbed the camera it was over. I had seen it spit out six (!) berries, and it had been there 'singing' for a while before I looked through my binoculars and saw what was going on.

Alas, it was spitting on the rock path around the Fish Pond, so these will not sprout (or they'll be yanked up).

Meet The Neighbors

I woke up Sunday morning, had a cup of coffee and a bite to eat, and then decided to go for a walk. It was a bit chilly, in the thirties, but no wind. Perfect.

And I was not the only one who thought so.

I heard* them before I saw them, as I approached the road down our back driveway.

These birds:

Helmeted Guineafowl. A species native to Africa, but one that can be found on farms throughout the US, including now the horse farm next to our place.

Which is fine by me, as they are known for consuming ticks. Lots of ticks. I hope they visit our yard, plenty of yummy ticks here!

Why did the Guineafowl cross the road?

To bask in the morning sunlight of course.

~~~~~~~~~~

* They are known as good "watch birds" and will make quite a racket when something is amiss. Like a stranger approaching, or a fox in the yard. And they seemed both alarmed and curious about me as I headed toward them.

Yard Critter of Last Friday

A Red-tailed Hawk.

I spotted it from my desk as I was getting ready to have lunch. Of course the wrong lens was on the camera, as it was still configured for the eclipse shots earlier that morning.

I then had to find an angle that did not hide the bird behind one of the many branches. The first shot was taken from the dining room, to get a shot before it flew. The rest from the kitchen.

And I was just in time.

As flew it did.

The right place at the right time.

A year round resident in these here parts, this is the hawk most likely to be seen in our area. And often seen while driving, roosting on telephone poles. 

We often see these birds soaring overhead and occasionally, like this bird, in the trees in the yard. Although, again like this bird, they don't stay put for long. Or at least not for long after we notice them.

🦅  🦅  🦅  🦅  🦅

You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

Banquet by Fire and Moon Light

The average temperature for this week was 42.3 °F. Chilly.

The high on Thursday was 74.7 °F. Nice.

So we sat out on the deck, fired up the fire pit, poured some wine, and enjoyed the evening.

Just like our cave dwelling ancestors used to do.

And as we were enjoying, the full Moon rose to the east, on a path to intersect the Earth's shadow later that night into morning.

The iPad sure has quite a few more smudges at this angle.

And the iPad was there so we could enjoy the DVOC virtual banquet, and although while the weather report was wrong about rain during the eclipse, it was right about rain that night. So we enjoyed the keynote speaker from the dry comfort of our living room.

Ironically, the talk, and it was a very good one, given by Holly Merker, was about Ornitherapy, one of the main tenets of which concerns the benefits of spending time outdoors in nature.

She was preaching to the choir.

Look, Up In The Sky ...

... There be stars! (You may need to bigafy the images.)

Usually when there is a pesky full moon the stars are hidden by its brilliance.

But tonight, the Earth conspired to hide the moon, and the stars were there for all to see!

🌕  ⭐️  🌕  ⭐️  🌕

Last week my friend Jerry asked what I was doing for the upcoming Lunar Eclipse. "Probably sleeping" I said. At that time the forecast called for rain. 

And even when I went to bed Thursday night, the forecast was still calling for cloudy skies. The forecast was wrong.

So Patty and I woke up just before 4 am Friday morning. But I had screwed up the time. I had read 4:03 am as 4:30 am. And thus I was scrambling to get set up and get some pics as I had missed the point of maximum eclipse. 

I did see it. I did not photograph it. The two shots above were taken around 4:15 am. The first an exposure of .25 sec, the second of 2 sec. Taken from my deck. We watched a bit more and then went back inside to sleep some more. I was tired when I woke up and I'm still tired now.

But I was worth it.

Daily Screech Owl Picture

Bonus two day edition!

Thursday the owl made an appearance, after not being seen for several days. 

And it was back again on Friday.

Very cool that it is still around.

🦉  🦉  🦉  🦉 🦉

This past Thursday was the DVOC annual banquet, held virtually for the second year in a row. And during the informal portion I mentioned about the owl and how it comes and goes. And at the meeting a member, Dr. Richard (Rob) Bierregaard,  who studied such things, explained that owls often have multiple roosts and they pick the one closest to where they finish hunting for the evening. So there must be good hunting around here.

Hermit Thrush

I had been seeing this bird in this Beautyberry bush just outside our kitchen window.

Staring back at me not unlike in the shot below.

But every time I went for the camera, and was lining up the shot, a White-throated Sparrow would chase it away.

Every time but this one.

The exorcist bird ... pretty cool that it can turn its head that far.

I wanted a shot of it eating a berry. Maybe next time ...

🐦  🐦  🐦  🐦  🐦

Hermit Thrush and American Robin are in the same family, but have very different habits. The Robin is a gregarious species, as shown in the Robins post, there were probably thirty or so birds in the yard and visiting the Dogwood. The Hermit, as the name suggests, is a solitary species. We've had as many as two in the yard at a time. But the both enjoy berries.