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The Elusive Gray Catbird
We hear the gray catbird more often than we see it. When we do see this beautiful gray bird, it’s only a fleeting glimpse. We more often hear it mewing like a cat. It imitates the songs of other birds as well. I have caught sight of it in our back yard trees. It streaks…
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Terry Trueblood Birds Show Off in the Spring
Just about any time of year is a great opportunity to walk the Terry Trueblood Recreation Area. The birds are busy competing for mates and nesting spaces. The nest boxes for the tree swallows are up. Already, vacancies are few. Their iridescent feathers are dazzling. The music in the first part of the video is…
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Familiar Backyard Birds and One Sort of Familiar
We were bird watching the other day and saw a few birds we definitely recognized. One of them we puzzled about but finally decided was a sparrow. The Red-Bellied Woodpecker is familiar. We think it was a male. The Blue Jay is still interesting because when it’s not in the sunlight it looks like what…
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Tufted Titmouse Playing Peekaboo
Once in a while when I’m filming wildlife, I get an odd feeling that the animal somehow knows it’s being watched. It looks up and seemingly right at the camera. I got that feeling while making a short video of a Tufted Titmouse the other day. It seemed to stare at me while I filmed…
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Some Robins Can Be Sunbirds…Sort of
We always thought of Robins as birds who are the harbingers of spring. On the other hand, we’ve seen Robins in the middle of winter. We saw them today. I realize that you technically can’t call a Robin a Sunbird. There is a species of Sunbird. It’s a small tropical forest bird. And you could…
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Birds Nipping the Frost
We woke up this morning to hoarfrost decorating the trees. Backyard birds seemed to be after the water.
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A Day Without Glitches in the Matrix
Yesterday was the one of those days where everything seemed to happen for a reason. If we had arrived at Terry Trueblood Recreation Area a few minutes too early or too late, we would not have seen the mesmerizing rise and fall of the shore birds on Sand Lake. I thought of the word “murmuration,”…
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Thoughts on Birds Banging into Windows
The other day we heard this big bang against one of our windows. We both guessed what it was—another bird collision. A couple of years ago, one crashed into a window, got knocked out, lay on its side, and puffed really hard for a half hour or so. Then it flew away. This bird was…
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Nature Walk with Rare Broochaprankumus Species
The other day Sena and I went on a nature walk at the Terry Trueblood Recreation Area. There’s a lot of Mullein growing out there. It’s a pretty invasive prairie type plant. It’s said to have medicinal uses, but don’t eat it. The tree swallow chicks have all fledged. We didn’t see any water fowl…
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How the Feathered Half Lives
We were out on the Terry Trueblood Trail and saw a lot of different kinds of birds doing the things that birds—and humans do. Looking for mates, mating, nesting, hunting, feeding. We’re a little more romantic about it, at least sometimes. Often, I wonder. Who are the real bird brains around here?
Go Retire Psychiatrist 