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Walking the Terry Trueblood Trail in May
We took a walk on the Terry Trueblood Trail yesterday and saw quite a few birds even though it’s early in the season. We caught sight of Orchard Orioles and got a snapshot for the first time of a bird that can fool you into thinking it’s a robin. There are a lot of Tree…
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Spring, A Time for Optimism
This is the season for optimism and milestones: graduating medical students and residents, new faculty from the graduating resident class—including the milestone of getting the suspicious looking postcard notice in the mail reminding me that I’ll soon be eligible for open enrollment in Medicare. No kidding, I got my first ever Medicare Open Enrollment postcard…
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Saga of the Nestlings
Recall that the house finch nestlings were taken by a marauding crow yesterday. The house finch parents were frantic and devastated for about an hour. Although the crow flew by a second time, it didn’t return. The reason why was clear today. The nest is still in the tree but it’s obviously a wreck. We…
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Marauding Crow Snatches Nestlings
I was sitting at my desk by the front window where we often watch the house finches come and go from their nest. It was just a couple of days ago that 3 baby house finches were squirming about in the nest. I kept hearing a strange noise outside the window. It sounded like a…
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The Bird Saga
The bird saga continues and it has been a little rocky. The cardinals are having an up and down course with their young. They lost a chick. One egg was laid a bit late and so the two chicks remaining are vastly different in size. The house finches are hatching. So far there were two…
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Cardinal Hatchlings So Soon?
Big day on the psychiatry consult service. So, this is a short post today because I’m pooped. I logged 2.8 miles and 35 floors on the step counter and here’s a picture to prove it. The other bit of news is that the cardinal hatchlings are here—at least two of them anyway. One egg is…
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What’s Up with the Birds?
Since my last post about our birds, we’ve had some new developments. The robins actually have a pretty fine nest now under our deck. I managed to get a blurry snapshot of mama robin actually sitting in the nest. I’ve also caught sight of a portly male cavorting with her on our porch rail. Early…
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OK, Maybe Robins Can Build Nests Anywhere
I’ve been making fun of birds who build funny-looking and impractical nests. Maybe I’ve been wrong about the robins, though. My wife alerted me by phone that the robin I joked about in my YouTube video, “Nest Building for Bird Brains,” had actually cobbled together a convincing nest underneath our deck. I couldn’t believe it.…
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Bird Brains Building Nests
I just can’t figure how some birds ever get the nest-building job done. It’s mind-boggling how clueless some of them are. And it’s no wonder—they’re all bird brains trying to figure out something that they obviously don’t have much more than bare instinct to go on. Robins are some of the worst nest builders around.…
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Let’s Get Ready to Rumble!
Let’s get ready to rumble! It’s an egg laying contest. The competition is underway and let’s face it—the house finch has the title tails down. As of last Friday, the house finch had 5 white eggs in the nest, which is a typical clutch. The cardinal is probably going to end up with only two,…
Go Retire Psychiatrist 