I only had a brief moment to grab my camera and hope I could get a somewhat focused shot of him, so it isn't the best photo, but there he is in the Redbud tree! What a gorgeous bird. I haven't seen the female yet, but she must be around. What a treat to see them back, and about two weeks before I expected to see them.
an hour later... He's back, this time on the suet feeder where I have a chance to get a decent photo! I've also got a 30-second not-good video. I'll have to pick up more suet and get some oranges out there.
What a gorgeous bird. That's what is so nice about springtime in the north country. It's thrilling when everything comes back to life. And with the returning birds there's such a variety. I miss all the little peeps that haunted our woods in Tinicum. Remember that scarlet tanager that appeared way up high in the tulip tree top?
ReplyDeleteYes, I do remember. There were many birds in PA that we rarely, if ever, see here. Also those very cool moths that look like hummingbirds, they used to come to the Mimosa tree on Rock Ridge Road.
ReplyDeleteThe oriole has been back and forth all day. He isn't singing much yet, so perhaps the female is a day behind him, or maybe they are resting.
I'll tell you what I miss most from the Geigel Hill Road days, and that is the carrion beetles. Those little guys rocked, and so useful! I haven't seen any here. Also about this time of year we had the stream bank of garter snakes. That was pretty cool too, it looked like the bank was alive, there must have been several hundred snakes. And which cat was it that used to catch snakes and bring them home? I remember a corn snake being dragged to the house once, but can't remember which cat was dragging it.
Oh yes, those carrion beetles were glorious. What a surprise, hunting down the source of that stink, and uncovering those glistening orange and black bugs making short work of that squizzel. I think it was Boy Cat that you remember. Mama Cat did, but especially Boy, often dragged back his catches. I remember his meowing outside the front door when you said "Boy has something for you." He did. He enjoyed sharing his prey. How about that night out on the patio with our guests when suddenly Boy leaped into the air to snag that woodpecker. I'm glad we could get it away from him. It was good times.
ReplyDeleteWere you and Peter ever able to identify those moths? They always fascinated me. Even when you explained that they were moths I couldn't believe a moth could move its wings so fast. On another tack, remember when Lucy taught Oopah how to spring the catch restraining him on the line?
ReplyDeleteAnd people thought Lucy was dumb, HA! I remember teaching her to follow hand and arm signals to get unwrapped from the far tree. Eventually she stopped getting tangled anyway, but she did learn and I didn't have to walk up the hill to unwrap her.
ReplyDeleteThe moths were some variety of sphinx moth, probably the white-lined, maybe the clearwing. Too bad we didn't have the web back then, we would have been able to identify them immediately.
I can remember the first year the oriole's arrived, we had a oak tree out front and they built their nest their every year - til the hurricane took the tree away. I used to sit on the front porch and just wait for them to arrive, usually the day I expected. Once the mating begins...the song is beautiful...for about 2 weeks or more. Speaking of scarlet tanger, another beauty, have only seen them up here 3 or 4 times. In Pa all the time.
ReplyDeleteHe's singing his heart out this morning, so the female oriole must be around.
ReplyDeleteI saw an Indigo Bunting here several years ago, I hope they're around. We also used to get loads of Evening Grosbeaks, but they've been gone for years.
I'm looking forward to some snaps of those guys too - the bunting and grosbeak - great colors, especially in the bright light. I am going to have to content me with the mockingbird and boat-tail grackles. That's all we have around here except for the anhingas. They're out in the pond drying their wings like malnourished angels
ReplyDeleteYour photo's are incredible. The female cardinal,,,, the after mating photo ... with that redbud tree and the colors ... wow!
ReplyDeleteThank you Key Dear. And just think, they are all taken with a point-and-shoot camera through glass. I miss a lot of pictures due to shutter lag and auto-focus. I'd love to be able to afford a digital SLR, but that's way beyond my budget.
ReplyDeleteAdditional sightings today, sans photos: a catbird , a tree sparrow, and a broadwing hawk.
I'm sad to say... Rap Kitty has killed two Cuban Sparrows overnight. Hey tend to hang around the ground alot.. be it resting or seed hunting. Pretty little colorful birds, and I'm getting miffed at him for being such a CAT!!! I've reprimanded him by telling him that I will drop him off on Big Pine Key to fend off the Cat Trapper!! Please read the articles on how we are now trapping feral cats to protect rabbits here in the Keys.
ReplyDeleteTo date, they have only caught rabbits... hmmm sounds like another farce to me... chicken catchers, now cat catchers!
http://keysnews.com/316347180127495.bsp.htm
You could try putting a bell on him, but I've seen cats learn to stalk and catch birds without making the bell ring. Still, it might help.
ReplyDeleteDid you know that Cuban Sparrows are endangered? At least the ones in the Zapato Swamp are, those you see might be a subspecies.
As for the feral cats, they should be trapped. If people would spay/neuter their cats and not just let them breed and run wild, feral cats wouldn't be a problem. People get kittens, then drop them off somewhere to fend for themselves as adults. We live in a society where everything, including animals, have become disposable.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in Norwood there were lots of feral cats in the area. Little One escaped the first night she was with us and we had to set out traps to try to catch her. We spent the entire long weekend (Labor Day) trapping cats and skunks. We caught four young cats, maybe 6 months old, and the local tom. All were neutered and given rabies shots, then re-released. We weren't trying to protect bunnies in Norwood and there were feeding stations for them. But all four of those youngsters were female. Also, two neighbors had each caught an adult female with four and five female kittens, respectively. Can you imagine how many kittens there would have been the following Spring? And we're talking about one block here!
I feel very sorry for the cats, but unless people step up and take responsibility, there isn't anything else that can be done.
Okay, so here's the deal, and I'm going to give it to you straight.
ReplyDeleteYes, the Zapata Sparrows are on the endangered list in Cuba. You are wondering how can I have seen one here in the Keys? I am not the only one, but I must play by the rules or all hell breaks loose. So here ya go, I'll give you in condensed form a story of my 30 yrs experience and knowledge from old Keys folks. One that Uncle Bob would have been proud to have been a part of on how the rabbits got to BPK.
BPK=Big Pine Key SK=Sugarloaf Key CK=CudjoeKey and so forth.
The only reason the dang rabbits are on BPK is because the folks from SK took them there, yes the only reason deer are on CK, RK, LTK and SK is because folks from BPK took them there... It's insane.. a real fight among islands.. if you defend the deer and have none on your island, amazingly over night you'll find you have them AND vise versa. Secretly moving species, it's a game of revenge.
The cats also kill the endangered silver rice rat... when the folks on BPK complained about how our rat here on CK and SK needed more protection, someone wrote publicly that they personally would take a pack of rats to BPK to shut them up. No word was spoken about the rat after that. The endangered sparrow kills endangered tree snails.. round and round it goes. So, shhh we here in the Keys never saw one or it will be millions of dollars to catch them and ship them to the zoo or Cuba. All the grant money to be spent on figuring out why they are here?? Duh,, they blew in on the wind!!!
As far as the iguana's, chickens and cats go... our iguana problem has subsided without the help of an iguana killer hired to take are of it. The Chicken catcher never amounted to anything, and that subsided on it's own to a degree. Although they did round up a cock-fighting ring last month with over 50 roosters and jailed all parties involved. Since roosters were so hated they figured why not catch and fight them, who'll care! The ASPCA folks have rounded up the cats on their own, and no cat has been caught as yet by the cat trapper, only rabbits have been in the traps.
So you see, it's still the wild wild west down here, playing with mother nature.... and we all know that "It's not nice to fool with Mother Nature".
The FYI of this is.........
Playboy's Hugh Hefner put the money up to have a rabbit named after himself when the chance afforded itself. Our Sylvilagus palustris hefneri (Lower Keys Marsh rabbit) bears his name! Does anyone think a joke is in the air? No joke, and yes feral cats are a problem, we can all agree on that. Hurricane Wilma killed so many rabbits AND cats due to 9 foot storm surge, seems Mother Nature was at work. Not one deer died,, or any rats for that matter!!!!
I think we are talking past each other. My point was simply that cats are not naturally wild anywhere in the Keys, and should not be allowed to remain so. That's all.
ReplyDeleteHurricanes and natural selection are not the issue. Feral cats are a man-made problem. If the ASPCA can trap them and deal with them, that's great. But having had this experience many many times, I know that too many cats will be put down because there are not enough homes for them. The people who really piss me off are the irresponsible pricks who tossed the cats out in the first place. Confiscate their homes and property, sell it all off and use the proceeds to house unwanted cats. There's a plan I can get behind.
As for the people moving species around, fine their asses for large sums of money, if someone is willing to identify them. Good luck with that.