Our feathered friends, birdbrains, and wingnuts

[Friday]

Oy vey.

It’s not like Stellars Jays are quiet birds to begin with... but there’s this ONE... who has taken to mocking the police/fire alarm claxon. BANG BANG BANG BANG!!! ...Whoop whoop whoop... RACKRACKRACK... BANGBANGBANG!!!

🤪 😵😱

Holy Mary mother of f*ck.

Hatched in a firehouse on a busy street, this one.

Or he is the TuckerMax of birds.

I HAVE A MEGAPHONE!!!

 

[Friday]

I have named him Roscoe. As he’s attached himself to my crows for feeding time (mostly leftover cat food, some meat scraps, & such) I guess we’d better get used to having a flying fire truck 🚒 in our midst. Hopefully the crows will teach him some new sounds to mimic. Because ...oh yah... not just the claxon (which he calls when he’s feeling particularly full of himself swooping around I HAVE A MEGAPHONE) but all 6 of the siren settings are in his repertoire.

 

[Changing4Best]

I saw a pair of bluebirds today. It so nice to see them. Now I know for sure that it is Spring.

 

[OliveJewel]

Wish I could attach a video. When I put the hummingbird feeder out today I stood there and held it and one fed. It had happened before and I filmed it today. It’s such a thrill when they get close.

Here’s the floofy gentleman. He’s molting so we’ve got a lot of pin feathers on his head to work through. He’s so dang cute, and always up for kisses.

 

[OliveJewel]

Turkeys give real hugs 🥺. She says, hug me and kiss my head, and I will press back on you.

 

[OliveJewel]

Listening to my parrotlet run through all his vocal repertoire in a sleepy manner is so sweet and satisfying. He is turning 3 in August. Honored to provide a home for him.

 

[Friday]

I always feed the crows & humming birds … but we’ve had an “unseasonable” cold snap (yay! snow!) that means I’ve been kept hopping the past few days in making sure everyone’s bellies are fueled enough to keep them warm.

“My” hummer is only making a token effort at chasing away the other 5 that have shown up, a few times all 6 of them sitting on the feeder at once. Of course rhat never lasts long, but outside of mating season almost never happens at all. LMAO…Hell, even during mating season, seeing 2 sitting on the same wire …………10 feet apart ………. is some serious snuggly flirtation! Murderous little bastards. 🤣 💞

“My” crows, on the other hand, are doing what crows do & fetching all of their friends over. Last night not just the nearby groupings they called over during the course of the day, but stationed themselves to fetch back groups and individuals from the murder flying home.

 

[OliveJewel]

Was just talking hummers with my daughter. We noticed that the females all have pot bellies. It’s been colder than usual so maybe they build up fat? Regardless they look adorable!

Here’s a pic of a male I took while writing this.

Am jealous that you have built up a relationship with crows! We don’t have crows here, just ravens, who don’t form the murders and don’t like to interact with people. I remember when I lived in California near Sacramento the crows were a force! There was a big tree in a grocery store parking lot that they would sleep in. It was so comical the way they would chatter as they were settling down.

I’ll never forget from those days a time one cold windy February morning, I was trudging across campus all bundled up, and waiting to cross the street and I noticed a crow getting tossed in the wind. But then, to my surprise, after getting pushed down in the wind, it turned around, flew back up to a certain height and let the wind push it down again. It was doing this repeatedly. I stood motionless watching in delight, as cars and bikes sped by unaware. My misery of the cold vanished and the moment crystallized a new awareness of shared joy.

While we’re on birds, daughter and I went to the park to visit the water birds last night. In winter we get the migrants: wigeons, canvasbacks, ringnecks. Plus all the dorky park birds: the runner ducks, the puffball heads, the pekins. The herons and egrets are the cool kids. Daughter snapped these pictures.

 

[OliveJewel]

Some Lady Gouldian Finches at a pet store

 

[Friday]

I don’t know what’s happened on the east side of the lake (we’ve had some severe weather, recently), but the Westside crows have been circling over, recently, to guide east crows over to “this” way point on their journey home.

 

[OliveJewel]

Westside crows have been circling over, recently, to guide east crows over to “this” way point on their journey home

🥺 I don’t know why I feel this so deeply. Part of it is the crows helping each other out and part of it is you noticing.

 

[OliveJewel]

I wrote about my turkey hero in the heroes thread yesterday. (She’s the one pictured above.). This morning I saw a video which goes into why turkeys are so amazing as emotional support animals (indirectly).

Hens’ skin on their heads changes a little bit when their moods change. When they are beaming love and receiving it they get a red band across the top and sides, like a headband. Their snoods don’t lengthen, but one of our females does strut when you whistle. I will try to get it on camera, apparently it’s rare for hens to strut.
I can’t stop thinking of how much love the turkeys give. And their eyes are black like outer space, which deepens their mysterious love beams 💖✨. Who knows why turkeys are so loving and affectionate?