Monthly Archives: March 2013

Chickadees, Moths, and Mockery

  By packbawky | 21/03/2013 - 5:28 pm |
Leave a comment

Today was a good day for chickadees, but a bad one for chickadee pictures. I found a flock of them in a tree, but they weren’t just basking in the sun, as one might hope. Rather, they were whirring madly from branch to branch, pecking something out from the leaf-buds (insects, perhaps?). They remained on each new perch no longer than three seconds. For a while, I tried to follow them with my lens; then, one of their number, probably attracted by the sparkle of sun on glass, landed on it, and wouldn’t leave. I gave the camera a shoogle. It pecked the lens-hood. I stuck my tongue out. It cocked its head to the side. I started walking away. It finally flew off, rejoining its friends in the tree. After that, I just stood and watched. I don’t often get to see that many chickadees, all together.

I wanted to get a picture of a chickadee in THIS tree, with all the flowers, but the wee berks kept rocketing off, just when I'd caught them in my sights. I got a lot of flower shots, though.

I wanted to get a picture of a chickadee in THIS tree, with all the flowers, but the wee berks kept rocketing off, just when I’d caught them in my sights. I got a lot of flower shots, though.

Quite the acrobatic one!

Quite the acrobatic one!

I think this is the one that mistook my camera for a perch.

I think this is the one that mistook my camera for a perch.

I know this is a bird blog, not a bug blog, but I also found a plume moth, today: I simply must share my delight. I’ve been looking for one since last year — I caught one then, too, but at that time I didn’t know they had other wings, fringey ones, hidden under their big, flat upper wings. So I wanted to find another, and make it show me its plumes. In that, I was partially successful: while it never spread them out all the way, I did get a little keek, a hint of fronds dangling down:

I found a plume moth, lurking about my desk. I blew at it for a while, hoping it would unfold its wings all the way, but it never did.

I found a plume moth, lurking about my desk. I blew at it for a while, hoping it would unfold its wings all the way, but it never did.

I've got a plume moth. ...Jealous?

I’ve got a plume moth.
…Jealous?

Oh, and I got mocked by some dude in the lift, on my way down. I wasn’t expecting company, when I got in, so I must’ve jumped a little. This, apparently, was grounds for amusement. “Oh, no! Someone in the elevator!” “Always expect someone to be there; then, you’ll never be surprised.” “Of course, it’s just you and me living in this building; why wouldn’t you be surprised?” Very funny, random lift guy. I’ll be watching for your Comedy Central special.

Bushtits

  By packbawky | 19/03/2013 - 7:06 pm |
Leave a comment

There were bushtits in the garden again, today. I’ve started to notice a pattern, with bushtits in the garden: they only show up on rainy days. They swoop in, great peepy flocks of them, and carome drunkenly from tree to bush to balcony. They jump in puddles, and clip themselves onto bare branches, wings still beating, so the raindrops fly off their backs. If I didn’t know better, I’d imagine they were playing in the water. Boisterous wee buggers, and too fast for photography (or, at least, too fast for me. I wonder if I’d have better luck snapping tiny, swift birds if I’d honed my skills on violent videogames, the sort where you shoot people in droves, with extra points for headshots — the sort where I end up staring at the ceiling or banging into walls, while other players collect the bounty on my head? Pew-pew-pew!).

In other news, when I woke up this morning, there was a spider in my hair. I suspect it was trying to get in my ear. You hear about spiders getting in people’s ears, and refusing to come out. I don’t like the idea of a spider in my ear, so I shook it carefully out of my hair (so as not to break off any legs), and squashed it into the carpet.

Finally, the lift’s back in service, so regular birdly updates shall resume forthwith! Or…well, as soon as the rain stops. I’m not a fan of getting rained upon, any more than I’m a fan of spider-in-ear action. I was going to upload a video of hundreds of crows flying to their night roost (and directly over my head), in the meantime, but I couldn’t figure out how to make the file small enough to upload. So, crows perhaps to follow, too; crows, bushtits, sparrows, and whatever else I can scare up, upon my return to the great outdoors.