Crow
The crow is looking even better, today: I saw him once in a tree, across the street, and once on my feeder. Both times, he was sitting oddly, avoiding putting pressure on his leg. But he appeared completely alert — and when he showed up at my feeder, he ate quite energetically. It looks like he’ll be fine, on his own, as long as he avoids the eagles and gulls. His fellow crows, it seems, are no longer out to get him. He had a couple of friends with him, in the tree.
Starling
For a long time, now, I’ve been hoping starlings would turn up at my feeder. Starlings are widely denounced as trash birds — noisy, greedy, destructive, AND an invasive species — but they’re terribly pretty, with their speckles and iridescence. I even like their long, thin beaks. Lately, a starling has been showing up on my balcony, peering in the window for a couple of seconds, then flying off. Yesterday, that starling stayed a little longer, sizing up the feeder. I thought he might eat, but a pigeon got in the way. Today, he finally took the plunge, twice. I didn’t get a picture, unfortunately. Even while eating, he seemed wary, pausing between bites to check up on me. I’m not sure what he thought was going to happen: it was six-thirty in the morning. I was in bed. I was hardly about to get up and grab a starling. I could’ve reached for my camera, which was on the bedside table, but I was pretty sure he’d fly away, if I tried.
Both visits were short. The second time, I thought he might be summoning up more starlings: he stood on the railing and made a horrible rasping noise, several times. But as soon as he got an answer, he flapped off.
Mother
Mother doesn’t believe I really go outside every day, so from now on, the Egg Suck Blog will have an additional feature, of no value or interest to ANYONE but my mother…that is to say, I’ll be posting daily pictures of things that are outside, to prove I was there. Today, we have a crappy iPod picture of a yellow flower. I tried to get a crappy iPod picture of a dragonfly checking out said flower, but it moved. The fly, that is, not the flower.
It’s a yellow flower. I suppose, technically speaking, this COULD be inside, or on the balcony, but it isn’t. It’s in the wee planted-up bit, by the stairs, outside my front door. THAT COUNTS!
