A Few of My Favorite Birds (40): Hairy Woodpeckers—BBFs

“I always wonder why birds stay in the same place when they can fly anywhere on the earth. Then I ask myself the same question” (—Harun Yahya). Does that speak to you? It made me smile, because I love to fly almost anywhere on earth when given the opportunity, so I must be more like the migratory birds!

Pair of hairy woodpeckers out my window

Still, there’s no place like home, and there’s definitely a special place in my heart for the hardy feathered friends who keep company year-round in Michigan.*

Hairy woodpeckers love feeders, especially those with sunflower seeds and suet

Among homebody birds, woodpeckers stand out as some of the most colorful and constant fellows feasting at our feeders, particularly during the winter months when bugs are harder to come by!

Red-bellied woodpecker (note the bright red head and reddish belly feathers)

There are three types of woodpeckers that are on our daily dining plan: hairy woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers, and red-bellied woodpeckers. All three are brightly robed in rich black and whites (some with red highlights).

Flicker resting by our dock

For some reason, it took me a while to distinguish between red-bellied woodpeckers and flickers, although they’re quite different!

Downy woodpecker on left and hairy woodpecker on right at bird feeder

Hairy and downy woodpeckers—on the other hand—are almost identical in markings, so they’d be very hard to distinguish unless you remember that hairy woodpeckers are roughly twice as big.

Hairy woodpecker sitting on our railing

Also, hairy woodpeckers have proportionately larger beaks: The beaks on hairy woodpeckers are approximately as long as their heads!

Downy woodpecker on left, sparrow in middle, and Hairy woodpecker on right

View of underside of Downy Woodpecker’s tail feathers

Finally, downy woodpeckers have black spots on their white, inner tail feathers,

View of underside of a hairy woodpecker’s tail feathers

whereas hairy woodpeckers do not.

Patches of red at back of male woodpecker’s head

The males of both species have a flashy red patch behind their heads to catch the eyes of their missus, which they apparently do with great regularity, because both types of woodpeckers number in the millions in America and are not in any danger of extinction as of now!

Tiny tufts of brown feathers screen hairy woodpeckers’ nostrils from wood dust!

Other unique characteristics of hairy woodpeckers include the little tufts of wispy, brownish feathers right above their nostrils, which I’ve read helps protect them from inhaling wood dust. (Isn’t God a brilliant designer?)

They also have fluffy feathers (which I’m guessing is how they got their name), so they look very soft! Although they are one of the largest birds that frequent our feeder—up to 10 inches in length and up to a 15-inch wingspan—they really only weigh about 3 ounces . . . so that’s a lot of fluff!!

The hairy woodpeckers that come to my feeder (which is just three feet in front of me through a window as I type) are quite used to me, but they are fairly photophobic, so as soon as my big black camera peaks above the edge of my computer, they usually take flight. Therefore, although I’ve been trying to take family portraits of them for years, I have hundreds of bad shots and only a few dozen good ones! This makes me think of some of my kids, who are great companions but don’t appreciate my posting photos of them online! 🙂

Pair of hairy woodpeckers sitting in our cherry tree

Seriously, in trying to characterize birds, I found it hard to think of just what it is about hairy woodpeckers that make them special to me, and I decided that it’s their constancy. They come to the feeder every day of every season. I often assume that the birds who come to my feeder from year to year are the offspring of earlier generations of birds, but I recently discovered that hairy woodpeckers can live many years! (One of the oldest made it to almost 16.)

Hairy woodpecker just soakin’ up the sun on our balcony railing
one warm spring day!

So, I decided to label them as my BFF birds: As we say in America— “Best Friends Forever!” I mean really, how many of your best friends come over morning, noon, and night just to hang out with you? 🙂

Hairy woodpecker and sparrows feasting together

“Thine own friend, and thy father’s friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brother’s house in the day of thy calamity: for better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off” Proverbs 27:10.

Female Hairy Woodpecker

“A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24; speaking ultimately of Jesus, our true Best Friend FOREVER!!)

(*Hairy woodpeckers are common throughout the deciduous forests in the Northern Hemisphere, the Caribbean Islands, and as far south as Central America.)

A Few of My Favorite Birds (44): New Neighbors? Sandhill Cranes

Although I’ve seen these very large and impressive birds
roaming Kensington Park near Detroit and along Michigan highways —as well as sauntering through quiet parks in Florida— I’d never seen a pair of  sandhill cranes at Tanglewood Cottage until yesterday!

Having just parted with my son Jonathan’s family, who’d been visiting with us off and on for a couple of weeks, I was feeling a bit lonely, so having some new visitors come up my driveway was most welcome. (We have a whole flock of turkeys who are already a part of the neighborhood, but I wanted this photo to illustrate how much taller the cranes are.)  If you’ve not met any sandhill cranes yet, you’re in for a treat, because they’re very large, peaceable, and beautiful! For Michigan, I believe they are the biggest birds around, standing up to four feet tall,  weighing 9 (females) to 10 pounds (males) and enjoying a 5.5-7.5 foot wing span!  I think the pair who visited today may have claimed some water front property,  because they joined us while Alan and I were out for our nightly swim around the lake. (Photographer alert: Never go anywhere without a camera!  😦 ) From a distance, we thought they were a pair of swans, but up close, they are really brownish grey. They have very long, grey necks, red foreheads, white cheeks, long, black beaks and brownish bodies. Once you’ve seen one, they’re easy to remember and petty hard to forget! They don’t have webbed feet, but they have extremely long legs and toes, and we were surprised how fast they could swim…always away from us!  When they got close to our end of the lake, three families of geese came out with their little ones as a flotilla to “defend” their territory (our waterfront), but although the cranes were larger, they politely headed back to the far end of the lake, so they must not be very aggressive. Our swans used to intimidate the geese, but I think if the sandhill cranes stay, the other waterfowl will have nothing to fear.  I watched them happily as they meandered all over our property and sauntered down our lane. In fact, I was so pleased that I invited them to stay…and I hope they do! It wasn’t until I woke up this morning that I realized that I’m more charitable toward the cranes than I am my neighbors. Because we live in a fenced and gated property (built by order of the police because our German shepherd once bit a stranger), I don’t think I’d be “delighted” to have a strange couple walking all over our property as if deciding whether or not they wanted to take up residence with us. Could I possibly trust birds more than people…or am I just more selfish than I realize? I’m afraid, some of both. I need to work on loving my neighbors more!  “And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).

A Few (Dozen) of My Favorite (African) Birds (42): A Pictorial Guide to Exotic African Birds

Last fall in Africa, I saw dozens of gorgeous birds. (Okay, some were really ugly too.) Many were familiar, but even more of them seemed exotic and strange. I took photos until I was dizzy from my head spinning ’round, and although our guide was an able ornithologist, after we returned home, I couldn’t remember the names for many of my new-found feathered friends. Worse yet, there’s no Complete Idiot’s Guide for Identifying African Birds, so it took me a long time (too long to admit) to figure out their names. For any of you who’d enjoy a birds’ eye view of African exotics, or for any of you who’ve been to Africa and are trying to figure out what you saw, I’ve catalogued 30+ birds alphabetically by name and where I saw them. Some of them have interesting stories, but that will have to wait for another day… Hope you enjoy!  🙂

African Fish Eagle (Choebe River, Botswana)

“The first law of success is concentration – to bend all the energies to one point, and to go directly to that point, looking neither to the right nor to the left.” ~William Mathews

African jacuna (Also known as “Jesus Bird.”Choebe River, Botswana)

“Perseverance is not a long race: It is many short races, one after another.”

~Walter Elliot   African openbill stork (Choebe River, Botswana)

“We must accept finite disappointment,
but never lose infinite hope.”~ Martin Luther King, Jr.  Black skimmers (Choebe River, Botswana)

“Who, being loved, is poor?”
~Oscar Wilde  Red-winged starling (Cape of Good Hope, South Africa)

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”

~Henry David Thoreau  Blacksmith lapwing (or “Plover.” Choebe River, Botswana)

“I am a leader by default, because nature abhors a vacuum.” ~Desmond TutuCape Glossy starling (Swaziland)

“I remind myself every morning: ‘Nothing I say this day will teach me anything. So if I’m going to learn, I must do it by listening.'” ~Larry KingCape Weaver (South Africa)

“Blessed are the flexible, for they shall never be bent out of shape.”  Egyptian Geese (South Africa)

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes,
but in having new eyes.”~Marcel Proust
Golden-breasted bunting (Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe)

“The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.”
~Ralph Waldo EmersonGoliath heron  (Zambezi River, Zimbabwe)

“Beautiful light is born of darkness, so the faith that springs from conflict is often the strongest and best.”~R. Turnbull  Great heron (Zambezi River, Zimbabwe)

“Concentrate all your thoughts on the task at hand.
The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.”~Alexander Graham Bell  Hadada Ibis  (aka/Threskiornithidae, Zambezi River, Zimbzbwe)

“The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid,
but he who conquers that fear.”~Nelson Mandela   Blue Helmeted guinea fowl  (Kruger National Park, S.A.) 

“Integrity is never being ashamed of our reflections.”~David Cottrell  Little bee eater (Very little! Choebe River, Botswana)

“Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” ~John Wooden  Marabou stork (Very big! Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe) 

“An optimist sees an opportunity in every calamity; a pessimist sees a calamity in every opportunity.” ~Winston Churchill  Ostrich (The biggest! Cape of Good Hope, South Africa)

“Humor is our way of defending ourselves from life’s absurdities by thinking absurdly about them.” ~Lewis Mumford   Spotted Eagle Owl and Owlet
(Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, Capetown, S.A.)

 “There is only one time when it is essential to awaken. That time is now.”
~Buddha  Yellow-billed oxpeckers on a warthog’s back
(hitchhikers! Chobe National Park, Botswana)

“He who assists someone up the hill cannot help but get to the top himself.”
~Chinese Proverb  Peacock (most beautiful…as if you didn’t know! South Africa)

“God is a prolific artist. His paintings are everywhere.”  Penguins  (Boulders Beach, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa)

“Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It’s not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it’s when you had everything to do, and you’ve done it.” ~Margaret Thatcher  Pied kingfisher (eating an insect along the Choebe River, Botswana)

“Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.” ~William Jennings Bryan   Trumpeter hornbill (aka/Zuzu!  Chobe National Park, Botswana)

“You’re only given a little spark of madness.
You mustn’t lose it.”~Robin Williams  Red-headed weaver bird (Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe)

“When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself.”
~Chief Tecumseh  Reddish egret (pair of them! Kruger National Park, South Africa)

“In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins… not through strength but by perseverance.”
~H. Jackson Brown  Saddle-billed stork (Mbabane, Swaziland)

“I’m far from perfect, but I’ll be perfect for
that imperfect person that’s perfect for me.”  ~Amanda Bynes  Southern masked weaver bird (Choebe River, Botswana) 

“If you want things to be different, perhaps the answer is to become different yourself.” ~Normal Vincent Peale  Trumpeter Hornbill (Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe)

“Why not go out on a limb? Isn’t that where the fruit is?”   White-backed Vultures (drinking water in Chobe National Park, Botswana)

 “We determine whether something will be a blessing or a curse
by the way we choose to see it.”~Kate Nowak  Whydah (Widow?) bird (Hluhluwe Imfolozi Game Reserve, South Africa)

“Life engenders life. Energy creates energy.
It is by spending oneself that one becomes rich.” ~Sarah Bernhardt  Yellow-billed egrets with an openbill stork (Zambezi River, Zimbabwe)

“You can tell the value of a man by the way he treats his wife,
by the way he treats a subordinate,
and by the way he treats someone who can do nothing for him.”~Ken Babcock

Hope you enjoyed the “tour” of African birds. Africa is by far the most exotic place I’ve ever been, and I love being able to share with you a little bit of the blessing wherewith I’ve been blessed.

 “I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvelous works. I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High” (Psalm 9:1-2).

A Few of My Favorite Birds (37): Would You Rather be a Chicken, a Hen, or a Rooster?

According to Merriam Webster (whose dictionary is the gold standard for literary editors, so I’m told), a chicken can be a type of common domestic fowl used for food…or a coward. A hen can be an older female chicken…or a “fussy, middle-aged woman.”  Rooster refers an adult male chicken…or a cocky, vain man. Now I ask you, who wants to be any of those?? And, how did chickens get such a bad rap, anyway? Among my list of favorite birds, chickens never really made the grade…  until I came to Hawaii, but now I have a new fascination for these fine fellows. I saw a gorgeous rooster with iridescent green feathers as well as the usual kaleidoscope of reds, oranges, and yellows trying to cross the highway in Kauai not long ago, and I thought to myself, “If I didn’t know what that was, I’d be agog with its size and brilliant plumage!” Indeed, these cocky specimens of male finery are all the rage in Hawaii. Roosters adorn baseball caps and napkin holders. They rule the roost, make themselves at home cleaning up waffle cone scraps in ice cream parlors, and slurp up puddles of shaved ice spilled from kiddie cones. They announce the coming dawn…
sometimes as early at 2:00 am but definitely by 4:00 am (and throughout the day whenever they’re startled). I noticed this ad today accompanying the photo of a rooster:
“Diamond Head home for sale with pool and built in alarm clock.” Menus offer entrees of feral rooster stuffed with cactus. (That one might be a joke; I’m told the reason they’re everywhere
is because they have parasites and aren’t fit to eat.) Despite being the brunt of jokes and a synonym for a lame-brained coward, I think chickens are worthy of respect, and here are my reasons:  *They are the most common bird in the world (50 billion). Compare that to the most common wild bird in the world,
sparrows, at 1.5 billion!  (Huge difference, huh?)* They are historically famous, called the “bird that gives birth every day”  (Thutmose III, 1500 BC).   *They are the most prolific birds: In 2009, an estimated 62.1 million metric tons of eggs were produced worldwide from a total laying flock of approximately 6.4 billion hens. (That’s over a trillion eggs!)  *Besides being beautiful, cocks aren’t afraid to crow!  “Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake?
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow,
till thou hast denied me thrice” (John 13:38).  * Besides being plucky, chickens make wonderful mothers:  “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together,
even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!”
(Matthew 23:37).  *And last, but most significantly, chickens provide more sacrificial lives for meat than any other animal (even if the feral flock aren’t feed by humans).  In 2008, 9.08 billion chickens were slaughtered in the United States according to the United States Department of Agriculture data, and that’s just the U.S.! World wide, over 40 billion broilers are raised and killed every year. Only the sacrifice of Jesus has provided life-giving food for more people!

“For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world” (John 6:33). Jesus said: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51).

(All photos were taken in Hawaii, although the one of the rooster crowing at dawn was taken at my son’s home in Oahu.)

Coyote Hills Regional Park in Spring: Vibrant with Poppies, Rocks, Planes, and Turkeys

If you’ve ever wondered why the golden poppy is California’s state flower, try visiting the Golden State in spring! While on a tour to see our numerous West Coast rels
(which included the families of 2 sons and 3 siblings), Aaron took us with his crew for a hike near
San Francisco in the East Bay’s Coyote Hills Regional Park, a vast stretch (978 acres) of marshlands and rolling green hills that are carpeted with flowers—most gloriously poppies—in early spring. It’s been so rainy this year that part of the boardwalk through the marsh was submerged by overflow from Alameda Creek, so we had to retrace our steps along the Muskrat Trail. However, the hills were phenomenal! The bedrock of Coyote Hills is part of the Franciscan Formation, and half of that is composed of sheared greenstone,
which varies in color from shades of green to even reds and yellows. Where the rocks have not been weathered, there are some stunning outcroppings with vibrantly colored veins of recrystalized red and yellow chert (jasper). At the top of one hill, the rocks had some strikingly blue coloring so beautiful  that I feared people might think I was just “turning up the color” on my photos! From the tops of the Red Hill Trail, you can also catch vistas of San Francisco, and the southwestern side of Coyote Hills is bordered by tidal mud flats that have been landscaped to create evaporation ponds for salt water from the Pacific. This area is also popular with radio-controlled airplane operators, and on the balmy day of our visit (Oops! It’s pretty, but don’t pick the flowers!), one friendly pilot shared some of his expertise and delight in flying with us. The only downside of this perfectly good day for UP was a close encounter with an IFO…an identifiable flying object
which turned out to be a testy tom turkey. We have a flock of about 2 dozen turkeys in our Michigan woodsy backyard,
but they shun humans and won’t pose for close up photo ops, so I was delighted that these turkeys seemed more than happy to accommodate… until I realized the hens were simply feeling secure because their gorgeous but irascible tom guarded his harem by  aggressively accosting interlopers, including my small partners who—if a bit taller—were not nearly so wide! And so, I would advise prospective hikers to expect a fabulous day at the park, but beware the jabberturk, my son! “I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep:
for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety” (Psalm 4:8).

 

 

 

A Few of My Favorite Birds (33 ): Turkeys—and not Just at Thanksgiving!

Turkeys are the largest game bird in North America and their existence helped the pilgrims survive their first year in America, which is doubtless how they ended up as the centerpiece of our Thanksgiving dinners yesterday. As turkeys haven’t been globe trotters, I don’t know how many people on other continents like turkey, but my son Joel became the turkey donor for his house, because even though many of his fellow graduate students are Asian and didn’t  actually want to roast a turkey…they all wanted to eat some turkey! 🙂  So, turkeys are popular birds. Turkeys not only the biggest of our game birds (2-4 ft. in length and up to 50 pounds for domesticated turkeys), many people think they’re the best! There are now about 200 million raised every year for food in the U.S. and another 7 million running wild throughout North America.             We have a flock of 21 (last count) that roam our woods and fields.  I was surprised to learn that wild turkeys actually prefer woodland areas and are especially fond of acorns but are omnivorous, eating fruits, seeds and nuts of various varieties, insects, and even salamanders!One hen laid her nest of 13 tan-speckled eggs right up against the sunny, southern wall of our home hidden behind a thick patch of day lilies this summer.                                                       (They can lay 4-18 eggs.)  This would have been an ideal spot had it not been for an influx of 4 curious grand sons and 4 curious coon kits during the month it would have taken to properly incubate them. Sigh.                                                 Still, a flock of 21 isn’t bad.         The males are aloof parents…mostly interested in strutting and breeding.                                 (I’ll refrain from any snide comments.)

 But, the hens make excellent mothers, fiercely protecting their young poults during the first two weeks before they can fly. However, once the poults can fly, the entire flock roosts relatively high up
in trees during the night.                    Hens watch over their young even through the first winter,  and our flock seems to stick together year round,
roaming freely all over our yard, driveway, lane, woods, and fields.                     I think they think they own the place…and maybe they do.Given the specialness and succulence of turkeys, you may wonder why
“You turkey!” is considered an insult. I addressed that issue some years ago (https://kathrynwarmstrong.wordpress.com/2009/03/28/you-turkey/ ),    but since that time I’ve also learned something from a professional hunter that’s made me rethink my compliance with the present P.C. turkey slurs. Turkeys aren’t just big; they’re fast, running up to 25 mph and flying up to 55. Furthermore, they don’t fly in a straight line,
making them extremely challenging for game hunters.So, even if some birds would rather try to bust their brains
through a fence than fly over it, they’re worthy of respect
…and I think that holds true for all God’s creatures.              We all have some weaknesses, but we all need and deserve respect.      So, sorry, big birds. You won’t be hearing anymore turkey slurs from me.    🙂 “Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any:
he is mighty in strength and wisdom” (Job 36:5).

 

A Few of My Favorite “The Birds” (32): Budgie Mania

Last week the budgies were pretty much “out of control!”  In all my years of feeding the budgerigars (aka parakeets) at the John Ball Zoo,  I’ve never seen them so aggressive and eager to eat!  I don’t know if it was the cool weather,  being morning,  or just luck of the draw,  but they were landing on everybody and everything,   fluttering around, and fighting over “territories” atop innocent visitors! Of course, we loved it,  but it was a little disconcerting  when six “attacked” the leather strap around Joel’s neck,  landed on my grandson’s head  (while he was trying to sleep soundly) attempted to peck the decorations off my top,  gathered in groups on our arms  and fought over landing space!  Usually we leave before all the seeds on our sticks have been eaten,  but this time we went back and bought more!  Well, let’s just say it was the high point of our trip!  Did you know that budgies are also called “love birds”?  They are the world’s third most popular pet (just behind dogs and cats),   so they’re not just one of my favorite birds,  they’re one of everybody’s favorite birds!  Budgies (parakeets) are wonderfully social
and among the animal world’s finest “talking” champions.  (The world record-holder had a vocabulary of 1,728 words!)   They’re actually small members of the parrot family and native to Australia.  The original coloring is (was) green and yellow with black scallops, although they’ve now been bred into a veritable rainbow of colors. (However, the blue cere at the base of the beak always denotes a male.) So, if you’re looking for a small friend who talks a lot but doesn’t eat too much, think budgie. Come to think of it,  now that I’m an empty-nester…maybe I should get one! 🙂

“A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”
[or closer than a bird…that would be Jesus, so maybe I can live without a bird…]
(Proverbs 18:24)