I love your abundant and varied bird population - it is so cool to notice them and really watch their behavior throughout the year - to watch their story unfold on a regular basis.
We live beside a river here in Idaho and also enjoy watching herons and barn swallows building nests under bridges. Our vicious little hummingbirds returned about a month ago and I always wonder if I should wear goggles when I walk past their feeders. I tease my wife about filling the feeders with Mountain Dew just so I could hear the hummers make micro sonic booms, but I promise that they will get no Mountain Dew from me. They are truly tiny miracles and I still can’t understand how they can fly across the Gulf of Mexico from Florida to the Yucatán Peninsula on one hummingbird tank of fuel.
We also have Canadian geese here who do odd things such as roosting in our Ponderosa pine trees. Eagles roosting on the top of a tree, sure. Hawks roosting in trees, sure. But geese just seem out of place. The wild turkeys here roost in trees at night, and one evening as I watched a flock of turkeys roosting on the branch of an old apple tree, the branch broke and they all dropped to the ground like feathery basketballs.
We don’t get t.v. here and choose not to have cable, but we do get the bird channel and it always makes me happy, and especially happy when I hear a meadow lark in the early evening or watch a flock of our little mountain quail come in for a landing on a frozen pond in the winter. Lots of skids and tumbles. They seem so serious about it that it seems unkind to laugh at them, but you need a heart of stone not to laugh.
What a beautiful world in which we live, and thank you for reminding us of that.
Thank you for sharing these wonderful stories! I will have to tell my BFF about the turkeys roosting in trees. She has lots of wild turkeys around her farm and I don't think either of us have ever thought of them being in trees! I once saw geese poking around the unused eagle's nest and I thought well that's not the smartest place to think about nesting. I love the image of the mountain quail landing! Birds are really funny sometimes. And oh those hummers. My BFF had one that got injured by another and died. :( They are so territorial. And they are also beautiful little miracles. I see photos of my friend in California with dozens around her feeders and they seem to get along so nicely, but the ruby-throats sure don't share.
I actually tasted wild turkey last fall even though I’m a vegan. It was all about the science. For years, I’ve heard how awful they taste, but I didn’t find it unpleasant; tough as boot leather but not awful tasting. Later, I found a recipe for fixing the boot leather toughness. You add the turkey to boiling water along with a baseball sized river rock. When you can stick a fork into the rock, the turkey is ready to serve.
Photos and story out of sync sounds like a reflection of the way life really is, rather than a perfectly aligned narrative we try to present to the world. I'll happily listen to any story you want to tell.
I love your abundant and varied bird population - it is so cool to notice them and really watch their behavior throughout the year - to watch their story unfold on a regular basis.
Lovely, Karen.
We live beside a river here in Idaho and also enjoy watching herons and barn swallows building nests under bridges. Our vicious little hummingbirds returned about a month ago and I always wonder if I should wear goggles when I walk past their feeders. I tease my wife about filling the feeders with Mountain Dew just so I could hear the hummers make micro sonic booms, but I promise that they will get no Mountain Dew from me. They are truly tiny miracles and I still can’t understand how they can fly across the Gulf of Mexico from Florida to the Yucatán Peninsula on one hummingbird tank of fuel.
We also have Canadian geese here who do odd things such as roosting in our Ponderosa pine trees. Eagles roosting on the top of a tree, sure. Hawks roosting in trees, sure. But geese just seem out of place. The wild turkeys here roost in trees at night, and one evening as I watched a flock of turkeys roosting on the branch of an old apple tree, the branch broke and they all dropped to the ground like feathery basketballs.
We don’t get t.v. here and choose not to have cable, but we do get the bird channel and it always makes me happy, and especially happy when I hear a meadow lark in the early evening or watch a flock of our little mountain quail come in for a landing on a frozen pond in the winter. Lots of skids and tumbles. They seem so serious about it that it seems unkind to laugh at them, but you need a heart of stone not to laugh.
What a beautiful world in which we live, and thank you for reminding us of that.
Thank you for sharing these wonderful stories! I will have to tell my BFF about the turkeys roosting in trees. She has lots of wild turkeys around her farm and I don't think either of us have ever thought of them being in trees! I once saw geese poking around the unused eagle's nest and I thought well that's not the smartest place to think about nesting. I love the image of the mountain quail landing! Birds are really funny sometimes. And oh those hummers. My BFF had one that got injured by another and died. :( They are so territorial. And they are also beautiful little miracles. I see photos of my friend in California with dozens around her feeders and they seem to get along so nicely, but the ruby-throats sure don't share.
Have a wonderful day watching bird TV!
I actually tasted wild turkey last fall even though I’m a vegan. It was all about the science. For years, I’ve heard how awful they taste, but I didn’t find it unpleasant; tough as boot leather but not awful tasting. Later, I found a recipe for fixing the boot leather toughness. You add the turkey to boiling water along with a baseball sized river rock. When you can stick a fork into the rock, the turkey is ready to serve.
This is lovely, Karen. Your posts leave me feeling as if I've taken a break, a pause, meditated, rested, slowed my breath. Thank you. 💜
Thank you - I think that's the nicest compliment, that's the kind of energy I want to put out in the world (the kind I need!).
I was thinking exactly that when I wrote it. YOU embody the healing gentle energy you speak about needing. 💜
Please congratulate your storyteller on a beautiful post.
Thank you Cali, I have let her know! :)
A beautiful story to begin a beautiful day here!
Thank you!
So lovely!
Thank you!
Photos and story out of sync sounds like a reflection of the way life really is, rather than a perfectly aligned narrative we try to present to the world. I'll happily listen to any story you want to tell.
Mmmm, I like this Alexa! Thank you.
Love your memories of the grandpa’s ❤️😍👍 beautiful pictures…Memorial Day weekend… relaxing in the memories… no stories needed…❤️😍👍
Thank you Aunt Sharon!
that sweet young heron looks like it's on stilts <3
Ha ha, talk about spindly teenage legs!