The Sweetness of Carrion and Featherless Faces

Vultures, the birds people love to mythologize. From providing a source of power to the Shaman through its use of the forces of the earth to soar on heat updrafts, to its status as "eagle god" in middle eastern regions; the vulture has traveled through human imagination, and hence folklore, since we left pure instinct in the depths of consciousness. Some scholars have interpreted that the "eagle" which plucked at the liver of Prometheus was actually a vulture. However you choose to view vultures, one thing's for sure, they're curious creatures to many.

When I show enthusiasm at the sight of a vulture, the young express the opinions and knowledge based in the modern disgust that plagues this unconventional bird. "They eat people!" "They bring bad luck!" "They like to kill people!" These are just a few little gems I have heard. After my birder zealous explanation for a vulture's place in a balanced and diverse ecosystem, the same young, incredulously, peer at me.

Today, I watched, without judgement or fear of their eating habits, as two enormous vultures playfully soared above my backyard. Flipping and turning, and dipping with wobbling wings, they road an upward heat current. They weren't hunting or looking for their next human victim. Rather, they were enjoying a ride supplied by the planet. Large, and a bit lumbering on the ground, in the air they're free.

Their bad rap is a shame.

Late Night Wing Beats

Here is my favorite bird themed song, right now. I dedicate it to the ladies and gent's who have paved the way or inspired me.

If the images are too cheesy for you, at least you can enjoy the song. It's by a folk band called The Weepies.

3 Red Tailed Hawks, no less!

Today, I watched three Red Tails playing, low to the ground on an updraft, as I drove the canyon near the Cleveland National Forest. I didn't pull over. I should have. 

Rolled through Tucker for a chill-out drive. Saw a gorgeous, healthy looking Western Scrub Jay. Didn't take a walk, just drove through. I didn't have the right shoes. That was my excuse. I should have gotten out and sat in the watching station.  Soon :) 

Being a substitute teacher (or as I introduce myself, a Guest Teacher) has its advantages. Today, I used the last 10 minutes of each period to engage students in a discussion. I asked the kids; "Thumbs-up means yes. Thumbs down means no. (thank you ITO) Are humans born scientists?" So many had their thumbs down and were curious when I said I agreed with the students that showed a thumbs-up. They were so curious and (for heavens sake!) relieved to know that each of them was born a scientist. Then ALL, proceeded to share with me, and each other, why and how they were scientists. It was beautiful :)

Birder Movie Review!

I don't need to inform any possible reader of my bias toward this movie. That said, this is my happy place film. Make a movie about birding. Add Steve Martin and Jack Black to the two sides of a bromance over birding, and I'm in. Then include the tiny cowboy, Owen Wilson, whose personal past of depression and attempted suicide gives me a sense that his performance was part acting, part catharsis; and I'm experiencing this film like an afternoon at Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary in the Cleveland National Forest with a sandwich in one hand and a box of tissues in my lap.

Outside of the overt themes of the importance of friendship (however new), social integrity, family, and nature this movie bestows upon the winged of our earthen family the homage they deserve. 

Although this movie barely brushes against the cheek of migratory realities, majestic bird mating, and intricacies of speciation (those that inspired scientists such as Charles Darwin to change accepted explications about human origin), it provides an admirable springboard into reconnecting (or connecting) with nature for the tentative naturalist to the ADHD "bird watchers" among us, to cultivate their inner nature nerd/superhero.

As far as I was able to observe, the main element left out of this nature movie was that all too familiar ecologists viewpoint about the plight of our avian (and other non-human animal) pals - loss of habitat. As a native Californian the plight of the California Gnatcatcher comes to mind. Its classification as a threatened species is an illustration of human monocular vision. It's tiny frame and specialized existence is virtually unknown to most Californians. To use an art reference as metaphor, humans so interested in functionality zoom in on a small clump of colored dots in a Georges Seurat painting in an attempt to unravel the mystery of how impressionism works. In which case we overlook, who am I kidding, remain unmoved by the overall story. Never mind the necessity of a complex system of dots to form the "Luncheon on the Grass," rather we ponder how we can reproduce an art form that looks ripe for the mass production picking. To translate my weirdness, many of us go about our lives being big in our existence, looking only in detail at that which is in our lines of sight, at that which validates our personal existence without wondering how the rest of the world is doing. Maybe my single critique is to weird, but this is my response. 

So if you want to formulate your own opinion, watch the movie and tell me (or someone) what you think.

That is all.

Pre-Coffee Wake-up Call

Red Shouldered Hawk

Okay, now that I have had my bowl of oatmeal, slice of sourdough bread toast, and hot cup of coffee I can tell you about the bird of prey that got me out of bed this morning. A Red Shouldered Hawk, my imagination holds he/she was the same hawk that visited me during my sit for the GBBC. This, plus my curiosity about animal personality has driven me to begin a new quest in birding, to become a better aural observer.

How about a few fun facts? Red Shouldered Hawks will both fight against Crows for food, as well as team up with Crows to fight. They'll often join forces against competing birds of prey, such as the Great Horned Owl.

Red Shouldered Hawks eat small mammals. They hunt from the air, as well as by pursuing mammals on talon - hopping along the ground, often right into a mammal's burrow. To hear the call of a Red Shouldered Hawk: Click here

My Great Backyard Bird Count Results

Birds from left to right, top to bottom:

Spotted Towhee, White Crowned Sparrow, Red Tail Hawk, Nutmeg Manikin, Northern Mockingbird, Mourning Dove, Black Phoebe, Costa's Hummingbird, Anna's Hummingbird, Allen's Hummingbird, House Sparrow, House Finch, Fox Sparrow, Cassin's Kingbird, California Towhee.

Oddly enough, I saw an array of species but only one of each.

A little bird walk: Bewick's Wren

Bewick's Wren

Sighting of the day:
On my morning coffee break, I was visited by this tiny grey/brown wren, hopping on top of a scraggly old bush beneath my porch-deck. For me, this was a first cognizant sighting of a Bewick's Wren.

Unlike so many possible, lovely little experiences that go by during a busy day, this one did not escape me.

Try to spot something rare (for yourself) today.