Very birdy in and above our yard today. Of note:
--tragedy struck three to four half-cooked EASTERN BLUEBIRD babies in the night; the nest is empty. Anyone wish to hazard a theory? The box has a good baffle on its post and isn't reachable via nearby structure or tree. Shall we suspect other birds, then? In the area are nesting HOUSE WRENS, one other male EABL at least, nesting TREE SWALLOWS, and, perhaps regrettably, nesting HOUSE SPARROWS. No bodies or body parts were to be found. If anyone has information leading to the arrest of any of these species, please contact me directly. Happily, the bluebird family seems to be starting over in a different box. Watch this space for future tragic updates. Can I just say SPRING IS A GRISLY, BRUTAL TIME? --the TREE SWALLOWS who have built a nest in a box mounted on the corner post of our hobby vineyard fence could not care less that there is lots of human activity in the vineyard. They're docile and ballsy, true to what I've known of them to heretofore. Either that or they're savvy to the meaning of my husband having earbuds in: "dude, I'm busy. Chill." --surprisingly, the highlight of the day was two BLUE JAYS preening and feeding each other quite tenderly, it would appear, their standing as basic (albeit smart and entertaining) thugs in my opinion notwithstanding. --the BALTIMORE ORIOLES have moved on to orange slices, suet now apparently being *so *yesterday*.* I sliced open a blood orange, not knowing that's what it was, and put it out anyway, wondering if they'd care--and then later wondering, too late, whether I was killing orioles unwittingly--but they didn't discern, or if they did, they did not file a complaint. Someone please tell me if I should never do that again, if there's some compound in blood oranges that makes orioles explode or something. That's the dispatch from West Hill for now. Condolences on having read this far. Caroline PS Should anyone wish to know, the woodpile belongs to GRAY CATBIRD "A", and *not* Gray Catbird "B," and this has been made VERY clear via much fluffing and pumping and hopping and the quintessential embodiment of abject outrage, at least from where I was sitting. -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
