Yellow Bird Week

Good morning ! Well, for most of the country it is good afternoon as it is almost noon here. Oh well.

I have been posting on the whale watching network out here, www.orcanetwork.org, and most of my posts have come from the vantage point of Possession Ridge, where I was involved in an extensive remodel project. The owners there are a great couple. One of those couples that despite the stress make working a joy. Anyway, the husband had told me that during a surgery recuperation period, he logged 43 different species of birds from his back yard. After working there, I have to believe him. And this last week he added another, and it was a week I call Yellow Bird Week.

The 44th species was the Evening Grosbeak, of the Fringillidae family. I had seen many a Rose Breasted Grosbeaks of the Cardinalidae family at the former home of the in-laws west of Madison,Wisconsin. The grosbeak has a very distinct beak shape, and is white in color for the Evening Grosbeak variety. I happened to be returning from the lumberyard and there in the front yard in a conifer were 6 of them. I was fortunate enough to get the glass on them, that's lingo for using binoculars, before they flew on. It is always fun to see a new species of bird.

So a day or two later, as we were soaking up the sun and view during morning break, I noticed a streak of yellow flash out of the berry bushes that border the sloped back yard. I managed to glass it, but it moved to rapidly, and it rather resembled the behavior of the male Ruby Throat Hummingbird. Let me explain. When the Rubies made it back to the island, we were in the back yard overlooking the Saratoga Passage, on break, soaking it in. This particular Ruby was zooming straight up out of the berry bushes, and then straight down. Up and down. All day long, though not seemingly for more than several trips at a time. Well, I saw this flash of yellow, almost orange, flash up and then down. Not what I would say was Grosbeak behavior. Why? The grosbeak is a nut and berry eater, and unless it was mating season, I would call the flashing up behavior that of an insect eating bird that spied a cloud of insects. However, that wouldn't be the case for the Ruby Throat. I think they are territorial, and since the females didn't show up for several weeks until after the male, I suspect that what we witnessed was territorial behavior. Anyway, I glassed the feeder, and there were some Grosbeaks. They looked too pastel though, not bright enough for what I saw. Hmmm, I pondered.

My question was answered at lunch time. Remember the sloping back yard? There is a road down the slope beyond the berry bushes, and of course the resident conifers that fill the hillside between the road and down to the bluff edge or the beach. I saw the orange/yellow flash light in the top of one of these Firs, and I pulled out my 'nocs. Yup. That's no Evening Grosbeak! Black bill, slender as in the case of many insect eaters, and a black eye stripe with and orange eye line, sometimes called a lore. Well, I told the homeowner, and it turns out it's the Bullock's Oriole, the only Oriole species that appears in this part of the country. That explained the insect chasing behavior and orangeiness of it's color.

Part of what is exciting about seeing these new species is that it opens my awareness and observation to that around me. Everything has it's distinctions. Think about it in terms of people. Nose size as opposed to beak size. Eye color, hair color and shape, instead of feet or talons, the shoes they wear. Trees can be viewed this way. No, not as humans. In the differences of their needles and leaves, the color and texture of their bark, and so on. The colors, shapes and sizes of clouds. It is fun to see the different species of dragonflies on this basis. The different textures of wood come alive. Look at the trim in your house, or different pieces of wood furniture. It is truly amazing all the beauty and diversity that surround us.

That's it for today! Believe it, I'm going to post a delicious recipe for Italian omelets next!