Nature Quote - March 25, 2010

The mockingbird singing in the oak tree outside my window lifts my heart better than chocolate. For him, and for the fair lady he woos with his sweet spring singing, I found these quotes:

Spring would not be spring without bird songs.
- Francis M. Chapman

I sincerely congratulate you on the arrival of the mockingbird.

Learn all the children to venerate it as a superior being in the
form of a bird, or as a being which will haunt them
if any harm is done to itself or its eggs.
- Thomas Jefferson

I hope you love birds too. It is economical. It saves going to heaven.

- Emily Dickinson

Mourning Dove

This morning while I was making toast and coffee, I looked out onto our porch and noticed a mourning dove in one of our hanging baskets. The basket is planted with an asparagus fern, but apparently there's still enough room for two mourning doves (the second popped its head up right after I saw the first) and, I hope hope hope, a nest! In their honor, I've selected this as today's Nature Quote:

"Everything on the earth has a purpose, every disease an herb to cure it, and every person a mission." - Mourning Dove, a member of the Native American Salish tribe

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Are you listening?

My daughter is learning about the five senses this week in daycare. She seems especially focused on hearing. She's always been one to ask "What's that sound," but now she's more attentive to subtler sounds. Listening to the world with her, mentally borrowing her fresh, young ears has got me thinking about this awesome sense - how much we use it subconsciously and how much we ignore the wonders it can bring us.

I think we ignore our hearing sometimes because we live in such a noisy world; right now I'm sitting in my office, listening to the clickety-clack of my fingers on the keyboard, my home's A/C air intake, and the ridiculously loud tick-tock of the clock on the wall. I would classify the latter two of the three sounds as moderately annoying.

I know I'm not the only one who sometimes gets the feeling that you'd like to have a mute button for life. Or at least the ability to tell all noise (not just toddlers and husbands, but splashing dishwashers and buzzing microwaves and TV commercials featuring overly-excited salesmen who've obviously been told that product sales are directly related to the volume of their voices) to "Shhhhhh!"

I think all of the noise we have to filter through all day makes us tired. It's just too much input.

On the other hand, when I throw open my office window, the sounds I hear make me at once excited, intrigued, and peaceful. Come to think of it, hang on, I'll open that window right now. . .

Okay, the first thing I hear kind of detracts from the point - it's the morning traffic on the mildly major road we live right next to. (Here's a piece of free advice: if you can avoid it, don't buy the model home that's at the beginning of a subdivision, right next to a mildly major road.)

Ah, but now here comes the reward. Above the traffic I hear the peeping of baby birds in my neighbor's live oak tree. I hear the rumble and crackle of distant thunder, warning of the approaching storm.

And, somehow, these sounds are changed by the high humidity and still air. It sounds like a rainy day even though the rain hasn't made it here yet.

I hear the quiet cheeps of mourning doves and the trills of titmice and chickadees who frequent my bird feeder.

These nature sounds make me breathe deeper, relax my tensed shoulders, close my eyes and pay attention to all of my less-used senses. They all deserve some positive input.

When the rain comes, I'll give them a treat by going outside, feeling the rain on my upturned palms and tasting the big, fresh drops on my tongue. I'll see the rain and let my eyes focus on the middle distance. (These eyes do a lot of focusing and examining for my macro photos, they deserve a break.) And, breathing deeply, I'll smell the ozone created by the lightning and the loveliness of wet leaves and forest floors.

Then I'll really have something to tell my daughter about. She is an excellent listener.

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A Season of Love

Well folks, welcome back to the season of love. Though most folks will have their sense and senses overwhelmed by greeting cards and bouquets for the next couple of weeks, here in the south the best shows of love are in the trees right now: it’s courting season for the animals!

Here in the south, temperatures are on the rise and so are the libidos of our ardent avians. Whether you’re writing sonnets or capturing the beauty of flight in oils this season, take a minute to look out your window at the amazing adventures of our winged Romeos. The courtship rituals and displays of our songbirds are the best show in town. A few lessons in love from our fine-feathered friends:

Eat Like A Bird

This may be the best lesson my mother ever taught me about dating and marriage. Before a female cardinal will accept a male suitor as a mate, the male bird is expected to bring her food for a number of days. In this way, the female makes sure that the male is healthy enough and committed enough to take care of her and, hence, the chicks they will raise together. He literally has to show that he can bring home the bacon (or black-oil sunflower seed) reliably before she’ll invest the energy in helping him reproduce. Apparently courtship feeding is also the habit of many other species, including gulls, American Kestrels, Northern Harries, and Snowy Owls. Not so bird-brained after all, eh?

Give Gifts That Are Better Than Chocolate

House wrens build nests that females then judge and choose from. The best nest gets the girl. Bowerbirds build even more elaborate structures, complete with colored trinkets and that they find, to attract females. Life may be like a box of chocolates, but marriage is more like a house (or nest) – one that is built to be strong takes work, dedication, and upkeep; one that is weak will fall out from under you or down on top of you at the worst moment.

Do A Little Dance

There’s nothing like a little display of “the goods” to attract a mate. In the bird world, it’s usually the males in the spotlight, while the females get to play wallflower. Then, when a female spots a dapper dancer that just steals her birdy heart, she’ll go out to join her John Travolta in some couples dancing. I suppose the lesson we could all take from this is that in the game of love you’ve got to take a risk to get a big return – a little vulnerability and a lot of courage can get you a dancing partner for life. There’s no guarantee that you won’t step on each other’s toes, but at least you’ll have someone to shake your tail feathers with.

**This piece was originally published in the February 2009 issue of Moonshine, the online creativity magazine. View the entire magazine at www.moonshine.southerncreativity.com.**

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Peanut-Buttery Crunch

Well, the writing bug seems not to be biting this week, so instead of deep and complex nature thoughts (yeah, right) I've decided to share with you a simple and fun family nature activity. Grab a couple of kids or kids-at-heart and have some messy fun with this one:

Peanut Butter Pinecone Birdfeeders

Materials:
- one pine cone per feeder
- jar of peanut butter (crunchy is best)
- birdseed (optional)
- string or twine


Step 1: Gather pine cones from your yard, your neighbor's yard, the public park (as long as it's not a state or national park - there we take only photographs and leave only footprints).

Step 2: Bring the pine cones back inside so you don't freeze out in the cold!

Step 3: Somewhere you can make a big mess (e.g. kitchen table covered with newspaper) set out the pine cones and the peanut butter as well as a dish of birdseed (if you have it, black oil sunflower seed is best).

Step 4: Using your hands or spoons, smear the peanut butter all over the pine cone, making sure to stuff as much as you can into the cracks and crevices.

Step 5: Roll the sticky, peanut buttery pine cones in the bird seed to coat.

Step 6: Cut a nice long length of string and tie one end around the fat end of the pine cone. Hang outside from a tree branch.

Step 7: Watch the birds enjoy their winter treat!

Late winter residents will appreciate the calories from the peanut butter and birdseed - remember, birds' average body temperature is 104 degrees Farenheit, so they've got to burn a lot of fuel to maintain that internal temperature when outside temps drop below freezing. Also, any early migrants you have flying through the area will be happy to stop by your pine cone diner to fill up before flying further north. Do be a good host or hostess and provide them with a drink of water as well - any cheap terra cotta pot underliner can become an instant birdbath - just set it on a stump or a pile of rocks and keep it full and ice-free.

And after you're all done and all washed up, remember to sit down by a window with a hot cup of tea and enjoy a good view of all the great birdie action. I think I'll go do that now (maybe the writing bug is hiding out near the window).

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Backyard Bird Envy

So, you go and create a blog and then, shockingly, you find that you have to keep up with it. Oy.

Where have I been? In Virginia visiting family, generally. Specifically . . . worshipping the porcelain god in my parents' upstairs guest bathroom because I managed to catch the worst possible stomach virus in the history of mankind. Now you know that I love nature's colors - all of them - but I'm going to skip the description of the colors that went along with this particular natural event. You've seen them before, I'm sure. Or, if you haven't, I hope that you never, ever will.

I learned in my Buddhism seminar that we are supposed to pray for the happiness of all sentient beings, so I'm working on that. But, as far as I'm concerned, bacteria and viruses could not possibly have the neural networks required to be sentient, so I don't think Buddha would mind that I spent a few hours praying that all stomach viruses would be confined to the deepest, darkest pits of hell. What was I thinking? Silly me - they're already there. They probably run the joint.

Not that I'm bitter. Really.

My Virginia vacation wasn't a complete loss, though, because I got to spend time with my mom (an unassuming naturalist who's learned more from the creatures in her back yard than most learn from wildlife and forestry degree programs) talking nature and watching her birds.

To say that my mom has birds that visit her yard would be something like saying that Canada can be a bit chilly this time of year.

If it's a songbird living east of the Mississippi, chances are it can give you directions to Diane Clifford's deck and repeat the sound of her "I'm throwing peanuts out now" whistle. The woman has black oil sunflower seed in two different feeders and thistle seed in another. She has suet and peanut butter in a third and peanuts get thrown out on the deck regularly.

The yard is, of course, a certified Backyard Habitat, as is mine - but she's had hers for going on 30 years now and her birds are loyal. (Not like mine, who disappeared for no reason for weeks this fall. What's up with that?) In just a few minutes' observation, I easily spotted a Carolina wren, chickadees, titmice, a nuthatch, gold finches, cardinals, and an unusually large blue jay. There was also a red-bellied woodpecker in the woods nearby and a red-shouldered hawk that lives in the neighborhood.

And, speaking of larger species, my mom's deck is also the favorite eatery of a group of grey squirrels who must be the largest of their kind in the whole of North America. Seriously, these squirrels are huge. Fat and happy. Each one is the size of a cat, I swear.

Those are just a few of her winter avian friends. In the spring and summer there will also be warblers and catbirds and all sorts of migrants who rest and refuel at Di's Place. I can't blame them - I found it a great place to rest and refuel myself. Don't tell the birds and squirrels this, but if you think the bird food outside is good, you should check out the people food on the table inside . . . and don't even get me started on how nice the bathrooms are!

www.worldofcolorgallery.com