Squirrel Jamboree

01 Wednesday Jan 2014

Posted by Donna Florack in Animals, Humor, Nature, Photography, Poems, Poetry, Rhymes, Rhyming, Squirrels

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

Animal, blue jay, Cardinal, Eastern Gray Squirrel, Flora and Fauna, Humor, Sera, Squirrel

It was a squirrel jamboree

At last count there were forty-three

They were everywhere this morning

They all dropped in without warning

There was Sera and her Aunt Sue

I saw Myrtle and her son Lou

Sandy jumped up onto the roof

Uncle Frank did cartwheels, the goof

They dug up nuts down by the road

They carried off the entire load!

Albert and Larry ate the most

It’s really not like them to boast

They ate and then they ate some more

I need to restock the nut store!

The blue jay just tried to get some

The squirrels chased, but she’s not dumb

Fast as a flash, she got her nut

She flew with a blue jay-like strut

Lost count of the handfuls I tossed

Nut after nut hit the ground’s frost

It’s cold out! They need what they find

Feeding friends – I really don’t mind

House Sparrow

21 Saturday Sep 2013

Posted by Donna Florack in Birds, Nature, Photography, Poems, Poetry, Rhymes, Rhyming

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Bird, Flora and Fauna, House Sparrow, passer domesticus, Passeriformes, Villanelle

The House Sparrow is known as Passer domesticus,
They are a small brown and gray bird.
They live in our neighborhood and all around us.

They sit and chirp in the bushes and make a fuss,
They are determined to be heard.
The House sparrow is known as Passer domesticus.

Their sense of avian community is marvelous,
They really should be admired and treasured.
They live in our neighborhood and all around us.

Oh, little bird, your looks are so anonymous,
Why you’re so hungry I’ve always wondered.
The House sparrow is known as Passer domesticus.

Their droppings on your car might make you cuss,
The sparrow doesn’t seem to hear a word.
They live in our neighborhood and all around us.

Their numbers are tremendous,
Their cheeps and chirps are always answered.
The House sparrow is known as Passer domesticus.
They live in our neighborhood and all around us.

The Eye of the Grackle

30 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by Donna Florack in Nature

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Animals, Bird, common grackle, Flora and Fauna, Grackle, grating voice, nature, rusty spring, yellow eye

With his bluish iridescent head and large yellow eye, the grackle is a striking bird. With his raspy, grating voice, his call is unmistakable. I always thought of him as the “rusty spring bird”. His call to me always sounded like a spring on a porch door squeaking as the door opened or closed. I love the sound they make.

Grackles like to forage on the ground. This fellow was the only one at the feeder yesterday, and he managed to score most of the corn that I’d put out for the squirrels. He saw me watching from the window so I backed off to let him enjoy his meal.

Here are some other grackle photos I found online. I think he looks like a smaller, more handsome crow. They are often mistaken for each other, but the grackle has a yellow eye while the crow’s eye is black. One interesting fact I found is that the grackle can live up to 20 years in the wild.

http://www.pestproducts.com/grackle-pictures.htm

http://sdakotabirds.com/species/common_grackle_info.htm

http://sdakotabirds.com/species_photos/common_grackle_3.htm

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Grackle/id

http://hairmodeon.blogspot.com/2011/06/common-grackle-egg_15.html

http://www.ehow.com/info_8611519_differences-between-crow-grackle.html

Ardea Herodias (or let me tell you why I like herons)

16 Thursday May 2013

Posted by Donna Florack in Nature

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Tags

Bird, Blue Heron, Flora and Fauna, Great Blue Heron, Heron, Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge, Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, national wildlife refuge, nature, outdoors

Ardea Herodias or the Great Blue Heron is a wading bird often seen in ponds or in marshes. He is the tall skinny bird with the long neck who often blends in with the reeds and cattails at the water’s edge. He is a shy bird who will not let you get too close. If you get too near, he will squawk or croak and fly away.

Their wing span is enormous, and they can cover long distances in a very short amount of time. It’s almost impossible to follow one on the ground (or in your car). They disappear that quickly and are soon just a speck on the horizon. When flying, they tuck their long neck up into almost an “s” shape, and they fly with their legs streaming out behind them. They are easy to identify in the sky because of those legs.

They stand approximately 4 feet tall and have an almost 6 foot wing span yet they only weigh around 5-7 pounds. Their main diet is small fish, and they will stand stationery in the water for long periods of time patiently watching for their prey. They spear their catch with their long bill.

Where I live, they are a migratory bird, and the season that I can look for them goes by all too quickly. They usually disappear and fly South in the fall and then return in the spring. I have seen some in December, but that is rare.

I adopted the heron as my favorite bird and my own personal symbol several years ago. We used to take lots of road trips and drives as a family. While we were out, my boys would look for trains to photograph, and I would look for herons. It gave me something to do so I didn’t get bored, and I began to look forward to those car rides.

The best places to see herons near me are the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge – http://www.fws.gov/refuge/montezuma/ and the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge – http://www.fws.gov/refuge/iroquois/.

According to Avia Venefica:

“As a Chinese symbol the Heron represents strength, purity, patience and long life. In Africa, the Heron was thought to communicate with the Gods. Most Native American tribes took note of the heron’s inquisitiveness, curiosity and determination. As such this set the heron as a symbol of wisdom in that this creature seemed to have good judgement skills. Specifically, the Iroquois tribe held the blue heron as a very good omen, a very lucky sign. They recognized the heron as an expert fisher/hunter. As such, they believed that sighting a heron before a hunt was a sign that the hunt would be a good one.” (symbolic-meanings.com)

I find the heron mysterious and majestic. They are graceful and solitary. Four years ago I got a small tattoo of a heron on my ankle. To me it represents the ability to stand alone, uniqueness, independence, vigilance, quiet, the power of water, tact, delicacy, renewal, life and transformation. I couldn’t have found a better symbol to represent who I am.