With starlings, I am often an outlier, even among people who share my conservation ethics and love for wildlife. That’s because I appreciate starlings in a way that defies conventional dislike for the species in the United States. I wrote about this in a 2009 post about European Starlings and their introduction to the U.S….
The Thing with Feathers
“Hope” is the thing with feathers – That perches in the soul – And sings the tune without the words – And never stops — at all – And sweetest — in the Gale — is heard – And sore must be the storm – That could abash the little Bird That kept so many…
Waxwing Solo
I marked my winters in California by the return of the Cedar Waxwings. A few years ago this is how I would describe my seasonal transition: It starts with a whistle, but a whistle so faint it’s a whisper across the leaves. And then the sound of raindrops, but it’s not rain. It’s the patter…
The Origins of Avian Blue
I pulled a few of my Western Bluebird pics from the archives to illustrate the following excerpt. This month’s Smithsonian Magazine has a short piece entitled Why So Blue? by Helen Fields, which explores the natural magic behind bluebird blue: [Ornithologist Richard Prum] discovered that as a blue feather grows, something amazing happens. Inside each…
A Bird Called Hummingway
He was christened Mr. Hummingway by a dear friend who likes birds but is ambivalent about interaction with birds. She had formative experiences that made her view birds as flapping missiles who get tangled in your hair, dive bomb you, or suddenly ditch into the open window of your moving car on a freeway. Those…
I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart
A Starling’s tribute to Duke Ellington . . . jockeying for best song position, and losing it to a crow. Shot with my Olympus E-520 and Zuiko 70-300mm. The photo was taken as the sun receded behind clouds, just above the horizon, so it was later-afternoon warm and filtered.
Sex and the Single Cowbird
It’s an unlikely title, I realize, for a girl born and raised during the Second Wave of feminism . . . in the hashish-a-plenty streets of Amsterdam . . . with an insomniac artist for a mom who developed algae foods for astronauts and read her babies chemistry homework as bedtime stories. Helen Gurley Brown…
Nest Bound
This Robin was building a nest, low in a trellis at a public park. I kept my distance while shooting this image, but kept wishing she would reconsider the positioning of the nest.
The Waxwings Are Back
I don’t know exactly how long they’ve been back, the Cedar Waxwings. Serious birders** know from the hour. I only know by the near-silent whistles that suddenly populate our trees. And I know because we got our first injured Cedar Waxwings at the hospital in the past two weeks — immobilized by window strikes. Today,…
