Yesterday I was trying to get my email inbox cleaned up and posting to my other blog (I'll explain that later). My computer faces the back yard from our master bedroom, so I am able to watch the activity going on. And what to my distraction should appear but this bird who flew in for a brief visit. I have never seen a brown-headed cowbird in my yard, EVER! You can probably imagine my surprise. In my excitement I'm trying to grab my camera and zoom in on him, and this was the only shot I got. Just as I got closer to the window, he took off. I did see him once more, about half an hour later, but I was outside and didn't have my camera close at hand, and he flew off again before I could get another shot. I wonder where the female was. I wonder if this guy had a mate and he was waiting for her to deposit her egg in another's nest. And if so, I wonder what nest she chose.
And here is one of my favorite visitors, a California Towhee. These birds along with the dark-headed juncos and mourning doves do a great job of cleaning up the seeds that the messy house sparrows kick out of my feeders.
And now, the explanation of my other blog. One of the professional organizations I belong to held a 2-hour webcast on March 5th on Web 2.0 Principles and Best Practices. A colleague and I attended the continuing education (CE) webcast at another hospital library who hosted it. A week later this organization (the Medical Library Assn) announced an 8-week online class, distance education on discovering many aspects of Web 2.0 resources and tools. These past seven weeks (one more to go!) have been partially an eye opener to those tools I was not familiar with, but overall fun yet time consuming. Part of my problem has been that many of these websites we are to check on are blocked by the corporation of the hospital I work at. So that has meant that all my assignments have had to be done in the evenings at home. Between this and attending the San Jose Sharks hockey games I have had little time to post on this blog. But I have only one more week of online class work; so some of my time will be freed. As for the Sharks, I am hoping they will continue to succeed in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They have another home game this evening. So "let's go Sharks!!!"
7 comments:
I had a pair of Cowbirds at my feeders a couple of weeks ago and was surprised to see them there. I haven't seen them since.
Hi Ruth - I wonder if cowbirds have a habit of not staying in one place for long, that they keep moving around, especially the female, since they don't take care of their offspring? I haven't seen the male cowbird come back around here as well.
Hi Ocean - yes, it is exciting when I see a new bird visiting. I like your thought that they are little gifts of spring.
I have the cowbirds at my feeder also!
Hi Monarch - do you usually get cowbirds at your feeder? Or is this an unusual year for them to visit feeders? I mentioned the other day that the cowbird did not return, and then yesterday morning as I was leaving for work I looked out the window and he returned to the same feeder.
I get cowbirds at my feeder but it is somewhat unpredictable as to when they arrive and how long they stay.-Whatever you do, don't try to milk them!
The Brown-headed cowbirds have just started showing up here this past weekend. I had one in my yard today. Good shot!
Hi Larry - lol - I'm not sure I could get close enough to try milking them! ;o) All this time (since this post) I had not seen any female(s), and then Monday morning I saw her at the feeder.
Hi Kathie - thanks. I have noticed they are not frequent visitors like the HOSP. I only see these birds about once a week. Of course, I'm not always home to watch the feeder.
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