Marathon Con Traspie: Winter Week and a Side of Rain!

Well if it isn't basically February!

Nibble nibble, preen preen, Valentine's crows!

Last week I didn't have it in me to froth out frivolous stories about birds and the eclectica of my random divergences.

I can't say I had that much to say that wasn't a string of angry and incoherent slurries. I have strong opinions and stronger feelings, but I don't think that this is my wheelhouse to eloquently encapsulate the climate of the US right now.

So I'll borrow from Andor, because well, you'll see:

Karis Nemik: There will be times when the struggle seems impossible. I know this already. Alone, unsure, dwarfed by the scale of the enemy. Remember this. Freedom is a pure idea. It occurs spontaneously and without instruction. Random acts of insurrection are occurring constantly throughout the galaxy. There are whole armies, battalions that have no idea that they’ve already enlisted in the cause. Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward. And then remember this. The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that. And know this, the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of the Empire’s authority and then there will be one too many. One single thing will break the siege. Remember this. Try.

And within that, we have to keep finding joy. And kvetching about the weather. And, well, living.

So where are we then? Teetering into February, checking our weather app in consternation and a little shrug!

Hey, speaking of minor joys: we got some actual winter weather. The temperature slipped under freezing over several nights.

The pond iced up a bit! Not entirely, but enough to cause a bit of animal chaos

Jesus gull!!!

No, actually a juvenile! But close enough.

The crows also enjoyed the ice in more visceral ways. From munching on ice cubes to poking at the ice with sticks (possibly also other stick related activities, it's not always easy to tell)...

They were having a good time

Alas, no snow. We are instead "enjoying" the famous PNW fluctuation between "dry and clear," and "wet and warm" that curses ski resorts along this line everywhere.

But, at least we got under freezing for a spell. That was fun, anyways.

Our local heron seemed unphased.

Not that it often ever looks phased. Nor does it often betray much of any emotion. But occasionally it does pop the odd expression. Just occasionally.

Turns out that what we've been calling "the heron" might be multiple herons! We've not actually seen them interact, but yesterday, one heron was on the roof to the East

And, as we were walking away, there was another heron on another roof top all the way to the West!

SPIDERMAN MEME! But with herons!!! I'm beyond excited. Apparently, herons are generally solitary but it gets interesting during breeding season.

In breeding season, they shack up with a new bae (herons are serially monogamous, choosing a new partner each year). But it doesn't stop there. They set up nests before mating in these giant colonies called (so creatively) heronries. The male gets comfortable at the nesting site, and then puts on some fancy displays. Then, I imagine they all kind of get busy in the tree tops with lots of jabbing neck motions and clicking and whatnot. I don't think we'll get to see a heronry established, since they reasonably would set these things up away from prying human eyes, but baby herons are the cutest little dinos, so one can dream.

Speaking of younglings, we also discovered something about one of our crow friends.

It's a bit hard to see, but if you zoom in, you might be able to discerns that the mouth itself is lined with pink!

This means this is a young crow, probably within the first couple years of life. It's fairly common that crows stay with their parents as "helpers" for a few years after birth. We assumed that Peanut and Cashew were the parents and the other crows were their kids, and this definitely support the theory. This is one of the three to four crows that are often flying around wildly and swooping each other.

Looks very sleek and grown up to me when it wants.

With their (probably) siblings and/or friends, they kind of form roving gangs.

Within this gangland context, crows and the gulls continue their "interesting" relationship as sort of avian Jets and Whatever the Other Gang Was in That One Musical.

Occasionally playing together, occasionally coordinating attacks on common predators, occasionally cooperating to get food, and frequently battling over territory and/or noms.

Gulls are individually a lot stronger, so they can just take over a site with plentiful food, but the crows keep vigilant and often prevail through sheer annoyance and determination.

Annoyance and determination combine to make the perfect strategy more often than not. It seems to serve all over the place!

Numbers never hurt.

You gotta protect your free food sources!

The wigeons, for their part, stuck around. They seem to prefer the far hill behind the pond. They do more damage to grassy areas than the crows due mostly to their numbers! I think instead of just tearing it up to get to the grubs, they are actually eating the grass itself. This is apparently a wigeon delicacy and can comprise about 80% of their diets.

Given the weather and some interesting behaviors, I'm assuming that it's hitting breeding time for all the water fowl.

We've already seen the mallards have at it. The wigeons may be fighting or may be breeding, it's kind of hard to tell, but mostly they seem more reticent and grass focused at the moment.

The hooded mergansers, however, seem... ready to go. At least the bros.

Pretty sure this dude just had the zoomies. But there's been a lot more splashing and neck pumping and males nudging each other away from females. The females seem to be ignoring it mostly and just diving for fish unphased.

But their time will come!

Further afoot, we are still making our short tours of the relevant bird feeders in the area. Sure you can stomp around in nature if you want to see the exact same birds but more "wild". But also you can pretty much just go to a couple of choice feeders and see a ton of awesome bridies with a lot less planning and fewer other-dudes-with-giant-cameras to manage!

I want one of these feeders! It's got all the goodies!

Downy woodpeckers - the fun sized 'peckers!! So stinking cute!! And house sparrows: the cacophonous villains of the American bird world (along with starlings, of course). They are definitely the bass singers of the backyard bird world, and they carry their Colonial forefather's imperialistic strategies in dominating an area. I hear that they sometimes kill bluebirds, take their nesting sites, and then use the bluebird corpses to solidify their nests. A little dark.

House sparrows are native to Europe but have spread to almost every continent at this point. They have what it takes, apparently. They are loud. Social. And kind of cool, despite their bloody reputation. From what I've seen, it's mostly a peaceful coexistence with the other birdies, but I'm sure all manner of horrors persist outside of our little view!

But then again, even our beloved crows go raiding songbird nests sometimes. What can you do?

And what can you do when you see a full blooded predator??

This little coopers hawk has been roaming the neighborhood. It's quite fascinating! The chickadees will line up within inaccessible branches and start sending out the alarm, while the crows will gather in trees and start swooping it whenever it tries to fly freely. I imagine it still gets the one up on some of the little birds from time to time, but they do not make it easy!