The zoomed images are more familiar things list month. See how many of them you recognize (click on the image to see an enlarged version of the collage).
Grackle and chives bud
Horse chestnut and paulownia (princess tree) flowers
Sweet bay bud, chives (further along their bloom cycle than the first image), tulip poplar flowers
Toad, lacewing, grass with heavy dew
Mourning doves, strawberries, iris flower
I noticed a mourning dove with a sheen on his neck feathers and immediately wondered if maybe there would be dove pair mating on our deck railing like we’ve had for at least twice this spring already.
He fluffed his feathers and strutted. He lifted and spread his tail feathers as he preened while a female looked on. At first the female seemed interested. She approached but then sat down on the railing. The male continued to show off his plumage. He tried grooming the female but she continued to sit although she did groom him a little – not very enthusiastically. Then she moved away. The male seemed surprised and looked around to determine where she went but she had already flown much further away.
The juncos are still around but there at not as many of them at the feeder recently. Some may have already left for their nesting ground further north. A Carolina Wren has visited several times. It is full of song either from the railing of the deck or atop the weather station. The birds always seem to sing facing the forest (the daffodils that are blurs of yellow in the background of the photo series are at the edge of the forest). By mid-month, this bird had built a nest in our old (unused) gas grill.
Sometimes brown-headed cowbirds come to our deck. There was a pair that seemed more interested in glaring at each other at first.
Then they noticed the bird feeder and
Patiently took turns getting a snack (when they both were on the feeder the seed was blocked by the same mechanism that makes the feeder squirrel proof).
During the latest (maybe last) snow flurry of the season, some mourning doves visited the bird bath. They fluffed their feathers against the cold.
The one sitting with its tail in the water seemed be totally unaware. Maybe there are not nerves in tail feathers?
The cardinals are still about. I hear them singing more that I see them. It’s the time of year that the male stakes out his territory. In this picture you can see that the buds on the sycamore are beginning to enlarge.
I couldn’t resist collecting these pictures of a dove from a few days later. The red line on the beak almost give the bird a smile. The different positions on the eyelid almost gives the impression of coyness (upper left) and smugness (upper right). The middle one just looks to me like the bird is ready for anything.
Now for another dove mating. It happened in about the same place on our deck railing as the one in February that I posted about shortly afterwards (here). Perhaps the time has come to start on a second brood. The slide show below was taken last week. This time a pair of birds flew to the railing. On started grooming (1) then walked away along the railing toward the bird bath (2). Another arrived with fluffed feathers (3). The smaller one approach and the feather’s fluffed even more (4). A lot of grooming of the larger bird ensues (5-10). They ‘kiss’ (11-14). They mate (15). They cuddle (16). They separate and the female preens (17-20). The female walk past the male stepping on his tail (21). The female flies way and the male chases away the bird that had originally arrived with the female (and had watched the action from other side of the deck) before flying away himself.
There are so many ways that we learn new things. Since I started logging something new I learn every day – I am more conscious of how varied what I’m learning and the way I am learning it really is.
Observation is a way to learn new things. Birds were very active in February in our area and two ‘new to me’ observations were mourning doves making and geese climbing from open water up onto ice!
Experience. Several items on my learning log fit this category: 1) I started experimenting with not wearing my glasses and discovered that I rarely need them when I am working at my computer…and the neck/shoulder discomfort I had started to feel sometimes later in the day has completely disappeared. 2) Another learning experience this month was having a thyroid nodule biopsy; it was not bad but I really am not keen to have another one. 3) I learned to use a laminator (to make a tree identification guide more durable). It isn’t a big thing but was ‘new to me.’
Books. I started looked at the Hathi Trust collection of online books; there are so many items there is it overwhelming; botanical prints are my first ‘theme’ for browsing. On the physical book side, I read several books about Wild Life Refuges and have already started applying what I read to vacation planning; we’re going to visit the 4 National Wildlife Refuges on the Eastern Shore (of Maryland and Virginia) in March: Eastern Neck, Blackwater, Prime Hook and Chincoteague. In the Internet Archive arena my theme for browsing in February was ‘wallpaper’ with particular focus on wallpaper catalogs from the year I was born!
Udemy’s Photography Masterclass: Your Complete Guide to Photography). I finished as much of the class as I was interested in. I learned a few things but realized that I am spoiled by the quality of the courses I’ve taken on Coursera and Creative Live. The 4 Udemy courses I have taken are just not up to the same standard in terms of production or content.
Coursera’s Soul Beliefs (Unit 1). I finished the 11 ‘weeks’ of lectures for this portion of the course and will start on the Unit 2 lectures in March.
Coming up in March – there are already some other types of learning coming up: travel and ‘live’ classes.
Here are my top 10 celebrations for February – there was a lot to celebrate in this winter month:
There were a lot of birds to celebrate through my office window –
The crow with a glint in its eye,
The pileated woodpeckers in the forest,
And the mourning doves that were around frequently including a pair that mated on our deck railing!
I also celebrated good results from medical tests on myself and a family member (that counts as 2 celebrations!). Even when the majority of tests result in good (or benign) findings, there is always worry that builds and the relief translates into a little celebration when the results come back
Every time I wear my new fern imprint jewelry (ring, bracelet an earrings) I celebrate – savoring the living ferns I remember and the event where I made the purchase.
I also celebrated Christmas again every week that I work the cuddle socks one of my sisters gave me as a gift! They are indeed warmer than regular socks and comfy without shoes.
There were outdoor activities to celebrate too –
A walk around the neighborhood in the snow,
A sunny day walk at Mt. Pleasant farm (even though it was cold, breezy, and muddy), and
The birds on the ice at Centennial Park.
Celebrating the whole of life....
Thanks for visiting my blog! Enjoy the photo picks from 2023:
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