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Bloggerlife.blog

Tag: nature

  • 03/06/2025

    lynnmurphymark

    Today’s blog

    Lynn Murphy Mark

    The breakfast buffet

    There are definitely some gifts that keep on giving. Some gifts benefit others in new ways. Some gifts are thoughtfully picked out with the main purpose of bringing joy. Jan and I were the beneficiaries of such a gift last Christmas. Our New Jersey kids and grandkids sent us a “Bird Buddy”, the subject of this blog.

    I have been a fair weather bird nutritionist for several years. I listen to friends who are bird lovers about the best food for backyard wild birds. My biggest question always is, “are there seeds out there that the squirrels won’t like?”. My experience of putting seed out has been watching squirrels figure out how to raid the kitchen and turn it into the neighborhood squirrel feeder – birds be damned. A friend recommended a type of seed that squirrels allegedly will leave alone. Safflower seeds is the answer. Well, in Creve Coeur, Missouri, they have acquired a taste for them. Squirrels 1, Lynn 0.

    I bought a “rodent proof” feeder and watched the neighborhood rascal learn how to shimmy up the pole and get to the food. He would also jump on the top of the feeder, stretch his rubber body until he could eat upside down. I finally gave up and just started spreading seed on the ground. Squirrels 2, Lynn 0.

    So when the package arrived before Christmas Jan and I could not imagine what was in the big square box. We decided to wait until Christmas but then Jackie gave us permission to open the gift a few days early. We were completely surprised by the contents. I watched YouTube videos about how to assemble a little house-shaped electronic gizmo bird feeder. At one point I wished my son-in-law, Momoh, was around because he would have snapped it together in no time. Finally, I followed the recommended steps instead of relying on Who-needs-instructions-I-can-do-it-myself ignorance. 

    It was a month after Christmas before the weather permitted me to spend time outside assembling a hook to hold the feeder, and finally hang it. The nifty little camera was all juiced up and ready to take pictures of the feathered visitors who came to feast on a whole new kind of mixed seeds. I placed the feeder where we could watch it from the living room and I can see it from my desk. 

    The guidebook said it might take a couple of days before birds would start visiting. Not in Creve Coeur. It was only up for a couple of  hours before our feathered neighborhood residents discovered a new restaurant in birdtown. I kept watch for the squirrel but he apparently has found another venue. I haven’t seen him come close. Instead, every bird in town is spreading the news.

    So far our most common visitors are the house sparrows. A cardinal couple comes faithfully every day as do the several pairs of mourning doves. We’ve had Juncos and Chickadees, house finches, and one robin. In the morning after the sun comes up I love watching the crowd take turns helping themselves to a hearty meal. There is occasional bad bird behavior as the sparrows do a little shoving to get to the perch. The doves, being the biggest birds, simply squat in the middle of the seed platform so there’s no room for anyone else. Then the little guys are confined to pecking seeds off the ground.

    The photographic restaurant was an immediate success. So much so that I went through a 10 pound bag of seed in no time. Finally I decided to become more like my favorite restaurant. First Watch opens early in the morning and serves food until early afternoon. Every morning I fill a big scooper and carefully pour it into the feeder. The patrons are already lined up on tree branches waiting for a table to become available. Throughout the day, pictures of birds come to my phone. I really enjoy checking out who is visiting.

    These days there it’s easy to get discouraged by the political environment. Every day the question is, what will they screw with today? And, unfortunately, there’s always an answer about yet another critical agency being gutted by fools who often have to reverse the damage they’ve done. So, my Bird Buddy helps me remember that Mother Nature will outlast the buffoons. I watch the tiny creatures and marvel that they evolved from the dinosaurs millions of years ago. Come to the table, little feathered buddies!

  • 02/22/2025

    lynnmurphymark

    Today’s blog

    Lynn Murphy Mark

    Things that make me say “WOW!”

    One thing that is so precious about young children is how they often react to new things. Babies will go into peals of laughter at the silliest prompting. Little kids’ eyes will widen and their expression says it all – they’ve seen something new and very cool. I have a picture of my grandson’s face when he was shown his first chocolate bunny. No words needed, he just appeared filled with joy. My daughter was holding him and even her face looked pleasantly surprised. (It’s not just confined to people, however. I can show Mollie Dog one of her treats and she will turn herself inside out with happiness. Somehow she manages to smile.)

    I know that Facebook has it controversial swirls going on. But I go there every morning to see how my friends are doing and what they are posting. Over the years I have signed up to follow certain pages. I think my all-time favorite is David Attenborough’s post. Invariably he sponsors pictures of this amazing earth and her creatures and features. Often, coming across a picture of his, I give a little gasp, smile broadly, and say, Wow! 

    Sir David Attenborough will be 99 years old this May. I think he is a true renaissance man, given all his talents. He is a writer, biologist, natural history expert, broadcaster, film maker, and a graduate of the London School of Economics. You have to be pretty damn smart to excel in all these categories. He has won numerous awards. He is an environmental protection champion, particularly emphasizing the importance of biodiversity on the quality of life on our planet. I can only imagine how many places on this earth he has visited, photographed, and created special broadcasts about the wonders he’s witnessed. 

    I recently watched one of his films about hummingbirds, “Hummingbirds: Jeweled Messengers”. He narrated a beautiful and fast-moving epic. To capture these tiny creatures in flight they had to use slow motion photography. These little birds have the highest metabolic rate, fastest heart beat and most rapid wing beat in the whole bird world. They evolved to feed from flowers, thus pollinating their little kitchens to create more of them. As I watched I felt such deep respect for the elegant design of our planet. Don’t know how many times a “Wow!” erupted, but there were quite a lot of them. 

    There is a magazine called “Mindful”. What follows is from an article entitled “The Science of Wonder”: “Awe is the emotion that arises when we encounter vast mysteries that transcend out understanding of the world. My research from 26 cultures shows that people find awe in the ‘eight wonders of life’, which are: the moral beauty of others, collective movement, nature, visual design, music, spirituality, big ideas, and encountering the beginning and end of life.” (Mindful, Author Dacher Keltner, February 16, 2023).

    So, here I am at age 75, still able to react like a surprised child impressed by something brand new. I am grateful to carry a wellspring of amazement and delight. Even if I start the day worried about our Democracy and feeling a bit downtrodden, a photograph of some exotic animal or fascinating geography will remind me that this planet is a cauldron of miracles. 

    Outside of my window the birds of our neighborhood are lined up on the fence rail, waiting for breakfast to be served. We are delighting in our photographic feeder. Yesterday there was a picture of a little bird’s butt, mooning the camera. There’s one in every crowd.