Showing posts with label Birds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Birds. Show all posts

Jan 22, 2019

Should you feed birds in winter?






In a moment she was trudging back, dragging an enormous burlap sack.
"What are you doing?"
"Going to feed the birds." She was out of breath but still moving. "This time of year they need all the help they can get."
He shook his head. "Let me do it"
"I'm very strong."
"Yes, I know. Let me do it anyway."
He took the sack, braced, put his back into it and began to haul it across the snow. It gathered snow— and weight—with every step.
"I thought you weren't a nature lover."
"That doesn't mean I'd let them starve." And she'd promised Libby.
He hauled the bag another foot. "Couldn't you just dump it out?"
"If a thing's worth doing—"



Times Change 





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It seems like a no-brainer to help our feathered friends, but consider these potential risks


Watching birds at your feeder during the barren winter months is a great way to stay connected with nature and help creatures that might otherwise struggle to find their next meal.










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The mourning doves were cooing, bobbing heads as they pecked along 
the ground under the bird feeder. Too fat and lazy,
Duncan thought, to bother to fly up into it. Rather take leavings. 
A lot of people were the same.



High Noon





Jul 10, 2018

Birds are wicked smart, despite their small brains





Seconds later, a shrill wolf whistle sounded from inside, followed by a muffled scream. 
He was grinning by the time Bird squawked out his invitation: “Hey, sugar, buy you a drink? Here's looking at you, kid.” When Bird began to sing a chorus of “There Is Nothing like a Dame,” the children collapsed into fits of laughter.
A few minutes later, Megan carried out a tray of drinks. Bird's voice followed her. “'Give me a kiss, and to that kiss a score!'“
She arched a brow as she set the tray on the deck. “Bogart, show tunes and poetry. That's quite a bird.” 


Megan's Mate



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By pionetes - Self-photographed, CC BY-SA 3.0, 
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3454725





Crows and ravens are really smart. Parrots and cockatoos are very intelligent. Magpies, macaws, jays and parakeets ... all brilliant birds. But how is it that these avian animals are so clever when their brains are relatively small? After all, isn't it our big brains relative to our body size that makes us humans so amazingly smart? Turns out, not necessarily.