There’s a dead cypress tree in our backyard — a diminished-looking thing that one might otherwise consider an eyesore if it were not for the fact that it attracts birds like a magnet. A couple of months ago, I spotted a northern flicker perched on one of the parched branches — pretty exciting, considering thisContinue reading “A cypress’ second life (plus a fun finch fact)”
Category Archives: birds
Mini mockingbirds
Perch Report – Spring Valley, Nev. It’s no biggie to see Northern mockingbirds since they’re so common in Southern Nevada, but over the past few days, I’ve had the pleasure of watching an adult feed its three fledglings in my yard. It has been tirelessly zipping around each day in the hopes of finding insectsContinue reading “Mini mockingbirds”
Starlings make an appearance
European starlings have been harvesting the trove of black olives that grow in batches on nearly every branch of the tree out back. Normally, the olives merely fall to the ground and rot, so it’s nice to see the birds using them for sustenance. They take them and fly to the ground, where they shakeContinue reading “Starlings make an appearance”
The goings on at the ponds
The great egrets shunned the other waterfowl. The egrets were staying in Vegas as part of their winter migrational route. Like an ivy league clique, they stuck up their bills while congregating in a lush, green riparian grove, which made their white plumage all the more stunning — like fresh-fallen snow. And they knew it.Continue reading “The goings on at the ponds”
An uptick in butterflies
The butterfly was not a butterfly but two fallen leaves. I had been seeing butterflies a lot lately, and so I thought this was yet another encounter. Recently my local Cooperative Extension made an announcement on Facebook that there was an uptick in the insects’ numbers in the Las Vegas area. Now I wish IContinue reading “An uptick in butterflies”
Notes on grackles
Grackles engrossed in nonstop quibbles like tweens in a schoolyard. Their predatory clamber across tree bark, clawing like cats on carpet. Grackles and the way that they crow and cackle! Torpedoing from bush to rock to tree to fountain, dumpster-diving, whizzing past your head like P-140 bombers. Fluttering low like bats in Victorian homes, perchedContinue reading “Notes on grackles”
A morning at the park
Passing the fragrant pines, they seem episodic today I am intoning for the clouds to stick around A flycatcher makes swooping casts from a branch like a fly fisherman’s line A male robin is at rest on a low bough while its mate babysits the nest above Man on camp chair w/ obedient mastiff, unleashedContinue reading “A morning at the park”
