The Pigeons at the World's Largest Culver's, Cedar Waxwings, and a Sleepy Robin

Here is a very tall Mobil sign, an eye catcher for all the nearby highways with pigeons on the top.

Just down the hill there is an apple sign, for the Big Apple Restaurant, with pigeons on the top.

 And triangulating with the previous two, see a tall Culver's sign, connected to, yes folks, the largest Culver's in the world, also with pigeons on top of that sign as well.

Now I'm supposed to be inside the Culver's taking pictures during a meeting of an antique tractor club.  No I'm not shirking.  I took  the pictures but then....

 ....how many pictures can you take of this?  (Don't worry I took pix with the windows at my back so you could actually see the people but after awhile....on a supposed trip to the ladies room, I ducked out the front door because I've been wanting to knew for months what the birds on the signs were up to....it's mid afternoon??? Besides the birds had to be doing something ever so much more interesting  than above.

And they were.  On the Mobil sign a pair of pigeons were copulating.  Not that I think that would be appropriate for the humans in the meeting but you catch my drift.

In fact on another day, I had noted that the pigeons on one sign would fly by twos or threes to other signs.  Visiting?  What?

I wanted to know.

 A few pigeons have taken to their wings from the Mobil sign...

And are going over to visit the pigeons on the giant apple.

2:33PM Perhaps some of the pigeons on the right are puffed up and napping?  Come to think of it, how is that pigeon managing to perch on the the tip of that leaf?  Drat.   Time for me to head back to the meeting before I'm missed.

I slip back in.

2:47PM  Then 12 minutes later I look out the window and see what?  Cedar Waxwings eating... tiny crab apples maybe?

I head for the door again.

The Waxwings appear to be having a grand time.

Look at how many have a fruit in their mouths.  They are eating as fast as they possibly can.

Then some of them notice me.

And some don't.  Great view of the rear of the species in the top right corner.  Note the yellow tip of the tail.

The side view.

And all this is going on right next to the drive-thru...and no one notices.  I go back to check on the meeting. 

They are currently discussing  a display of construction equipment and earth moving equipment.  A segment of people who have a tendency to get drunk and push down trees for fun if they aren't watched every second.  

Don't get me started. 

I leave by another door.

There's a Robin resting in a small tree.  Likely some kind of ornamental.

 He gives me a look.

And as I am much further away than this appears, he rests his beak on a twig, closes his eyes and appears to catch a nap.

I slip back in to finish my job.

Happy Hawking!

Donegal Browne

A Dam Search in Deer Season

A pair of cranes and their colt of this year make a break for it after being startled by gunshots.

This is the Sugar River.  I'm told there is a dam within walking distance.  And just why would I want to nail down a dam?  Because when it gets very cold this winter and the rivers freeze, the water around the dam won't and...the Bald Eagles will gather.  

I want to be ready as last winter there were very few of those days with climate change underway.

Unfortunately I've done it again.  For whatever reason I somehow end up trotting around on wooded  public land the first weekend of deer season almost every year.   

The weekend when those who do such things are very excited and sometimes more accidents than usual happen.

Do I know what happened to the blaze orange knit cap that is supposed to be in the car for such events?  Of course not.

Plus as there are constant spatters of gunfire in the distance, the creature spotting is at a minimum.   The wildlife, not having figured out just yet that it is the season for deer, many of the other creatures figure out before long just who the guns are after and settle down somewhat.  

The deer will also get the message and head for mucky swamps, enormous briar patches, and other spots unpalatable to hunters and lay low, particularly on weekends.  

The beasties aren't stupid.

There are a few exceptions to the wariness today.  Slate-colored Juncos blithely flit from ground to branch and back again.  A bigger bird zooms by.

Its a Cedar Waxwing.  I hadn't realized how good their coloring is as camouflage in winter.
 
More distant gunfire and a Kingfisher, making a kind of  loud buzzy growling sound, zips with purpose into the distance following the river.   
 
The link below has examples of the buzzy growl, intermixed with the Kingfisher call that sounds more "bird like". 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4TuV5TXmEk

I was only able to get one shot of our Kingfisher friend.

See the speck heading over the treetops of the island?

 I cropped the photo down in order to see the "speck" and the photo turned out to be rather odd.  I suspect Kingfisher is in the midst of preparing for a dive but he looks more like a dabbler riding rough water.

A TOOL USE TANGENT 

One never knows where YouTube will lead, and as we've been having an animal tool use conversation for some years on and off- another chapter.  A bird who uses bread to catch fish.  I think we could consider bread a tool in this case.  (Beware the producer's tag at the tail of the piece.  Jarring.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNTw7GH325U&feature=related

Then I heard it.  The sound of rushing water.

Ahhh, come January there may be a dozen or more Bald Eagles perched in these trees hunting the open water for fish.  Something to look forward to during the winter days before Red-tail nesting begins again.

And as if in answer to the thought...

 A Red-tail appears and soars into the light.

Donegal Browne