17 January, 2021 Wildlife in my tame life 

Yesterday – for the first time in my life (if I recall correctly) a flock of striking Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) stopped by to use the birdbath. These two stopped on the edge for a moment; there were around ten total in the flock:

A week ago today I saw this Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) at Pony Pasture:

I saw a pair of Barred owls (Strix varia) the week before last, but currently (at least for me) they’re only showing up one at a time. I took this picture at 9:30 this morning:

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Wildlife in my tame life

Seeing those owls so regularly got me started thinking about “wildlife in my tame life.” Canada geese are ostensibly wild, but please. They’re wild in the sense that gray squirrels are wild. You might think of geese and squirrels as “WINO” or “Wild In Name Only.” Barred owls are not like that. They are really, really wild. I hear them in my neighborhood at night sometimes – I heard one last night walking the dogs, and I’m not even kidding. But they do not even faintly give the impression they belong in the company of human beings. They strike an appealing balance between wild animal standoffishness and a confident cuteness that says “come back as often as you like – it never bothers me.” They don’t even mind the dogs. They watch the dogs, but it seems like they’re just trying to learn something. 

Another thing about Barred owls is, sometimes you know they’re there – and you still can’t see them. I try to photograph it to give some appreciation of just how invisible they are but I normally fail, for obvious reasons. Maybe I’ll do two identical side by side pictures and circle the owl in red. Their camouflage looks like it was designed for Pony Pasture. The pattern of their breast feathers is identical to cottonwood bark. 

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There have also been a lot of birds on my feeders. The local Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia sialis) remain in their less-bright winter colors, but they’re another bird I’ll never tire of seeing:

I saw that bluebird Monday (1/11) afternoon. I’d gone to Pony Pasture in the morning and photographed the owl shown above. It was later that day I took the bluebird picture at home. It was the same day, and also at Pony Pasture, when I was fortunate to see this Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus): 

It seems to me Buffleheads (Bucephala albeola) have been late arriving in our area this winter. It was only males at first. The flocks are just now getting big at Pony Pasture. Here’s another picture I took this morning. Two males and a female on the water plus one lovely female flying:

Mourning doves aren’t the only bird that scratches around below our feeders to fatten up on fallen seeds. This handsome male Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus) gets seed the same way:

I almost called this blog post “This time of year is for the BIRDS” because I’ve seen so many. It’ll get birdier and birdier for the next several months; I look forward to it every day. 

I’ve mentioned often the books we’re reading in the Wildlife Center of Virginia online book club. Our next meeting is on Groundhog Day (go figure) and I just finished our current fascinating book. It’s called Nature’s Best Hope – A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard by the enthusiastic and well informed Douglas W. Tallamy. Dr. Tallamy is encouraging us to make our yards more attractive to wildlife and restoring biodiversity. Have a look at his ideas on improving biodiversity at home on his website Homegrown National Park. 

I found a quote in the Nature’s Best Hope book that captures my continued attraction to the James River and Pony Pasture and Barred Owls, cedar waxwings, dogs, sycamore trees, dogwoods, butterflies, tadpoles, bluebirds, wind, clouds, all of it – “Those who dwell, as scientists or laymen, among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.” — Rachel Carson  

Have a great week! Come back next week! All best, 

Jay