The power of blog advertising....

No sooner had I finished my last post about the "restaurant" than the establishment was flooded by previously unseen, and unwanted guests.  Not only was a chipmunk stuffing his face as fast as he could (probably without leaving any sort of tip), but an extremely large family of chickens decided it was a good place to eat.  I kid you not.

On running a restaurant for birds...

So for a couple weeks now, I have been setting out birdseed on our picnic table in the back yard, hoping to entice some interesting birds to come into viewing range.  I am happy to say that it has worked, and I have recently been enjoying almost a constant flow of birds to watch.

This morning, as I was observing them, it occurred to me that my back yard now bears a striking resemblance to a restaurant.  We constantly have the large party of chickadees, who always eat a lot and are very friendly (possibly a bachelorette party?).  3 or 4 house finches show up every couple of days for a nice family dinner, always sitting close together to share a meal.  Next, we have the blue jay couple, who are friendly with each other, but do not enjoy the company of anyone else. They tend to come in for a romantic dinner of sunflower seeds most nights.  And last, we have our lone wolf: the dark-eyed junco.  He always comes by himself, and always seems almost eager to make friends with other birds or even myself, but flies away before a conversation can start.  He might be a little awkward, but is probably very successful in business.  Or just lives in his moms basement....hard to say.

Wild Turkey - Meleagris gallopavo

If one is a turkey and is extant on Black Friday, one might consider oneself quite lucky. If one could reason and was aware of the human calendar. As my father reminded me often throughout my childhood, we should not attribute human feelings and thoughts to other species. (In the real world, supposedly Bambi's mother would have let him starve and eaten all the good food herself if she hadn't been taken down by the merciful bullet of the hunter. So perhaps, animal rights activists should be grateful to the hunter who by taking down the lovely doe in her prime, he - sexist but probably accurate choice of pronoun gender - actually allowed Bambi to become the sexy buck he was to become. And that is quite a feat considering the incredibly wimpy name he had to grow up with. Try being a cool dude in any forest today with a name like Bambi.)

Thus, in honor of the turkeys that are still breathing and gobbling, I will take this space today to report everything I know about turkeys. Or, actually, everything I think I know. Ofttimes I have blithely discoursed on some topic only to have my dad, or my then husband, look at me quizzically and say something kind, yet cutting like, 'you know that's not right, don't you?' or 'where did you hear that?' OK, so my mind is not a steel trap. It is designed more along the 'have a heart' blueprint.

• The wild turkey is a native of North America.


• In the wild it is wily, stealthy, and highly camouflaged.


• The domesticated version is hideously stupid. Supposedly so stupid it can drown in the rain simply because it isn't smart enough to close its mouth when looking up.


• The young are called poults (or in my family, they are called next year's Thanksgiving dinner)


• Benjamin Franklin wanted them to be named the national bird. (I assume that plan went down the tubes when they did a taste test between the fish eating Bald Eagle and the largely vegetarian Wild Turkey).


• The U.S. President routinely pardons at least one turkey a year in a ludicrous ceremony before Thanksgiving. And then, quite probably, heads off to enjoy the slaughtered carcass of the freed bird's unlucky cousin. (Thus the true downside to being the black sheep in a turkey family)


• When one enters Wild Turkey into Google search, the alcohol version is the first hit.


• A roasted Wild Turkey on Thanksgiving is incredibly rich, juicy and succulent and once you've had that, the domestic variety pales in comparison.


• The original Thanksgiving feast was not centered around turkey, but instead probably boasted plenty of venison and oysters.


• Wild turkeys can fly (they roost in trees) but domesticate ones are often too heavy to take to the skies (makes it easier to get them from barnyard to table)

And now that my mind is empty of Turkey facts I'll go rustle up some leftovers.

First

Seeing as this is my first post on my first blog, I guess I'll start with a little background.  I grew up, and still live in upstate New York, raised by an amazing and versatile family.  Because of this, I have enjoyed a variety of wonderful experiences and therefore, now have a wide range of interests.  My new-found interest in birding was seeded long ago, by my grandparents, who were avid birdwatchers.  Not only would they identify every bird we happened to see, but I would bet that I was one of very few children who played "the birding game" every week (http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/12509/the-birding-game-with-roger-tory-peterson) (yes, its a real thing).
        So naturally, as I got older, I excelled in the ornithological sections of my science classes in both high school and college.  My interest was reawakened recently on a trip to our family beach house in Cape May Point, NJ.  I drove down with Pa (my grandfather) and we had a pretty entertaining 6-hour car ride.  On each of the three days we spent down there Pa, Aunt Sue (my co-blogger), and myself went out bird watching.  I was quickly impressed by their vast combined knowledge that I always knew was there, but had until now not fully appreciated.
        It also finally occurred to me that (as cliche as it sounds) birding is about much more than birds.  Not only did I have an amazing time with my family, but got to see my grandfather talking to people he knows from years of seeing them at the popular birding spots.  Birding is also a great hobby for anyone who loves to learn, be outdoors, and challenge themselves, and since I fall into all of those categories, I figured I might as well give it a shot.
 

Words

For I am a bear of very little brain and long words bother me.