Birdcam Blue Jay

I forget if I've posted this one previously (am am too lazy to search), but even if I did, it's a cool shot to see a second time:

Image credit Gary, taken on my Audubon Birdcam, 2015

Vatican Seagull

Today here in south-central PA is a rather unpleasant day: certainly, it is pretty enough with its bright blue skies and a beautiful mantle of snow covering everything.  It's unpleasant in that the wind is howling at 20+ MPH and the actual air temp is  in the teens, yielding a wind chill of, I don't know, perhaps zero?

At any rate, my mind goes back a couple months to a much milder day in Rome, where we saw this seagull perched on one of the ramparts of the Vatican:

Image credit Gary

Think warm thoughts!

Confused Bluebird

Here at Mister Tristan (the blog, not the 4 year old human being) it's been dark for a couple of days as the bride and I have been enjoying some family time.

Below is a shot the bride took this morning, as one of a trio of bluebirds scoped out the frozen birdbath, with what I can only assume was bird-like dismay.  These guys should have bugged out to the south weeks ago...why they still are here is anyone's guess.

 

 

Use of "Bird" to Denote a Flying War Machine

Tomahawk cruise missile image credit here.

I'm hating on this expression, and as a civilian employee of the Defense Department, believe me, I hear this term used a LOT. 

Examples: We launched a lot of birds (Tomahawk cruise missiles) at Libya.  Or, The birds landed at bin Laden's compound to insert the Navy Seals.

Mostly "bird" is used by present and former flyboys, flyboy-wannabees, missile shooters, and missile providers via the supply chain.  Additional subsets include aficionados of both fixed wing and rotary wing craft (which I mention only because I wonder why they don't just say airplanes and helicopters, respectively), and NASA types.  There are undoubtedly more user categories, I'm certain.

Wait, I know why people say this--it's the sexy lure of MIL-Speak.  Tossing around insider military terms identifies you as, well, an insider.  Well, my entire career has been spent in the Department of Defense--30+ years--and not once did I ever utter the word "bird."  Nor will I.  I just have standards, I guess, about the English language (see here for a recent example).

But back to "birds."  That term is particularly annoying to me, because I love real birds and it seems a slight to them to prostitute the term.  A flying war machine can never be as wondrous and magical as a living, breathing bird.

House wren image credit here.

 

Pappy's License Plate

I built this wren house from old chestnut boards from my grandfather-in-law's farm, and used his 1958 Pennsylvania license plate as the roof. (photo by Gary)


The house wrens (Troglodytes aedon) should be arriving any day now from their winter stay. They are a critter of edges, so I will encounter them along my typical rural road runs, along the C+O Canal, but not usually along the Appalachian Trail. They are not a deep woods critter.

One of the reAsons I love this tiny dynamo of feathers is that the males and the females are indistinguishable from one another, and share nest duties equally.  And can they ever sing—a sweet, melodic burst of sound that seems too large to come from this tiny little bird. My Audubon Society field guide calls it “…a gurgling, bubbling, exuberant song….”

The bride and I eagerly await this time of year, to see who will be the first to say, "The wrens are back."  Then we know that the earth, and us upon it, have sucessfully turned another year.

Photo credit here