Recent Highlights

[urbpan]

A lone female bufflehead has been hanging around in the Muddy River this week. This morning I saw a pair of buffleheads, so perhaps a lost mate was found again.

I've been watching The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill during my commute these past two days. I'm enjoying it, and I want to share it with Alexis, and I could definitely watch it again with no loss of enjoyment. I'll write a real review later.

I have taken pictures of the new fox at work--he's gorgeous. I want to run out to the local library and get on their wifi so I can email the pictures to my coworkers (and post them here, of course).

It's 50 degrees today, even out in the usually frozen microclimate of Lincoln. Weeks-old ice is finally giving way to slush and mud. Of course, it will turn back into ice soon enough, but it's nice to have a break.

Alexis and I are planning a romantic getaway for our anniversary(!) but while my coworker has offered to work a Saturday for me, that Saturday turns out to be her birthday. Negotiations are ongoing.

I discovered that my dear turkey, Tito, has a life span, most likely, of four to five years. She will be four this spring. We have been extra-gentle with her since we discovered this.

I just helped one of our teachers handle the red-tail(see icon), and she (the bird) clambered up my arm past the protection of the falconry glove to my bare arm. No blood drawn.

The 365 urban species project hasn't driven me insane yet, but wait until we get a week of subzero temps and I'm either digging through the snow to find weeds or posting on craigslist to find cockroach infested homes to photograph in (hey, that's not a bad idea...)

Comments

[mozzer131.livejournal.com]

Poor Tito! I once worked on a dairy goat farm that had a turkey named "Bunny." I *loved* Bunny -- she was super affectionate, followed me all over the place, and was just a doll. One night she got attacked by a fox, who ended up eating a great deal of her. Due to all the feathers, it wasn't discovered for a few hours (we couldn't figure out who was responsible for all the blood on the driveway, and eventually just thought a fox had gotten one of the chickens). Once it was discovered, though, my boss had all kinds of vets and all come out and due emergency surgery on her dear Bunny -- all to the tune of $5000. Ya gotta love rich people sometimes!

My thermometer says 62 right now. This is *not* right!

I saw a gorgeous male/female cardinal pair yesterday out my window and thought of your 365 project!

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

My thermometer says 62 right now. This is *not* right!

PSYCH!!!!!!!! YES!!!! YAYAYAYAYAY!

[mozzer131.livejournal.com]

We're gonna have to just agree to disagree on this one. I think it's depressing.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

No worries, you'll have your shitty weather back by Sunday according to weather.com.

[turil.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I mean it's nice to be able to wander around outside without 5 layers of clothes on, but then I think of the melting polar ice caps, and how the Gulf Stream is probably going to be screwed up, leaving New England in a sudden Ice Age...

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

If your computer at work can see the video, it should be able to see the photos too - no?

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I'm at the Lincoln Library right now! Wifi rules!!

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

I figured!

[rumorofrain.livejournal.com]

I am so jealous that you got to handle a red-tailed hawk! (Or any hawk, for that matter...) I would LOVE to do that. :)

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Volunteer at your local animal education facility! That's what I did. Now it's my job, such as it is.

[anais2.livejournal.com]

That film is on my gotta-see list! We had a large flock near Mission Dolores, too, and several others in the city.

It's almost 60 degrees here. I can see tiny columbines that have been fooled into breaking dormancy, poor deluded things. This is the kind of winter that plays catchup with a huge blizzard in March.

Flowers should know that.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

I said to myself on the walk home for lunch, "It feels like crocus weather!"

A couple more days of this and things would definitely be blooming.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

The Mission flock is shown briefly in the movie. The flock featured in this movie nested on Dolores (I seem to remember from the book).

[anais2.livejournal.com]

How strange it should be titled as it is, and deal with the Dolores flock, who nest near the mission rather than (or in addition to) the Telegraph Hill Flock, who nest near Coit Tower! (It's not like they're right next door)

Why wouldn't he have called it The Wild Birds of San Francisco in that case?

I had always thought that they were separate flocks, as there are feeders and friends at all of the locales who name the individuals, and recognize them.
Not so?

Am I confused, or confusing?

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

The man who is the subject of the movie (more so than the birds) discovered the flock of cherry-headed conures when he was living on Telegraph hill. I seem to recall from the companion book that he discovered their nests in Dolores Park--but I can't be positive.

Very briefly he says "there's another flock of wild parrots in the city: a flock of golden-winged parakeets (or some such) in the Mission," and they show a glimpse of a parrot with yellow wing margins, a flock in flight around Mission street, and that's it.

The birds that this guy feeds throughout the movie are all cherry-headed conures (and a couple lone birds of other species).

Re: Am I confused, or confusing?

[anais2.livejournal.com]

I had to go read the guy's web site to figure this out- The first aha! moment was when he said he "discovered" them in 1993.

My personal knowledge dates from the 70's through the 80's. There were many parrot-types in existence throughout the city, probably many more that survived, than in the 90's. They are of different varieties, that much is clear even to an uneducated eye such as mine.

I have taken many pictures on my own property, of flocks that swooped into my trees, and I shall probably encounter them during my current organization binge. Ihad some tall evergreens, and grew peaches, plums, cherries, kiwis, prickly pear, limes and lemons as well as fuschia trees, and roses and camellias in tree forms. They seemed to light in the fuschia trees more often, and I wondered if they ate the little pods that are left when flowers wither.
In the 80's, I spent a lot of time at my friends' in the Mission, and so was familiar with the Dolores flock.

So I am guessing that the confusion is that Bittner seems to have discovered the birds like Columbus discovered America; they were there and known, and flourishing in large numbers before he wrote the book about a select group of birds, and their recent history.

[wakarusa.livejournal.com]

geez. you lucked out on the redtail talons.