Feral kitty

There's a young kitty in the Shakespeare Garden, totally feral at this young age. I don't know if the park's department people are putting out some food for it. It's a good stalker, but it's a very young cat, totally wary of people, good at taking cover in the tall grass, but oh, how such a kitty makes my heart ache. If it had come to me I would have given it a home, but it disappeared very fast. There's no way to tell how far this kitty is roaming, possibly finding shelter in the bathrooms, possibly having a hidey-hole elsewhere. There's no point in calling Animal Patrol. They'd put out a trap and then put kitty to sleep. Thank goodness the weather is mild, but that won't last for long. I want to help Kitty, but Kitty doesn't want any part of me.

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The odd lot

I searched for warblers, saw bugs waiting to be eaten, but no warblers. It was still a fun morning. The jay was screaming. I went to see if there was a hawk nearby. No. The jay was screaming ownership of the watering hole. Bath time. He was screaming to the world, "MY SPACE!" Good technique. He had the space to himself. The robins gobble the berries in a nano-second, gulp. The trick is to anticipate it and then shoot twice. With luck it's possible to get a picture. While I was concentrating on the robins I saw movement and was able to grab two shots of Blackie-white-Tip bringing home a goody. Acorns. I don't care what I see as long as I see something.

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More from Thursday

I'm still smiling. The fun in birding is seeing a friend and recognizing that friend. I had thought this was my first view of a blackpoll, but on checking my data base, last October was the first time. I recognized the others easily- the common yellow throat who was having a fine time finding bugs up and under, the yellow-bellied sapsucker off in the distance, the redbelly woodpecker and the trusting house sparrow. One of these days I'll see the raccoon awake. And the sweet cardinal dining on berries, who wasn't going to stop eating just because I was watching. The cardinal works the berry around in its mouth and ends up looking like a kid who's been in the jam jar. The robins and catbirds swallow the berries down whole. I love the patience of mush-face.

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That's how it goes

Yesterday was such an active birding day that one would expect today to be more of the same. Not so. Today all was quiet in the park. The birds left town. I didn't even see one grackle. Amazing. These are from yesterday.... I'm still editing. I stood at the Oven for a long time, then moved to the Wagner Cove...... towhee, phoebe, kinglet and a first for me, the Nashville warbler at the Cove. I did see robins today eating berries. Today's take will get edited tomorrow.

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Bugs, seeds, acorns

These are leftovers from the 25th. I was in the park today. It will take hours to edit the take. There were no hummers, but lots of birds stoking up on food-for-flight. This take includes the acorn eating grackle, the grosbeak who likes the seeds from the jewelweed, phoebes who catch flies, the bug-eating common yellow-throat warbler, not very good images of the marsh wren, seen from above for one second, easily identifiable by the back feather pattern, and the black-and-white warbler who came off the tree and walked near my feet. Good bugs in the grass.

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