common_nature | Birds And Other Things

Have a cute bird. (Of the juvenile brown headed cowbird variety.)

Same juvenile, *very* puffed up. S/he and hir father (or, anyway, an adult male brown cowbird) were hanging out on the ground near a bunch of robins, up in several different trees, who were making the most godawful racket; the cowbirds were taking advantage of their internecene fighting to get the better food bits on the ground. This was at a school on election day that I went past because I was taking a walk after an appointment. Very few people were voting, but I was, after all, there at 4:30.

Juvenile Brown Headed Cowbird, A Study In Fluff

This was at Wheaton Farm in Easton, that I stopped at after a different appointment. S/he'd just flown across the bridge and was busily settling down for an afternoon of lurking. Er. Hunting.

Chipmunk, same day. S/he was annoyed by me later because I surprised him *again* and she had to freeze *again*, so he told me so volubly once she de-froze and skittered away.

Norwood sunset, over Willet Pond.

I forget where this was, but I like it.

This is an extremely bad picture, but the things it does to the light and color make me so happy I'm putting it somewhere I can look at it occasionally.

Found this guy on a walk around my neighborhood. He's is extremely old, in that thin bony way some cats get, and he had a food bowl next to him that was Empty, and he kept Looking at it, and then Looking back to the door, and then Looking at it again, and declined to be petted, because I was The Wrong Person, so I took a picture of him instead. Isn't he handsome?

And now, geese in the fall.

(This is in Seekonk. They're probably not migrating, because Seekonk's reservoir has 10 billion geese and it's a good wintering-over spot, but they tend to go find a night spot to sleep in in groups.)

Geese Doing Their Thing. In this case, flying.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

shirebound

What lovely shots! I don't think I've ever seen a cowbird before.

julian

The adults are a lot blacker.

Viz:

But I really enjoy them because they're perfectly willing to have you within reasonably close range, and while they're not *as* iridescent as grackles (who are ridiculously gorgeous for such annoying birds), they are a little, and the blackness is really deep and the brown-and-black makes for a shiny blend.