Where to from Here?

It's been about six months since I started this blog -- it seems so much longer.  Spring (which never really got on its feet this year) was just "heating up" back then.  There were Flickers and Starlings on my suet feeder, the hummingbirds had braved the snows in my yard, and the rats were foraging under the fence.  Six months later the rats are still there, the Starlings are re-forming their winter flocks after the breeding season (there were two in my backyard this morning making such an incredible variety of sounds it seemed like a huge mixed flock), and the hummingbirds are coming back.  Most people have hummingbirds in the summer who leave in the fall.  Around here, it's been different.  The hummingbirds left for the summer (because there were so many other food sources, I guess) and now that the weather has begun to cool a little and most of the flowers are gone, they're coming back.  This past week I've seen almost constant hummingbird activity.  They're so vocal (a lot of hummingbird sounds are not actually vocal, they're made by wings and tail) I can hear them from inside the house.  There have been at least two here regularly, a young female and an older female.  I'm on the lookout for more.

Zeke's first day home.

When I started the blog I did it for a number of reasons -- the most important of which are spelled out on my "About" page.  It was pretty dark time in my life, I had gone through the deaths of my mother and my canine companion Roscoe, and through it all it was bird watching and observing wildlife that really got me through.  Since I started, some things have changed-- for instance, my "puppy" Zeke now weighs close to 120 pounds -- and some things haven't.  Bird watching is still very important to me.

Zeke today.

It's been a pretty good year for my writing in general.  Both this blog and its companion, Books and Beasts, have been pretty well received.  I had an article about Roscoe published by Whole Life Times.  I've done a couple of guest posts for 10000 Birds. (Consider the Chickadee and Crazy Flickers). I may soon be doing a regular post for SodoMojo, a blog which covers the Seattle Mariners.  And my Klout Score (if anyone can explain to me how that thing really works, I'd love to hear it) is hovering somewhere around 47, give or take.  Not bad, all things considered.  It's a far cry from making a living as a writer, but I'm having fun.

Meanwhile, I keep thinking about what I want to do with these blogs.  Between them, they take up a fair amount of my time now, and I want to keep them as fresh an interesting to the readers as I can.  Without losing what's good about them so far -- I have some ideas that I am hoping to try out in the months to come.

The first of these involves my puppy Zeke.  I will soon be doing a review for Books and Beasts of Mary R. Burch's book Citizen Canine, about training for the Canine Good Citizen test.  Following that review, Zeke and I are going to undertake a regular training regimen with the goal of his passing the test at next year's Paws Walk.  And my intention is to document that training here -- with regular updates, and even videos of his progress.  I'll tell you a lot more about it in the near future, but if you think this would be an interesting addition to this blog, I'd love to hear from you.  (And if you don't, I'll still be glad for the feedback.)

The second thing is fiction.  I've written a little here, and a lot more at Books and Beasts, about point of view in fiction, and how incorporating the consciousness of other species might effect that.  I've also been working on that problem more practically in my own fiction, and what I hope to do is share some of that work with my readers from time to time.  I'm thinking of having a semi-regular short fiction post in addition to the regular contents of the blog.  Again, I'd appreciate any thoughts readers have on this idea.

Meanwhile, I'll keep doing what I'm doing, keeping you informed on what's going on with the birds and wildlife in this tiny corner of the world.  I hope it makes interesting reading.

If you like Birdland West, you might also want to check out our sister blog Books and Beasts, which focuses on reviews of books about animals and related topics.

 Many of the original photographs featured on Birdland West are available for sale as art quality prints.  You can check out all of our offerings at http://AlexWashoe.imagekind.com.  If you see an image here that does not show up on our Imagekind site please contact me directly and I'll let you know about availability.)

Around the Yard and Around the Web

Crows are geeks.

And if you have any doubt, let me offer some evidence.  This crow is clearly an "early adopter".  I photographed him this weekend helping himself to cherries in the cherry tree. 

Even though the cherries are very ripe, most of the birds haven't quite gotten around to feasting on them yet.  (Although, Saturday night, coming home from a monthly poker game, my roommate and I surprised a raccoon in the tree.  He -- actual gender unknown -- was pretty small, so I'm guessing he was one of this year's crop.  I got to see his masked face for just a second before he vanished into the shadows. )  The crow however is on top of things, and getting first jump on the cherries.

 

 

It continues to be an exciting year for fledglings and juveniles.  At least one group of House Sparrow young'uns is coming of age around my yard.  I now have photos of them at several stages of development.  I suspect that there is more than one group though, because I took some photographs of slightly older fledglings a week or so before I caught shots of younger ones. (You can see those photos here and here.)  

Saturday morning there was a juvenile House Sparrow raising quite a ruckus in the front yard.  It went on for almost ten minutes with him flitting from bush to bush.  I never did figure out what he was so agitated about, and eventually he quieted down and went back to his normal routine.  But I did get some good shots while he was pontificating.

Timmy's Friend

Timmy!

I also managed to get some good shots of my resident Pigeon Timmy, along with his frequent companion.  Timmy is the larger pigeon with the lighter colored wings.  I have also noticed a new pigeon in the neighborhood -- a thin, mostly white pigeon that I haven't seen until recently.  I'll keep an eye on this new arrival and see if I can get some photos.

The great challenge of the season, for me, remains the House Finch fledglings.  The couple has been here almost all year, and I was pretty sure they were nesting nearby, but so far I have no definitive proof of juvenile finches.  I saw some birds recently on the rail that could have been the elusive youngsters, but I didn't get a good enough look, and couldn't get any photos.  Like Captain Ahab, though, I will continue to pursue them.

Updates, Follow-ups and interesting links

I was very happy to be included in the most recent Carnival of Evolution.  If you haven't seen it (or don't know what a blog carnival is -- I didn't until recently) it is basically a regular round up of  blog writing on a certain topic -- in this case evolution, which is broad enough to include many things.  My recent post Game Show Pigeons and Ball Playing Dogs was included and I've been gratified to see a nice up-tick in viewings as a result.  If you're interested in biology, evolution, science writing or any number of related topics I suggest you check it out.  It comes out monthly and is hosted on a different blog each time.  This edition was hosted on Lawrence E. Moran's blog Sandwalk -- which is, itself, well worth checking out.  (There's even a musical interlude called "Cambrian Explosion" that you really have to see.)

There are blog carnivals, by the way, on all kinds of topics.  If you're curious, you can check out Blog Carnival to get an idea of what's out there.

One of the people who found my posting from the carnival was Roslyn Dakin, a PhD student from Kingston, Ontario.  Turns out, she also has an interest in the Monty Hall problem.  Her take is somewhat different than mine and well worth checking out.  In fact, her whole blog is very rewarding.  You can check out her Monty Hall article here, and her most recent posts here.

And, finally, there's a great article in the Grand Forks Herald recently, by Herald editor/publisher Mike Jacobs.  "Target Species Enrich Birding Experience", about the joys and expenses of having a birding wish list.  (I have a wish list -- both local and more farfetched -- which I'll be sharing in the near future.)  

If you like Birdland West, you might also want to check out our sister blog Books and Beasts, which focuses on reviews of books about animals and related topics.

(Many of the original photographs featured on Birdland West are available for sale as art quality prints.  You can check out all of our offerings at http://AlexWashoe.imagekind.com.  If you see an image here that does not show up on our Imagekind site please contact me directly and I'll let you know about availability.)