Do you know what time ducks wake up? At the quack of dawn! Do you know how to get down off a horse? You don’t get down off a horse, you get down off a duck! A man and a duck are walking outside together. Suddenly the man sees a low flying plane and yells, […]
Tag: Julie Feinstein
More Bird Droppings
I wrote about bird droppings a few years ago. Since then, and entirely be accident, I photographed two more birds to add to that group of photos.
Quiet Mockingbirds
When I picture a mockingbird, it often looks like the one below – sitting on a conspicuous perch with beak open and singing loudly. But mockingbirds don’t sing in winter. I have written about winter mockingbirds before – but every year I notice their seasonal personality change. For the last few weeks, as the weather […]
Remembering Summer Bees
I know everyone is busy with holiday preparation, so just a few words about some bees I saw in June. I’ve seen this bee before — it’s Bombusfervidus, commonly called the golden northern bumble bee. But it has always managed to fly away before I could take a photograph. I snuck up on this one […]
Bird News!
There is big news in the bird world this week. For the last four years, hundreds of scientists in an international group called the Avian Phylogenomics Consortium have been sequencing bird genomes. They sequenced the DNA of 45 extant birds and a few crocodilians, and combined that with three previously sequenced bird genomes and then […]
Spring Birds in Winter
Remember the polar vortex winter we had last year? This robin came to my window every cold morning of it with his feathers so puffed up he looked downright chubby. I fed him raisins for breakfast straight through until spring. He’s back! He (or so…
Pretty Pigeons
And a poem – Pigeons by Richard Kell They paddle with staccato feet In powder-pools of sunlight, Small blue busybodies Strutting like fat gentlemen With hands clasped Under their swallowtail coats; And, as they stump about, Their heads like tiny hammers Tap at imaginary nails In non-existent walls. Elusive ghosts of sunshine Slither down the […]
Rose Weevil
Rose weevils have long beaks with chewing mouthparts at the end. They poke them into rosebuds and munch away, making holes. When the buds unfold, the damaged layers unfurl. Rose weevils lay eggs in some of the holes they drill in buds. The eggs hatch into wormlike larvae that feed inside the bud and can […]