Picures or It Didn't Happen and How I Love the Redheads

If you're not familiar with the phrase "pictures or it didn't happen" you're easily forgiven. It's an annoying little meme but I find myself, whenever I have my camera in hand and a "special" bird comes on the scene feeling I need to document it. I guess it's my way of mentally inviting people along on my hikes and letting them judge my ability to identify a rarely-seen bird. Well, yesterday my co-conspirator and I had an amazing chance to observe Yellow-billed Cuckoos (Coccyzus americanus)apparently feeding a fledged juvenile and I'm happy to say the photos are lousy. What is not lousy, however is the clear image burned into my memory of one of the adults flying overhead (more than once!) showing its pure white underside and striking rufous primaries. You'll have to settle for this bad image of Junior and Mom or Dad making the takeoff.



In part two of our weekend of memorable birds--man, it's great to get out of town once in a while--I have a woodpecker to share. The Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus)is declining in numbers over much of its range. About a million years ago, when I was a kid on the farm (yes, barefoot) these were commonly seen on the wooden telephone poles that lined our unpaved road (did I mention the bare feet?) and because of their unique coloration were one of the first birds I learned to recognize. Last year I glimpsed one flying over the highway as I was leaving the city and it was then I realized I couldn't remember seeing one in decades. Today CC and I stopped at a restored oak savanna and saw at least a couple of them flying around. We also heard a Bobwhite Quail calling but didn't see it. But here's the woodpecker, a picture to prove it happened.

It's a Moth!

OK, I actually knew it would be a moth back when I posted a photo of the pupa I found. I've been checking it daily and this morning there was a pretty little moth in the cage. I haven't been able to identify it yet but will see what I can do in that area. Be sure to notice the little crest of fuzz on the head in the second image.

They Didn't Even Say Goodbye

After weeks of watching the pair of House Wrens popping in and out of their cigar box home they have quite literally flown the coop. Or so I hope. Two days ago I noticed that the front had fallen off the house--it is just a modified cigar box, after all. When I replaced it I had an excuse to look inside and found three little Wrens looking, at least to me, like they were about ready to fledge. This evening, for the second day in a row, we were treated to the spectacle of the local American Robins mobbing what I believe was a Cooper's Hawk. They were raising a ruckus and chasing it off to another block to be another group of Robins' problem. That's when I noticed the absence of the Wrens' constant chattering and singing. At first we thought it might just be that they were laying low until the Hawk was definitely gone. But now, a couple hours later, it's still very quiet out there. I opened the front of the box and found only a nest and some feathers inside. I hope the little wrens are somewhere being cared for by their parents and that maybe Mom and Dad will be back to raise another brood. Honestly, an occupied birdhouse is better than television.

Watching the Wrens - An Easy Digiscoping Subject

For some time now we've had the necessary equipment for digiscoping. It's the practice of taking images with a point-and-shoot digital camera through a spotting scope. Many people have produced some very impressive images this way. I don't know how they do it.

In the field I've tried two approaches and both have proven frustrating and ineffecive. In Method A I start with the camera attached to the scope and try to locate the subject using the lcd screen on the back. Reflections off the screen make it difficult to tell what I'm looking at. The small size of the screen doesn't help much with making sure things are in focus. In Method B I start with the camera off the scope, get the subject in the field of view and in focus. I then quickly fasten the camera rig--which resembles the aparatus that imobilizes the accident victim's head in pretty much any television show--onto the scope. At this point the weight of the camera causes the tripod to move and/or the scope to tilt enough that the subect is no longer in view if it hasn't actually just flown off to find a better photographer.

Recently I set up the equipment to do an easy shot. On our deck, under the umbrella there wasn't as much glare on the lcd screen. The subject, the wren house in the garden, was stationary and about 50 feet away. I set the camera to shoot video clips and used an infrared remote to start and stop it. Here's one of the clips I got:

Pupa

I found this little treasure when I was moving some plants around in the garden today. It's now nestled in a pot of soil in one of my small conservatories. When it emerges I'll be able to see what it is. I love doing things like this. I once found one much larger than this which turned out to be a beautiful, big hawk moth.

Way Better Than Church

I wish I could spend every Sunday morning like I did yesterday. I visited Cherokee Marsh for the first time in quite a while and had an extremely relaxing and renewing walk. Maybe the world would be a better place if more people spent some time every week out in nature rather than cooped up in some building listening to a bunch of stories about how bad they are.

One of the first birds I saw was an Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea) nearly overhead.



Farther along, after seeing some Common Yellowthroats (Geothlypsis trichas) I spooked a frog who jumped out of sight right after I took its picture. I guess it was shy.



Passing through the oak trees on my way to the boardwalk I came upon an Eastern Wood Peewee (Contopus virens) singing its whiny call.



Down at the water I found most of the boardwalk has been destroyed so making that loop was out of the question. Red-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoenicius) were abundant and vocal.



Looping back through the woods to reach the other end of the boardwalk and the observation platform I ran into this little bigmouth, or I guess I should say bigbeak. He's a House Wren (Troglodytes aedon) just like the ones in my back yard.



Only a few yards off the observation platform a pair of Sandhill Cranes (Grus canadensis) flew in and stood around in the tall grass. They must have been pretty tired. This one yawned a lot and I watched it nod off several times.



In a nearby tree a Yellow Warbler (Dendroica petechia) was singing loudly. This is one of only a few warbler species that nest this far south. Most of them just pass through on their way to the northern forests for the summer so one has to get out at the right time to see them.



I have a hard time with sparrow identification, but I'm pretty sure this is a Swamp Sparrow (Melospiza georgiana.)



Heading back to the car I could hear several Red-eyed Vireos (Vireo olivaceous) singing their distinctive song. This one was generous enough to come down a little lower and pose for a picture.



To make the church-alternative complete I went to a good friend's home for breakfast. Waffles and orange juice--now that's my kind of Communion!

What Do You Do With a Half Gallon of Cream?

Last month at the Westside Community Market we ran into a friend of ours we hadn't seen in quite a while. She told us one of the dairies with a stall there was selling some close-date cream at rock bottom prices. We bought a half gallon and then set to work figuring out how to use it.



First, my co-conspirator used some to make a batch of a wonderfully rich vanilla ice cream that was swirled with dulce de leche. OK, that's three cups down and five to go.

For the next application I turned to one of my perennial favorites from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. There is a simple dish called Oeufs en Cocotte or Eggs Baked in Ramekins. First, you warm some cream in a buttered ramekin in some water on the stove top.



Next, break a couple eggs into the cream and spoon some more cream over the top and add a little pat of butter, as if it's not rich enough already.



Then put the whole thing in the oven until the eggs are just set. A little salt and pepper on top finish it off. It's so good! If you want to get fancy you can add herbs and various sauces but I like mine relatively plain.



Great! OK, now we've still got over four-and-a-half cups of cream left. Harkening back to my grade school days I recalled a time when the teacher showed us how to make butter. She put some cream in a jar and we passed it around the room, each of us taking turns shaking it as hard as we could. Eventually we ended up with a little blob of fresh butter. At the time I was too squeamish to taste it, though. Hard to believe, I know. Well, times have changed.

Not wanting to spend my whole weekend shaking a jar, I gained some help from technology. I allowed a cup of the cream to warm a bit. Placing it in the bowl of the stand mixer with the whip attachment and the splash guard in place I set to work. In only a short time I had whipped cream. Then the only job was to go to far! The butter quickly formed and started splashing the milky water that had been in the cream out of the bowl.



The next step required switching to the paddle beater and working the butter some more to remove more of the water.



After it looked like the machine had done all it could, it came time for some hand work. I added a small amount of very cold water to the bowl and kneaded the butter with a spatula to work out the milky water that had been in the cream.



I repeated this step a couple more times until the water stayed clear. Leaving too much liquid in the butter makes it go bad faster. Now I was left with a smooth blob of fresh butter.



Nothing left to do now but eat it! The flavor is very fresh and creamy, of course. In the end the last four-plus cups of milk were made into butter in three batches, only one of which was salted. The last, largest batch was made into little rolls wrapped in waxed paper and frozen. I'm thinking there may be some cupcakes with buttercream frosting in the future!