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Dear Fellow Birder,
A doe trots across the meadow with a tiny
spotted fawn running awkwardly behind. Baby
robins on the lawn beseech their parents to
bring food. Young adult purple martins have been
exploring our purple martin gourds.
Nature is in full swing, at flood tide. Ah,
summertime!
| House Wrens Do My Yard Work |
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My garden does better when wrens patrol it. I
knew this would be a good year for vegetables
when the wrens appeared in my garden. They
bring 1000 meals a day to their babies.
And what do these meals consist of?
Caterpillars off my chard and broccoli.
Aphids pried from apple buds. Grasshoppers
out of my cherished green beans. Moths.
Beetles. Snails.
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| Dear Diane... |
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Dear Diane: My daughter brought home a baby
bird. If
we put it back where she found it, will the
parents reject
it because we have touched it?
It's not an orphan -- don't adopt it. You
might wonder whether the parents will accept
it. They will. Putting
it back gives the bird its best chance at
survival.
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| Our Angle on Scopes |
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Spotting scopes for birders come in two
designs. A straight-through scope lets you
look straight toward the bird. Sounds like it
ought to be perfect, doesn't it?
But at Birdwatching Dot Com, we prefer an
angled scope, like the one pictured at
left. You look down at a 45
degree angle into the eyepiece, which tilts
up toward your head. There are five reasons
we find that the superior system.
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Goldfinch photo and wren photo ©Michael
and Diane Porter
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Allure of the Goldfinch |
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Why are male American Goldfinches are so
gorgeous? You'd think
it would be dangerous in a bird's world to
flaunt such brilliant yellow colors.
But ornithologists have discovered that it
pays off for a male goldfinch to be
beautiful. The payoff is sex appeal. The
brighter the male's golden feathers, the more
alluring he is to females... and the more
sons he'll leave in the next generation to
carry on his colorful heritage.
But the shiny black cap on his forehead plays
a very
different role in his life.
Read more... |
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