Uncooperative Cape Cod Weather, etc.
Man the weather has been stormy... (Read that, "Fantastic for clamming!") Unfortunately, it hasn't been fantastic for outdoor cams. If you've been trying to tune in to the eBirdseed.com bird cam, you haven't seen much beside what it looks like to be high and dry inside a blurry plastic bag looking out at a wet world. Now where's the fun in that? Anywho, Mrs. CCA came up with the brilliant work around of an olive jar... Should the clime turn ugly, we'll just plop said jar over the cam and keep on truckin'. Who woulda thunk?
Other stuff... For some reason, it looks like our birds have been way off the seed lately. Not sure what that is all about. Though the weather has been wet, it hasn't been too cold - maybe that's why. Then again, I watched what I thought (think?) was a hawk swoop by today, so perhaps hunger is the better part of valor.
Some time ago, one of our readers asked for more input on bird behavior... Well, here we go... While I'm no ornithologist (or any other "ist" for that matter), we have noticed one completely chilling tendency amongst the crows - that of watching us when it comes to food and eating. Earlier, I put out some old bread, and the corvids seemed appeased. Yet when we laid out our own Chinese food in the living room, the appeasement went south fast. The little dickens ignored the bread and instead glared at our MSG Special. (Oh great! Now we have crows with high blood pressure issues.) But this is no joke... It wasn't until it became apparent that we didn't have an extra pair of chopsticks that the crows went back to their bread. Remember... We're dealing with a 5th-grade mentality here... Oh goody...
See you by the feeders,
CapeCodAlan
Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding
Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: All About Birding
Comments
Sometimes I wonder whether its me or the birds who have a 5th-grade mentality. Sometime ago, I had two crows show up on my patio. When I walked out onto the patio, they just stayed put on their perch atop the trellis. "Go away and don't come back", I hollowed. I've not seen them or any other crows since, yet I still hear them each day at a distance.
Cheers,
Harry "Gipper" Morris
Posted by: Harry Morris | October 30, 2009 9:17 AM
Interesting - your lack of 'diners' at the feeders. My local feathered diners are experiencing the same lack of interest in food for the last 3 or 4 days. That's how long since I had to fill either one of my feeders. Don't know if it's weather or change of daylight or what.
Posted by: Josie | October 30, 2009 11:12 PM