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Hi,

Well, at least the anarchy below provides shelter for the birds, squirrels, and stone wall panthers (aka chipmunks).

In general, the birds seem to be 'ho-hum' concerning the loss of the maple. I guess that's a good thing. I wish I could come to rest so easily with the vacancy. There's something almost tragic in the loss of a large tree...

Of course, come next summer, the house is going to get absolutely baked without the shade of the maple... Today, a friend mentioned that now would be a good time to install solar panels... I think he might just be right and will look into it. At first glance, I think we're talking $30K, but let's just see. There's a ton of homework to be done...

But back to the tree (above). As far as I can tell, it's going to cost apx. $500 to have that beast milled, which simply ain't gonna' happen. So the alternatives are to chop it up and burn it, or split it by hand and use it for lumber. Bluntly, the former is completely unacceptable, and the latter sounds mighty sweaty. So be it the latter. I'll keep you posted though this probably isn't going to be pretty.

Pensive by the feeders...

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 1:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hi,

Take a look at the image above... What to do with the remnants of tropical storm Irene? Essentially, we're facing a 'maple' quandary on five fronts:

• There is the stump itself... I guess we could cut it off at dirt level, and have the remains ground away. Ughhh...
• Note all them thar logs... 21st century 'wisdom' dictates that all those guys should have been ground to flakes days ago. Once again... Ughhh...
• There's always the option of chopping the lot up into firewood. In fact, some of the smaller stuff has been taken away for the hearth. (IMHO, better that than chipping it up into oblivion.)
• My first real choice though is that of at least milling the logs. Take a look at the beast below keeping in mind the vertical yardstick as a size reference...

  

  It doesn't take much imagination to see an heirloom blanket chest or table hiding in there.

• But what of the birds? Now we come full circle back to the stump... Mrs. CCA and I think we want to leave the stump, and turn it into perhaps a pedestal for a birdbath. Then again, it would make for a super-strong housing for a birdhouse pole. Maybe it could house a small water fall for the birds...And so it goes -- circle of life... My money is on the birds.

By the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 11:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, it only took a few hours...

True to form, the Tree Co. showed up early -- a day early actually, and did a fantastic job. (You can see the 'before' here.)

But now the fun begins. Somehow, I've got to get most of those logs out of the yard -- supposedly a friend is going to cut them up for firewood. Beyond that, in theory, I'll take a shot at milling the big guy (18" in diameter by 6' in length). I want to split the trunk into a series of slabs, air dry them, and eventually turn them into heirloom pieces of furniture for both the wife and I and for the previous owners who planted the maple 40 years ago. Oh goody. However, not being one to unduly dwell on the dark side of a project like this (though I do reserve the right to be realistic), I think I'm up to the task... But what to make? I'm thinking blanket chest and maybe a jewelry box or two.

Time will tell... I'll keep you posted.

CapeCodAlan

P.S. The crows are already back, but they do seem a bit confused with the disappearance of one of their 'main perches'.

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 5:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

UPDATE: It's happening now!!! The great folks at Tree Co Inc suggested getting it done sooner rather than later, so they're taking care fo business right now!

Hi,

Just a heads up...

This Friday 9/23, (8:00 - 8:30 AM EST) we're going to have the pros (Tree Co. Inc.) come in and take down the tree below.

Unfortunately, because of Hurricane Irene and disease, the tree has to go. But at least you can watch some of the action on our live streaming Webcam, and, I'll (or Mrs. CCA) will try to watch this blog and the eBirdseed Facebook wall for comments.

In the meantime, I've got to clear a path to the tree (move the boat), make a template for chainsaw cut length, and figure out if I really want to try to mill six feet of the trunk itself. (Let's see... 18" in dia. by 6' in length weighs how much?!?)

Bracing myself by the feeders...

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 1:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Hi,

After the last entry, (Night Terrors and Flying Things in the Dark), I thought I might make a bit of a departure away from birds for just a bit, and touch upon a bedrock design consideration -- the 'Golden Ratio'. (Truth be told, if you have any interest in bird photography, bird carving, bird paintings, etc, this is all still valuable, so you might want to read on anyway.)

So what is the Golden Ratio? Well, it's arguably the the most comfortable ratio of image objects (typically height v. width) for the human eye. That ratio is usually about 1.6:1. Just look at your average book... if you multiply the bottom width by about 1.6, you'll end up with the page height. (To really get wonky, you make the ratio of the short element compared to the long element equal that of the ratio of the long element to the totality of the design itself, which is what I did below.) So, anywho... I faced that dilemma in this Shaker clock design...

Yeah... If Algebra ain't your thing, the numbers above probably don't mean too much; but the bottom line is that the following is true: 'short is to long as long is to total.' The eye can feel the balance as it slides down from the clock face to the pendulum bob and lands squarely on the bottom as if it were a perfect funnel.

As it looks so far (and I fuss with the details of the door...)

This may sound esoteric and unrelated to birds, but it isn't. There's a reason why we're drawn to birds and carvings and all the rest -- the proportions are just right. Do this... open up your 'Sibley Guide to Birds' to any page. Look at the layout and balance... Say no more...

See you by those harmonic feeders...

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 1:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hi,

Well, this is a cute pic ain't it?

That's by Goya, and is entitled 'El Sueño de la Razón Produce Monstruos', or, 'The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters'. Searching Wikipedia for 'night terror' will take you to that image.

What prompts this post was the very-recent occurrence of not one, but two back-to-back 'night terrors'. (If my old psych major memory serves me right, the armchair definition of a night terror is that it's sort of a nightmare on steroids. It's rare but highly memorable, often accompanied by screaming, punching, and kicking. Also, the heart rate can go through the roof. A night terror is to a nightmare what a pneumonia is to a common cold.)

My first night terror occurred back when I was in my 20s... I was being chased by the famous, mounted headless horseman. I was so scared I awoke trying to scream, but could only grunt in a gasping sort of way.

Tonight, the first consisted of a disastrous explosion (a cross between a huge tree limb falling and a shotgun blast) followed immediately with me being in my pitch-black basement shop with my shoulder wedged against the door, and some large winged thing stomping on the stairs on the other side. To make matters worse, I'd left my pocket flashlight and knife on the workbench. I distinctly remember trying to decide whether to open the door and try to fight the creature in complete darkness, or to keep the door closed and simply try to hold the fort.

The second NT this PM consisted of a flying fairy that wanted to get in my face and not leave.

So why do we have these horrors, and why do they so often involve flying things? As for the former... who knows. 'Experts' say that the cause could be anything from excessive passivity to over aggressiveness to bad sleep habits. And the latter? There are some plausible explanations. Maybe we're born with a fear of flying things from an evolutionary standpoint... Perhaps flying is considered a super-human ability that can turn super-sinister... Then again, maybe the brain is just bored during sleep and decides to go on a bit of a tear with the psyche... Who knows? But I do know one thing -- the most terrifying movie I ever saw was 'Jeepers Creepers', and that winged thing was as bad as bad can get...

Yup... Horrific death from above in the darkness... That will do it...

Sleepless by the feeders and looking up,

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 12:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Hi,

Well, our old friend and commenter Harry "Gipper" Morris has absolutely outdone himself... Take a look at the photograph he took of the image left behind after a non-lethal bird hit on his glass sliding doors...

Unfortunately, this isn't the only photograph of this type -- Google on: 'bird strike window' and then look at the 'Images'. However, it still Is very impressive. Here's Harry's explanation of the event...

The photo is real and it's all mine. I took it. It's in the original format directly from camera to computer, and unaltered in any way. Looking more closely at the image this morning, I think the image came about from oils in the bird's feathers combining with a thin film of dust on the window (glass door) which left such a perfect image of the bird on impact. I produced a similar "whitish" image when I pressed my finger on the glass near the bird image. The brightness, or whitish color, came from the sun at low declanation (5:30pm) refracting through the oils on the glass, back to the eye or camera lense. This morning the image is still there but only in faint grey tones.

My guess is that Harry is right on about the oil coming off the feathers and leaving their mark. That alone speaks volumes about the force of the collision. Though estimates vary widely, window hits possibly account for 100 million to 900+ million dead birds per years. (And here's a great series of suggestions regarding this problem from the Humane Society.)

So many thanks go out to Mr. Morris for this remarkable image!

By those wondrous feeders...

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Hi,

So here's the challenge -- put to design use the big ol' wooden clamp pictured below. (Because of its size, the jaws are so thick that the tightening screws can't cant much, and the end result is a tool that can only be snugged a quarter of an inch at a time. Ouch... My guess is that this beast and his brethren was slowly crushed around the base of some fixed machine and left there.)

So... From a design standpoint, how do we make this work in the dining area beside the hutch and farm table? Well, visually, there is a gaping hole to both the left and right of the hutch. We were thinking of turning the clamp into one of a non-identical duet of "presences" (man how I hate that word) beside the hutch. This might just work as a set of shelves for bird carvings, etc. Here it is (not in place) with a smaller handscrew, a couple of boat models and a bird carving...

And going even more with the bird motif...

Finally, this gives you a better perspective of the clamp and birds without being hoisted into place. The offset will be a Shaker tall clock and perhaps a narrow ship print to the right of the hutch...

Of course, the old bugaboos of light and shadow, 'color weight', and shape ratio, never go away... But maybe... Just maybe... We're getting there...

By the feeders...

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 2:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I started this on 9/11/2011, but I'm not sure when you'll see it. (Back on September 12, 2009, I wrote, "No more words right now..." It's taken a while for me to compose my thoughts, but here's my $.02 on ten years ago...) I'll try to tell this tale in five short vignettes...

No... No I won't... I've struggled with this post for many hours, and I'm not sure if the reason that I stop here is that I'm just not ready to open up, or that I fear that you simply aren't ready to read what I write...

By the feeders...

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 9:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hi all, Mrs. CapeCodAlan here.

Well, last week I fled the vicissitudes of hurricane season on Cape Cod and ended up in a most unlikely place: Las Vegas. Yes, Sin City itself beckoned me and I answered the siren song. Sounds wicked, doesn't it? Actually, my sister invited me out for a visit, and I went.

Sis and brother-in-law live in a lovely neighborhood in north part of Las Vegas, and I was almost surprised at the amount of greenery, not just in their neighborhood, but everywhere! Being a long-time resident of moist, green New England, the amount, variety, and beauty of the plant life in what I assumed to be barren desert took me completely by surprise.



And closer to home, life was just as lush and varied. I was aware that, west of the Mississippi, the variety of hummingbird species increases dramatically: our single eastern species, the Ruby Throat, is beautiful and charming, but it's really nice to see some different little dudes. And believe me, these western little dudes are just as inquisitive, just as brave, just as feisty as the most daring Ruby Throat you've ever encountered!



Sister has several nectar feeders hanging in her back yard, and attracts several types; I tentatively identified Anna's, Calliope, and Black Chinned at her feeders. In fact, one brave Calliope had staked out a particular bush in the yard in close proximity to one of the feeders. He would hang around that bush all day, guarding his feeder and singing what I presume to be a territorial song. Interestingly enough, Sis and I were the only ones who could hear the song. Brother-in-law couldn't hear it at all.

And this fellow was brave! You could walk right by him, or even right up to him, and the most he'd do is re-locate himself to a twig a few inches further away. I had to admire his pluck. It certainly made for great photo opportunities!



He was a charming fellow, and I hope he will be around next time I visit. Perhaps he'll have a family by then.

All in all, it was a wonderful visit, but I'm very grateful to be back home on my beautiful, humid, salty Cape Cod. There truly is no place like home!

See you by feeders across the country,

Mrs. CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 10:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hi,

So far I've reviewed the following from Princeton University Press (PUP):

• "Birds of Hawaii, New Zealand, and the Central and West Pacific"
• "Hawks at a Distance"
• "Hawks from Every Angle"
• "The Crossley Guide, Eastern Birds"

And Mr. Unwin's book hasn't broken the trend -- great stuff. That's not to say that I don't have a couple of nits to pick concerning this work, because I do, but when all is said and done, this is a wonderful piece...

On to the picayune and I'll get back to the bigger picture in a second...

• When I received the book, the printing process had folded over the corners of a number of pages, and consequentially, they hadn't been cut properly. For me, this is a non-issue, but if I bought the book as a gift, I would have returned it for a pristine copy.
• I spotted a couple of errors in the atlas such as the number of times Shakespeare mentions the bird 'Chough'... If that sort of thing 'derails your train', then the decision to buy or not buy this book is the least of your worries.
• This tome is loaded with references (over 150), but lack of corroboration of sources makes this old engineer antsy. At least 40% of Mr. Unwin's citations are from a single (and very well-respected) source -- BirdLife International. Corroboration might have been better, though, in the real world, that may not even have been possible.

Alrighty then, small stuff out of the way, on to the heart of the matter. This is a remarkable work. 'The Atlas of the Birds' approaches the subject in eight parts (plus intro, acknowledgements, photo credits etc.):

• Introduction To Birds
• Where Birds Live
• Birds In Order
• How Birds Live
• Birds And People
• Birds Under Threat
• Protecting Birds
• Bird Table (including indices and sources)

What makes this book special is its layout -- its organization. Everything is in a two-page format, part by part... Let's say that you're interested in bird migration; all you need to do is use the index, check out 'How Birds Live', turn to pg. 80 ('Flyways') and there you go. Like clockwork, pp. 80 and 81 have nice graphical representations of the global bird routes along with descriptions, a pie chart, tasteful photos, etc.

So who should buy this book? Who will really read it? The answer is everyone. (Believe it or not, this is where I may truly tick off both the author and publisher...) Here's the deal... This book is ideal for the bird lover, the student who wants to learn how to write, and the coffee table. It's perfect for the auto repair shop, the doctor's office, and the dentist's office. You name the interested or idle moment and this book is perfect. But here's where I think it really shines -- in the bathroom. I don't say that in the least derogatory -- just the opposite. Whether we like to admit it or not, some of the most meaningful reading is done in the privacy of the 'loo'. Before you jump ugly on me, know that Mrs. CCA had the same first impression, and also some of my most treasured books are in the powder room. It is what it is...

Time to wrap this up... 'The Atlas of Birds' is a must. While a few of the numbers may be open to interpretation or confirmation, Mr. Unwin has nonetheless done himself proud.

By the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 1:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hi,

Not sure what the birds think of the rain, but I can guess...

If you watch crows long enough, you might notice that they seem to ruffle their feathers when they're unhappy. If they arrive, and if I fail to put out food (or if I put out non-meat food), they become stand-offish and huffy. Their agitation is demonstrated by the herky-jerky scapulas -- a sort of bug-eyed bird version of Rodney Dangerfield adjusting his tie and shirking his shoulders, "I don't get no respect... no respect at all." (I wonder if crows have a sense of humor... After all, the corvids are some of the smartest creatures on earth... But I digress. Back to the subject of rain...)

Me? I love the rain. Oh to be out on the clam flats now, or in a rowboat in the rain. There's a peace there, a solitude, an unresolvable escape from the daily hoary... And even if a person is housebound, there's always Carole King's 'Tapestry' or the Carpenters 'Love Songs'... Do birds feel serenity?

Quiet by the feeders..

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 2:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hi,

I couldn't help but think of the following Emily Dickinson piece when I took this shot...

That just kills me -- high on nature. This little fellow looks (and acts) like he's bombed. Then again, in this heat, the sugar water may have fermented a bit (either that or he's on a sugar high...) I wonder what the world would be like from the perspective of a blasted bee? Inquiring minds...

Let's see, what else?

Ah, there's the 'new' crow feeder... I had a spare piece of 1 X 12 pine, and a length of 1 X 1. I just tossed in some stainless screws and some weatherproof glue, and presto, a new platform is born. (Note the watchful crow...)

(BTW, note the two monster cable ties used to reinforce the top of the support post. Those are a 'must-own', and can be purchased at plumbing and electrical supply stores.)

Time to go...

See you by those patched feeders if the bees don't get me...

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 11:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hi,

As promised in the last post, here are some thoughts about bird equipment survival during a strong storm... (I was going to include info on 'people survival' but I've done that to death already... Google on 'eBiirdseed prepare' and brace yourself.)

The old fella above doesn't look so happy does he... Wonder why? Could it be that his always-reliable 'crow feeder' below got smoked?

Thoughts on future feeder and bird house designs... Given their demise (the bird house is off to the left out of the picture), both units held up exceptionally well until a honking big branch fell on them. Still, I'll make changes in the future designs...

• I'm going to start seriously exploring 'poly-wood', -- a man-made, virtually indestructible plastic. There are pluses and minuses to poly-wood:
  • It can be worked with ordinary tools
  • It's relatively impervious to the elements
  • Poly-wood can be secured with standard stainless fasteners
  On the downside...
  • It's expensive
  • There are no glues for synthetic wood
  • It's heavy
  • Birds' claws can't take hold of it, so it will have to be grooved or a perch will have to be mounted
• I've got to do a better job of making the birdhouse cleanable... The breaking away of the bottom exposed a number of old nests... Shame on me.
• Speaking of 'breaking away', look at the 4 X 4 post in the shot above. See how it split away at the top where the post was set in. I always worried about that kind of a failure. In the past, I thought of using a stainless pipe clamp to 'collar' the area. Guess what I'll do in the future?

That should do it for now... I still have to put the garage back together again after the storm, repair the crow tray, change the oil in the generator and store that away somewhere, blah, blah, blah...

See you by those ever busy feeders...

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 2:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)