eBirdseed.com Wild Bird Feeding Blog

Alrighty then... For some time I've been piling up pics for you, and of course not publishing them... Rather than responsibly and dutifully issuing them one at a time along with its own post, I decided to empty the SD and dump them in your lap... Ain't I a stinker??? (If you 'Google' on any of the subjects below along with 'ebirdseed and blog', you'll be able to find more info...)

First up... The 'Great Bird Hunt...' I'd been trying to photograph this flicker for far longer than I should have, and finally in a fit of frustration, abandoned the Canon for the monopod and a cheap Kodak... We're talking foul language and flying pixels, but I won!

I wasn't sure what the next bird was (told you I'm no ornithologist!) I recognized the female cardinal, but not the female red-wing... D'oh!

There! Now take a look at the feast below!!! Home brew, 'snausage', and crackers... Somewhere there's a cardiologist smiling...

Ah... The new bird house in action...

For you woodworkers, you might want to pay special attention to the shot below... If you need to round stock (for stuff like spars, masts, or walking sticks), use Dynamite Payson's technique (I don't know where he got it from) and make your own rubber covered drum that will chuck in a power drill... Then just turn a belt sander belt inside out and use your common sense... Sweet!

Have some Turk's Heads knots...

Lastly is the wife's trail kit... And yes that is a real pistol, and yes, she has a license to carry that concealed, and yes, she knows how to and will use it if there's no other way.

Phew! My memory card feels so much lighter!

By the feeders...

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 11:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

First, the bad news... Earlier, I talked about brewing beer, and in that discussion I mentioned cleanliness... I guess I should have paid closer attention to myself -- one of my batches went bad (rotten egg smell), and I had to pour 6 gallons right down the drain. In brewing, there are three stages of prep to worry about: cleaning (no visible gunk); sanitizing (reduce the number of wee beasties to a tolerable minimum); and sterilizing (as in ready for surgery). Somewhere between stages two and three I blew it, and the mix was destroyed... If I had to guess, I'd say that my failure to sterilize the extract can itself was my downfall... Sooo... I cleaned up everything (bleach and steam are wonderful things) and started another batch. Time will tell...

On to the seed front,.. Do you by chance remember my 2007 entry about buying in bulk and vacuum bagging as a way to save money and keeping feed for the long haul? Well, it just so happens that we ran out of the stuff today and have nothing for tomorrow... except for that bag from four plus years ago, (see pic above). After all this time, that is hermetically tight, utterly bug-free, and ready for action. That is why we buy in bulk and seal for later. (I do the same thing for my brewing supplies -- not only do I always have the required materials on hand, but it's much cheaper in the long run.) Just sayin'...

Prepped and cooking by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 6:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ain't they beauties? Those are 20 of 30 750ml bottles of home brew just waiting to head for dark storage.

Alrighty then all you adults... As promised, I'm taking a day off (sort of) from the birding theme and focusing on another aspect of cooking: beer. (Here are my posts on making chowder and bread.)

First up, a quick overview... Why home brew? There are a bunch of reasons: you like to cook; you want a higher quality beer than the stuff in the stores; saving money is always cool; it's nice to be able to tailor your own beer; etc.

So where do you start? That depends... If you want to get serious in a hurry, buy an equipment kit that includes a primary fermenter, secondary fermenter, bottling bucket, hoses, bottles, capper, caps, ingredients, hydrometer, thermometer, long spoon.. etc. Midwest sells a nice beginners package for about $200. I wanted to ease my way back into the hobby, so I settled for Coopers DIY setup for about $125. Coopers is a respected Australian brewery, and their DIY is simple and produces a decent beer. (Note on the bottles... I vastly prefer reusable plastic P.E.T. bottles -- no capping -- just screw on.)

General/subjective observations about the actual brewing process:

• After you decide what rig you're going with, order it and then hit the home brewing forums and start at least lurking -- knowledge is a good thing.
• When your gear arrives, open it and start reading... Don't even think about starting that night..
• Cleanliness is absolutely critical.
• Watch the temp of your wort... It matters.
• Be patient. If you rush your brew or its aging. Bad things happen to those who can't wait.
• Children and pets have no place around an active brewer. There's too much wet glass and hot fluids for something to get under foot.
• Keep a journal. (Years ago I created the finest red ale known to humankind only to lose the slip of paper that held its recipe. Sob!)

On a different note, if you're a regular reader of this blog, you may have noticed a number of reviews of bird books from Princeton University Press. And that's fine because, for the most part, the books focus on the birds of the U.S. But now I can start reviews for birds beyond the States... the Indian Subcontinent for example. Would you like me to review those sorts of books? Let me know via a comment or email me at: capecodalan@ebirdseed.com.

See you by those feeders...

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This here is the world's finest black pepper bread machine recipe... (This formula was more or less from West Bend for their 3/4 lb 'Just for Dinner' product.)

• 1/2 cup of very warm water
• 1 tablespoon of margarine
• 1&1/3 cups of bread machine flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon dry milk... (I've used a gentle splash of light cream with success.)
• 1 teaspoon of of dried minced onion... (I used onion powder and lived to talk about it.)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt... (Sea salt works.)
• 1/4 teaspoon of coarsely ground black pepper... (I'd go a smidgen heavy...)
• A hint of garlic powder
• 2&1/4 teaspoons (1/4 oz. package) of fresh bread machine yeast

The work in progress...

And here's the result...

This is exceptional eating... If you want to go goofy, serve this up in tandem with fresh littleneck clams steamed in white wine, a dab of garlic, and an accompanying dollop of real butter... Streets of glory...

By the feeders...

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 11:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Taking a quick break from the birds...

Well, here it is -- the world's finest spaghetti sauce...

Don't ask me how I came up with this one, because it was all pure serendipity -- a perfect alignment of Jupiter and The Age of Aquarius. (I prefer thinking of this as a fantastical piece of dumb luck.) Here's what you need to make this recipe happen:

• A clean kitchen complete with a big ol' porcelain pot
• One 24oz jar of Bertolli Italian Sausage Garlic & Romano Sauce (made with 100% Bertolli Olive Oil)
• 1.5 pounds of 85% lean ground beef (the stuff for hamburgers)
• One 8oz can of Hunt's Tomatoes Sauce
• Eight or so scallions
• A two-hand scoop of portobello mushrooms

• Brown the ground beef in the pot at a low to moderate heat
• While the meat is browning, thoroughly clean and then slice the scallions and 'shrooms... Nothing fancy or fine in the cutting -- just hack and slash
• When the ground beef is completely browned, drain off roughly 95% of the grease leaving only a dribble...
• Dump all the other stuff into the pot with the meat and let simmer for 45 minutes or so... Stir occasionally...
• Finally, avoid the temptation to season...

I have no idea why this concoction works... But if you make it precisely as described above, IMHO, this is as close to perfection as you're going to get. I think it can even stand completely on its own without pasta. Just a wedge of Italian bread, some spread, a cold beer, and then brace yourself for a long nap. There are worse things...

Stop by the feeders and let me know what you think,

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 2:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

About the turkey photo below... As I've mentioned before, sometimes it really is fun just to wander through old pictures and wonder...

I wonder how many of the adult turkeys we have now are related to these from two and a half years ago? Do I have any old photographs of these as poults? When will we be seeing the new offspring? Wouldn't it be cool if we could have a family tree of the birds who visit our backyards over the years? The questions go on and on...

Now, about that simple recipe... It's a crock pot jobber, and really couldn't be simpler (or much better!)

• Six to eight sweet Italian sausage links
• One medium-sized white onion
• One 24 oz jar of your favorite non-meat spaghetti sauce
• One can of mushrooms (your choice on size)

1. Clean kitchen and sink... Thoroughly wash hands
2. Slice and lightly saute onion
3. Place sausage in pot
4. Dump spaghetti sauce in crock pot
5. Drain 'shrooms and toss into the crock meister
6. Add onions
7. Mix
8. Heat on low for two to three hours or until the internal temp of the snausage links is 180F mixing now and then

See you by those tasty feeders,

CapeCodAlan

P.S. To really make the meal pop, serve with a soft bulkie roll on the side...

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 1:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sorry 'bout that... You were supposed to see the title recipe stuffed into that Tupperware tub, but she's "gone baby gone".

Gotta share this one with you... (The originator was "Pioneer Woman", creator of the world's finest pumpkin cream pie...) Granted, we modified the original beef recipe by adding mushrooms and broccoli, but you'll get the idea...

Ingredients:

• 1&1/2 pound flank steak, trimmed of fat and sliced very thin
• 1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce (trust me, try the low-sodium stuff)
• 3 tablespoons sherry or cooking sherry
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 8 ounces, weight fresh snow peas, ends trimmed
• 5 whole scallions, cut into half-inch pieces on the diagonal
• salt as needed (use sparingly)
• 3 tablespoons peanut or olive oil
• crushed red pepper, for sprinkling
• jasmine or long grain rice, cooked according to package
• and...

Notes to self:

• Use less soy sauce, make up liquid volume with chicken stock?
• Back off ginger just a bit
• Try with mushrooms, or broccoli, chicken or shrimp?

Preparation Instructions:

1. Mix together soy sauce, sherry, brown sugar, cornstarch, and ginger. Add sliced meat to bowl and toss... Refrig overnight covered.
2. Heat oil in a heavy skillet. Add snow peas and stir for 45 seconds. (Note that frozen takes a little longer... common sense...) Remove to a separate plate and set aside.
3. Heat pan again, and add half the meat mixture, leaving most of the marinade still in the bowl. Add half the scallions. Spread out meat as you add it to the pan, but don't stir for a good minute depending on heat. (You want the meat to get as brown as possible quickly without burning anything.) Turn meat to the other side and cook for another 30 seconds. Make sure beef is cooked! Remove to a clean plate.
4. Repeat with other half of meat. After turning that, add the first plateful of beef, the rest of the marinade, the snow peas, etc. (Hint... 'Shrooms are a good thing!) Mix over high heat for 30 seconds, then turn stove to "warm". Check seasonings and add salt only if it needs it. Mixture will thicken as it sits.
5. Serve immediately over rice (or not). Sprinkle crushed red pepper over the top to give it some spice.

A little bit of prep work followed by a good overnight marinade followed by 15 minutes of kitchen rattling, and you're nudging the Streets of Glory...

See you by the feeders... Bring a bib...

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 9:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"[This] is a pumpkin pie I can really get behind. It's adapted from a recipe found in my mom's infamous recipe binder, and really does provide the best of both worlds: the scrumptious, seasonal flavor of pumpkin and the decadence of cream. "

P.S. 'Tis the season to win a contest...

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 2:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

First off... Thoughts go out to the trapped Chilean miners and their families... So far three have been rescued... Let's keep our fingers crossed.

As for the pumpkin ale bread, that was an absolute smash. I mean it was "off-the-scales" good. About the only change we'd make is to use the smaller bread tins and watch the bake time accordingly. (Then again, there are umpteen pumpkin ales out there...)

Back to the birds... Check out the two pictures below...

What I'm about to say may sound crazy, but I think that those two birds are each throwing a tantrum. I may have mentioned this before, but if for no other reason than the repeatability of the behavior, this note bears another mention... When crows don't get what they want, they raise their shoulders and ruffle their feathers. Go ahead... laugh. Accuse me of wearing an aluminum foil hat... But I'm telling you that crows prefer meats, and are none too happy with stuff like old taco shells. Oh, they'll eventually eat what they get, but it's pretty obvious that they ain't delirious. (Do you remember Randy, the little kid in the movie, "A Christmas Story" who fussed over eating his meatloaf and mashed potatoes? Well, there you go avian style. And no, I am not going to beseech the corvids into eating the undesirables by cooing, "Who's daddy's little piggy?")

You know, there are times when I stop writing an entry and re-read what I've composed. Ummm... Now where's my medication?

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

P.S. Wanna know how we discovered the secret of the frustrated crow? Our cat Toby showed us - when he's torqued, he ripples his skin. I'm tellin' ya'.

P.P.S. The word search contest still calls!

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 1:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We were trying to come up with something sweet but not too sweet, with fall flavors and aromas, and we definitely succeeded!

We found the recipe online (thank you, Sam Adams Brewing Company!), and it sounded so delicious that we just had to try it. We started with a good strong pumpkin ale. Our local liquor store doesn't carry the Sam Adams Pumpkin Ale recommended in the recipe, so we chose Post Road Pumpkin Ale, the product of another Boston-area brewer. And the results were fantastic, if we do say so ourselves*.

And we had almost as much fun taking the BEFORE and AFTER photos as we had in making the bread. Here's the BEFORE picture. It came out so beautifully that we decided to try applying a watercolor filter to the image, and ended up with something that looks like a Dutch still-life. Gorgeous, no?

So those were the basic ingredients. Once they were thrown together in the right amounts and the correct order and slid into the oven, delectable aromas started wafting from the kitchen to other parts of the house. It even distracted our football-watching!

After more than an hour, the timer beeped and we got the finished product out of the oven and allowed it to cool; this is the outcome:

And the best part? It tastes even better than it looks! If you have an afternoon free and want to try a new yummy recipe, you can't go wrong with this one.

Sadly, the birds won't get even a crumb.

See you by those fragrant feeders!

Mrs. CapeCodAlan

And about that word search contest...

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*Recipe notes--here are the few changes I'd make: I'd use several smaller loaf pans instead of a large one; I'd grease and flour the pans; and I'd add a bit more cinnamon to the recipe.

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 2:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

And speaking of quintessentially summer stuff, here at Casa CapeCodAlan we are trying a new recipe. Yes, it's summer, so it's an ice cream recipe, and since banana splits are something dear to Alan's heart, we are attempting a recipe for banana split ice cream. The custard has milk, chocolate milk, bananas, strawberries, and crushed pineapple in it, and even though we halved the recipe, it still made a LOT of custard.

In fact, it made so much custard, that I used less than half in the ice cream freezer, but even so...

Yes, the ice cream freezer overflowed. It overflowed by quite a bit. It overflowed like a golden chalice to bright wine, and while we won't be eating it out of golden chalices, we were able to rescue the ice cream, and we're hoping that we were able to clean all the excess from the motor area. I guess we'll know for sure the next time we try to make ice cream, right?

In the meantime, the ice cream is in the freezer, firming up. I'll be back in an hour or so with a report on the finished product. Keep your fingers crossed!

LATER: Well, here goes nothing! We're about to serve it up. Let's see how it goes.

Aaaaand, we have a winner!

See you by those summertime feeders!

Mrs. CapeCodAlan

P.S. And don't forget that video contest!

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 8:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

First, what is a "Smushed PB & Hollow Point Chocolate Burger"? Well, the photo below should give you a clue...

That seems pretty straight forward... Just take a couple of 'burger buns, open them up, and smear peanut butter on one side. Next, carefully cut an "X" in Hersey kisses and Rolos (Rolo's? Roloes? Rolii?) to make them into primitive hollow points and place those on the other half of the bun. Just flip the peanut butter side onto the "Le Chocolat" side and smush. Those "X"s you made will allow the confectioneries to smear more or less evenly, though the mark of a real pro is one who smushes via a vacuum bagging machine...

There... Lunch, desert, weight gain, diabetes, and cavities all in one quick and horrid meal.

At ease...

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 11:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Well, that's the end of my 10 pound crawfish Christmas present...

I'm sure you're thinking the same thing I am... Paraphrasing the famous "A Christmas Story" movie when the Bumpuses' dogs devour the holiday turkey...

The heavenly aroma still hung in the house. But it was gone, all gone! No mudbugs! No mudbug sandwiches! No mudbug salad! No mudbug gravy! Mudbug Hash! Mudbug a la King! Or gallons of mudbug soup! Gone, ALL GONE!

It's a sad thing, but it was time to move on and stop grossing out the wife. None the less, keep in mind that legend has it that a few ghost carapaces still haunt this joint, and can make themselves known as (of all things) the embellishments of a cap. Woo! Scary!

Moving on... We fed the crows some bread today, and were pleasantly surprised that the seagulls didn't spoil the party. At this point, I'm pretty sure the crows communicate via a sentry system, but I can only guess at how seagulls spread the word. I do know that they (seagulls) keep watch from remarkable altitudes. Does the sudden change in height by one bird signal food to all the rest? Is there a call? Do they use a "round robin" routine to scope out the most likely areas? I'd like to study seagulls more, but their aggressive behavior will drive away the more traditional backyard birds, and that's not an option. Oh well...

Beyond the local crayfish extinction and the seagulls, it's cold here - about 11 F. Having lived in Caribou ME, I'm normally quite used to these temperatures, except when I'm profoundly stupid and dress inappropriately. So anyway, I went out earlier, and practically froze my hands off... Just a word to the wise...

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 10:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ah yes... Nothing like a frisky turkey video to start off a post and the new year. (Between three males and seven hens, we may be ankle deep in turkey guano come next Spring.) Fun to watch the "feather draggers" though.

Next on the agenda is a great depiction of what happens to the remains of "The Thumb-Ripping Mudbugs"...

I mean we've got spent shards of carapace flying every which way. What I didn't get (and there wasn't much), the herring gull desecrated. While the crows didn't quite know what to do with their "Cajun Surprise", the gulls did. (I like to think of them as chain saws with wings.)

So that's about it for our latest birding excitement... But what's next for 2010? Ohhh... In the past, the boss has asked that I think outside the box... Really let loose... Okayyy...

• We'll have BNF pictures to prove that not only does Bigfoot exist, but that he has a wee relative alive and well, right here on Cape Cod. And if that ain't enough, we'll even tell you the true story of our terrifying encounter with the thing!
• There will be a smokey and wine-filled interview with local legend and former selectman, "Da Gizz" (replete in his bathrobe and straw hat) who will describe his flying squirrel. You're gonna love this one...
• And who would miss the upcoming bird showtune(s), bird poems, bird carvings... And that's not to mention boat building and
bathroom remodeling...

See you by the feeders?

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 9:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Don't mean to gross you out on this New Years Eve/Day, but thought I'd intro with my poor butchered thumb...

Remember from last time when the greatest Christmas present of all time (crawfish) was announced? Well, it didn't take long for this old Cajun junkie to tear into them. And tear I did. Unfortunately, crayfish are spiny little buggers - what started with a couple of small punctures ended with a goodly slice o' thumb... all done in the peppy exhilaration of salty flavoring. (I have a great photo of the blood streaming down the thumb, but I figured that would be a bit much.) But who cares?!? We got us some mudbugs, and 'that what counts'. Love you Mrs. CCA for the best Christmas present ever!

Now about them birds... What follows is fairly self explanatory - robins, blue jays, robins again, a magnificent red-bellied woodpecker, still another robin, and of course, Don the squirrel. If there's a lesson to be taken away here, it's the importance of (unfrozen) water.

If you really want to have birds grace your yard, there's got to be a consistent source of potable water nearby.

And then there's our "Stupid New Years Hobby" pic involving our fave night-time pastime - "Backyard Night Fishing"!

Do you see that slight light splotch inside the white ellipse? Well, that my friends is a rabbit. That may not sound like much to you, but to the wife and me it's a blast... It's just like the days of my childhood when I'd go fishing with bottom-buck Zebco rod, a bobber, and Lord only knows what for bait... Oh the excitement of spying a bit of bobber movement out of the corner of the eye... Same feeling with movement on the cam.

Gotta run... Almost midnight... Happy New Year!

See you by the feeders in 2010,

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 8:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Not pretty is it? That is what happens when a certain person crosses paths with half a dozen crayfish. Imagine what will happen when the crawdads number into the dozens... Beyond that, there are the recipes! (Think of mudbugs as a more delicate yet still unique and diverse shrimp - they hold up to adjuncts without overpowering.) There's "crawfish boils" and "crawfish pie"... "Crawfish jag" and "crawfish gumbo"... You can mix it with 'snausage' or steam 'em in beer... Toss into rice, or make an etouffee. Mustards? BBQ? What can be done with the liquor? And then there are the salads like a cobb or a caesar... Seriously... I don't even know where to begin with this one... I wish I could offer up a few decent recipes, but this love affair is just beginning...

Phew! Back to those birds! The snow has finally melted, and the feathered ones are finally returning to normal. The crows continue to ask for a one o'clock feeding, and the jays are as stunning as ever. But there is a feeling in the air - I can't describe it, but it's there nonetheless... It's as if a storm is coming... The usual birds are off their food, and the crows aren't nearly so demanding. Maybe it's just our warm stretch... (Update: I started this post yesterday. Today we have a cold wind storm. It's like the birds saw this coming... Wouldn't it be fascinating to go back in time and talking with Native Americans - they must have studied animal behavior for their very survival. What could they have told us about birds?)

Getting late... Gotta run...

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 11:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Got kind of a potpourri for you today... Weather, turkeys, seagulls, salt parading as food, and yet another update on our busted streaming Web cam. Let's get to it.

According to the forecasters, we've got some weather coming to Cape Cod.

Not that a radar image was really necessary to convey nature's message... I took this photo earlier in the day...

Ah... Into each life a little rain must fall. (Still this would be perfect clamming weather. There's a saying on the mud flats, "When one quahog sneezes, it gives 'em all away." One of these days I'll get back out there... But in the mean time, as long as it stays above freezing, I'll be content.

Saw an interesting interaction between turkeys and a hawk (Coopers I think) a few days ago. As soon as the raptor "made the scene", the gobblers headed for cover; but it was the manner of their retreat that was so interesting. The males splayed their tail feathers as might be expected, but, they also pivoted them in the direction of the perched hawk. It seems that they were using their posterior adornments as a well-positioned shield. Wow.

And speaking of turkeys, I had another run in with the brutes today. Somehow, they've lost all fear of humans and will run up to be fed by hand. So, once again, I unleashed the horrifying "Comfy Cushion From The Heavens". (That's just the seat cushion from one of the deck chairs.) All I do is float the foam over their heads and let it drift down. While the object itself couldn't break a light bulb, there's something about it that just horrifies toms and hens. Good. Wild things (especially delicious wild things) need to fear people.

As if the turkeys weren't enough of a problem, the seagulls have decided to move in to claim their own turf. (If crows are bullies, seagulls are gangsters.) Put out some scraps for the crows on their own dedicated tray, and somehow the gulls caught wind of the booty. What an ill-mannered brawl! Fair enough... I'll find a way to feed the crows and freeze out the "Good Fellas with Wings". (Maybe I can make them an offer they can't refuse? I wonder if they too fear the dreaded floating foam?)

Moving on to the "Don't Try This At Home" department... The pic below should probably be blown up and used as a "Top Ten Wanted" poster for the American Heart Association.

Uh huh... Hormel Chili seasoned with Tabasco and Tony Chachere's. Did you know that you can actually get the capillaries in your toes to visibly pulsate?

And finally, about that pesky cam... After beaucoup troubleshooting, it was finally decided that a new cam was in order. (Hats off to Richard at Birdhouse Spy Cam for fantastic customer service and follow through!) Not to worry... We'll get the eBirdseed.com cam up and running pronto.

Getting late,

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

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

You know, winter is coming, and that means quahogging (clamming for all you non Cape Codders). But you can't just venture out onto the sleet-whipped mud flats without the proper gut fuel. Hence the pic above. Have some steak along with a couple of slabs of Pam-splashed liver sealed in a tightly crimped pocket of aluminum foil. (Focus on that foil... Be careful when you pull that over-cooked puppy off the grill. Twenty to thirty minutes of medium heat and a couple of flips will yield scalding steam and liver juices in that little silver bag! Jiffy Pop, eat your heart out.) Yeah, combine that with a nuked coffee mug half filled with lima beans and you're talking the stuff that will put fur on your eyeballs and fear in the hearts of bivalves. (The liver is even better/"more potent" the next day when served refrigerator-cold in a slurry of those same lima beans and "A.1." steak sauce... That's a Mrs. CCA favorite!)

Anyway, back to birds...

Lots of activity over the last few days - the usual suspects of chickadees, titmice, crows, grackles, doves, etc. The cameras are going full bore...

"Neato" shot of a downy, no?

It's interesting to watch how the various birds deal with the NovaBird camera and tripod. (We essentially hid the small Hawk Eye streaming cam on a shepard's crook and wrapped it with green Christmas garland so that isn't so much of an issue.) The woodpeckers are pretty much indifferent to the Nova, whereas the other birds are skittish, and the crows really want nothing to do with it. Obviously, it's going to take time to figure out exactly what makes all beasties comfortable.

Getting late...

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

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

First the sparrow...

Now is he cool or what?!? To borrow from K.C. and the Sunshine Band, it looks like he's going to do a little dance, scrub a little scrub, and git gone alright, git gone alright. (Long ago I warned you that I needed help.) No, seriously, ain't that one magnificent creature? The red cap and the eye stripe really are spectacular. At least we think so...

Now, about that ice cream... How about home-made banana/chocolate chip that will break your heart? Here's a list of machines/ingredients/steps that will make it happen:

1. Buy a food processor, mixer, boat motor... Whatever... Just get yourself a gadget that can wreak havoc on a pile of food stuff and still keep it clean.
2. Purchase one of those ice cream makers. You know, the gizmos you see at Sears, Amazon, and Walmart.
3. On to the good stuff... The ingredients:
• We'll need about six ripe bananas (If they aren't really ripe, stick a sheet of paper in the middle of the bunch and wait til tomorrow.)
• One tablespoon of lemon juice
• 3/4 cup of light corn syrup
• Two tablespoons of vanilla extract
• One and one half cup of heavy cream
• Your favorite chocolate bar chopped very fine
• Put bananas in freezer and let harden for at least 12 hours.
• Remove bananas from freezer and let them thaw for about an hour. (The point being that you really don't want to work with yellow ice rods.)
• Now, peel those bananas. Warning - them puppies are cold and squooshy!
• Put the bananas along with the lemon juice in a bowl and "schmedrate" (mix) it for about 30 seconds.
• Add everything else sans the le chocolat slowly adding the heavy cream.
• Blend/"fold in" for 25 minutes or until you get a nice thick consistency and then toss in the chocolate and let whir for another three minutes.
(It might be fun to add chopped pineapple at the last moment!)
• Finally, freeze the melange for an hour or more and dig in. Yee ha!

See you by the Summer feeders,

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 1:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Got kind of a smorgasbord for you today...

One of the most common questions I get is how to keep the squirrels out of the bird feeders. Sure there are baffles and flippers and witchcraft. And yeah, the first two do work. But, the problem (for me anyway) is that I like squirrels. Besides, trying to stay one step ahead of the rodents can be daunting... So, first up is a video that was recommended by our very own CaliforniaKathryn... (This is why the wife and I give squirrels (like Don) their own feeder.)

Next subject: hummingbirds. We had a ton of activity today... Probably because it's been rainy and cool, and they simply need the food energy. Mrs. CCA got a number of good photos including the one below.

And finally, there's the cooked "snausage"...

Seeing that this is the first day of Summer, 2009, I thought I might toss out my own $.02 when it comes to BBQ and food preparation... Take a look at the "meat products" above. They're done, right? Some would say overcooked. (They'd be wrong, but still, they might say it.) When we bought those brats, the package said that they were pre-cooked. And technically, I'm sure that they were. And as long as they were handled properly, shipped properly, refrigerated properly, and shelved properly, I'm sure that they were fine to eat right out of the package... But for me and mine, I'll play it just a tad safe and grill 'em 'till they glow. Besides, we honestly like the taste of slightly burnt. Like I said, that's just my two cents.

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 7:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Ever wonder why crows hog food? (Or perhaps more appropriately, "Why crows take more food than they can possibly eat in a single serving?") Well, I think I done stumbled upon the answer dag nab it... Take a look at the shot below...

By happenstance, we stumbled upon a strange behavior in the eating habits of crows. We were watching several corvids snatch up far more than they could devour, and then fly away. But one flew just a dozen yards, dropped a manageable piece, and took the rest to a nearby pile of leaves and proceeded to cover the rest. Those safely hidden, he went back to his more immediate lunch.

I didn't have time to watch the creature further, but I think you can see where this story is going... Crows are selfish yet social hogs.

What else? Well, it's time to make some more chowder. I was thinking of perhaps adding shrimp or even corn... The wife put the nix on that. (I might serve up corn on the side and see how it tastes when mixed into the chowder. Time will tell on that one.)

Better run...

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 2:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hi all,

Well, this post was supposed to start with a nice crow pic as the lead. Oh, it would have made for a great shot and a great entry... Cooking chowder in the kitchen... Looking out the steamy window and spying a crow... Not being truly alone on a rainy afternoon... Maybe some Emily Dickinson, and the soulful allure of, say, Coleman Hawkins' "Sweet Lorraine*" or "Body and Soul" as a backdrop...

Yup... This could have been a great post. Who knows what literary ether I might have pierced? But thanks to a stupid camera and a stupid crow, this is the end result. Let me explain...

I did manage to get out on the mud flats oh so briefly a couple of days ago, and a lot of hustling garnered the half basket of clams above. (Notes to self - you're too old to hustle in the muck, the ferrule on the rake needs hose clamps, and the left boot insists on serious patching.) So anyway, after a day of recovery and drying out, I started the long task of making a real batch of Cape Cod clam chowder, conspicuously mentored by a crow. Not a huge deal... All I had to do was interrupt the symphony of opening and chopping clams, slicing and dicing salt pork, slashing onion, and cubing potatoes - and cook the melange in just the right order and just the right balance. Yeah... A little crow's company was perfect. The lighting, weather, aroma, solitude, food... It was all perfect. And all I needed to do was to take a quick photograph of the crow, and the world's greatest post would write itself. And that's when the wheels started to come off the lawn chair. I couldn't get the camera set up, the salt pork was reaching perfection in the frying pan, and the bird was doing his level best to make Poe rise from the grave.

"Arghhh! Arghhh!" I say! The "Readers Digest" summary of this sad tale is that I managed to "flashbulb" the window twice. (If anyone needs a jpg of pure white, just let me know - I'm an expert at that sort of thing.) Bye bye birdie. (I did however manage to save the chowder.)

So close and yet so far...

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

* Here is the closest version I know of to Hawk's "Sweet Lorraine":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDUIL_EC3vs

P.S. Check out our new reference links below to Cornell's Ornithology Labs

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 9:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

As we occasionally do, we're going to step away from birds for just a moment and explore a new recipe. What follows is probably the most unhealthy spaghetti concoction ever devised. (See above.) Read that, if you're watching your sodium level and/or blood pressure, the following should be perused for humor purposes only. Let's get started...

1. First, know your guests. This goop ain't for your local "Vegetarians Committee" or your "Heart Friendly" cardiologist. Nope. Not even close. This is Super Bowl food. This will put hair on Bigfoot's eyeballs.
2. Gather your supplies:
   • 2 lbs of 80% ground beef
   • 1 or 2 jars of your favorite pasta sauce (Hint... Cheaper is better.)
   • Shrooms packed in water. I used 2 cans (6.5 oz. ea.)
   • Minced onions
   • Garlic powder
   • Tabasco sauce (Be afraid.)
   • 1 or 2 Slim Jims (Be very afraid.)
   • Large bag of your "go to" pretzels (Be aghast.)
3. Work clean
4. In a pot, brown the ground beef and drain off almost all of the grease. Leave about a tablespoon for flavor.
5. Add the sauce
6. Toss in the mushrooms and don't be scrimy with the water
7. Dabble in the chopped onions and garlic powder to suit
8. Shake in four or five robust splashes of Tabasco sauce
9. Chop very fine the Slim Jim(s) and add to the mix
10. Now, take that unopened bag of pretzels and shake vigorously. The idea is to knock the salt off the dough. Next, reach into the bottom of the bag and start collecting pinches of the salt itself and season appropriately.
11. Finally, simmer slowly. Do not burn. I let mine stew for at least 30 minutes.

Tough to see the feeders through those steamed-up kitchen windows,

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 3:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

First things first... Many heartfelt thanks to our veterans.

Next, The Great Backyard Bird Count is due for Feb. 13 - 16. We strongly recommend that you take part. It's free, easy, and fun.

Onward...

For me, the worst part of writing these posts are the pics. Once I've got a decent photo, the words flow naturally. But picking a shot ain't easy, and sometimes I just give up in disgust and go to bed. Not tonight. No matter how non-bird, you're going to get an entry. Be thankful ya ain't getting a photograph of a 1972 Evinrude boat motor with a blanket wrapped around it.

That being said, the fellow above is a blue crab (Callinectes sapidus). The wife spotted him whilst exploring Bass River in her kayak. My family and I go back a long way with the lowly blue crab. As a little kid, I remember using a dip net to catch them, and steaming a mess of 'em in a cheap, chipped, blue/black enamel pot along with seasoning, corn and beer. Unless memory is completely shot, the pot had small white splotches. (It's funny the things a person retains over 45 years.) I also recall that eating those guys was a slow, punctilious affair at best. They were nothing like lobsters - you could pluck and suck the meat out of those big guys in an hour or so. The crabs took a lot longer to make a meal. In retrospect, it seemed like the crustaceans were almost a perpetual meal - the amount of food energy produced by blue crab meals was always pretty much offset by the energy needed to catch, cook, and eat the little buggers.

Nowadays, about the only exposure I have with the blue crab is the ubiquitous empty carapace picked clean out on the clam flat by one of the local gulls. (Odds are that it doesn't take a Herring gull or his brethren the Great black-backed, Ring billed or Laughing Gull nearly as long to eat one as it used to take me.)

I really should go crabbing again, but I believe there may be better game afoot... Crawfish! Now we're talking. And no stinkin' gull is going to devour a bowl full of steaming mud bugs faster than yours truly...

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

P.S. Why is it that no matter where we start with these posts, we almost always end up talking about birds?

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 9:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hi all,

The picture above is of our informal eBirdseed.com hummingbird cam (the gray object stuck to the window). Since we put the camera up, we've had over 9,000 views. And that's wonderful when there are hummingbirds around. But the problem is that on Cape Cod now, the hummingbird season is over and the camera pretty much shows bupkis. So what do we do? We could simply replace the hummingbird feeder with a standard feeder and that way see lots of bird action. On the other hand, we could try to do something crazy like enclosing the camera in a waterproof container and running it out to the squirrel feeder. (That would exceed the limits of USB cable length, but would still make for an interesting experiment.) What do you guys think?

Onward... Remember, the eBirdseed.com September '08 bird photography contest is about to end, so enter 'em if you got 'em. You can see the current entries here.

Finally, here's an update on our world-famous quahog chowder recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups clam meat chopped (best scratched from mud during storm)
• 1 cup clam juice from above clams
• 1 medium-sized white onion sliced and diced
• 2 inch square of salt pork sliced and diced
• 2 peeled, medium-sized potatoes diced
• 1 quart of milk
• 1 pint of heavy cream
• 1/2 stick of butter (optional)

1. Practice sanitary kitchen habits
2. Place potatoes in milk and warm gently in pot 'til almost fork tender
3. While potatoes soften, shuck quahogs... (hint: if a 'hog doesn't want to open, nuke him for a max of 10 seconds)
4. Use cheese cloth to filter out grit and shell bits
5. Dice quahogs and let them simmer in their juice on low heat
6. Fry salt pork until cracklings are a golden brown, then set aside. (Save that fat!)
7. Lightly brown onion in pork fat
8. Dump all ingredients in pot along with 4 oz. of heavy cream to gently stew for an hour or so stirring during commercials
9. Serve with dab of butter and more cream to suit in cup. (This is a rich recipe!)

See you by those photogenic and oh so aromatic feeders,

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 12:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

1. If you can't get your hands on fresh, clean, scrubbed, stock (preferably clams you dig yourself in this case), oh well.
2. Take all recipes that use the words "canned" and/or the word "Manhattan" down to the firing range and shoot them with a 12 gauge shotgun.
3. Alrighty then, let's get started...
4. Dice two medium-sized "skinned" potatoes and chuck them in a small pot along with a quart of milk and cook slowly. Watch it to make sure that the milk doesn't burn or curdle.
5. While the potatoes are getting to the "half-way-to-fork-tender" point, use an iron skillet primed with a 2" cube of salt pork (or bacon) to brown some diced onions.
6. Now to the heart of the matter... Use only "littlenecks" - the smallest, most tender, and yet still-legal quahog. A couple of dozen will do ya'. Open the littlenecks in another pot wisely... That is to say, gently steam them open in a fine 2-can broth of "Pinot Budweiser" along with dabs of garlic and butter, and a dash of pepper. (Hey, if you want, stop the cooking here, extricate the mollusks now, and break out the Italian bread for mop up! You can always find another use for the milk and potatoes...)
7. Coming down the home stretch... Once the potatoes feel "15-minutes" away from being cooked, dump the entire mess including the "Pinot Budweiser" together and cook over mild heat until the potatoes are done... (Shuck and dice the clams first if you must.)
8. Briefly nuke ceramic bowls until warm.
9. Serve up the "chowdah" with a healthy dollop of your favorite cream.

• Use a decent light beer... (And no, I'm not referring to that swill with the title "Light" tacked onto the back of the brand name. No... Simply avoid the amber and darker beers.)
• Timing is everything... Getting the potatoes to reach that "just-right" texture at the same time as the clam liquor reaches that "just-right" flavor is an art.
• Striking the balance of cooking beer (or even white wine) in combination with garlic, clams, pepper, and the "coup de creme" takes time.
• Serve with fresh oyster crackers.

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 4:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)