"I'm going to speak my mind because I have nothing to lose."--S.I. Hayakawa
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Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Invasion of the Sunflower Seed Snatchers

They don't arrive in twos and threes.  They arrive in dozens--three, four, six dozen at a time.

Herds of them, overrunning everything.  A flash mob of redpolls.











 








Chasing all the other birds away from the feeder, like the gentle pine grosbeaks.




Female pine grosbeak






Male pine grobeak in bush with redpoll.




The only bird that can scare them away emporarily is the black billed magpie.  It still rules the roost, because it would just as soon fly off with a redpoll in its beak as a black oil sunflower seed.





Black-billed magpie.









Good thing these redpolls are so cute.

















Finally got the seed out of the hull.






5 comments:

  1. You know I love these!!!! So much!!!!

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  2. I found your blog when I googled bifurcated brain. Odd thing to google, huh? I wanted a reference in an email to my mom about how I finally found out the life I've wanted since childhood is achievable, and somewhere in the ramblings about how I write in a stream of consciousness, and my awareness of my conscious and subconscious, I needed bifurcate, so here I am. It got better when I noticed you are in Alaska, which was going to be the email's eventual destination. Thorne Bay, specifically. My mom lived in Alaska as a child, because my wonderful grandfather is a true woodsman. They lived in the wilds, no electricity, Pa trapped and fished, Ma skinned and smoked and tanned, and home-schooled 2 small kids. I have a bunch of their old photos we converted to digital, of them in Alaska in the 60's, if you'd be interested in seeing them. Pa was head guide for Trading Bay, and he's mentioned in the book Beluga Days. He was a member of the Kenai Beluga Hunt Club. Pa still reads the Alaska news, and I know Alaska is a big state, but he still reads at times about people he knew, and you've been there for a while it seems. His name is Ken Tapp. And even if you haven't, I'm interested in hearing more about Alaska, and I bet Pa would just love swapping stories and maybe getting a good lead on who he can have ship him some Alaskan salmon, only kind he will eat, but hard to find in Oklahoma. Or you may read this and slowly and cautiously back away from the random stranger wanting to make friends. My email is gilbert_meredith@yahoo.com :)

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  3. What a fun POST ! Loved it! Smiles .. Cap ..

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  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  5. The post I just deleted above at 2:13AM (This comment has been removed by the author.) was an identical duplicate of the one above it which I left at 2:12AM .. and now instead of totally deleting it they leave it above as shown with its note! .. here I thought I had figured out how NOT to leave identical duplicate POSTS .. Giggle! Here in Pondicherry in the South of India it is 3:48PM Monday afternoon .. and it is very hot! .. /s/ Babbling Baba !

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