Pictured are two immature Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks
By Chuck Wiser, I write the words to share what my eyes see and my heart feels
As this writing began my “eye to hand” coordination was a little challenged as my brain got in the way and made typing and reading the words a little more difficult than usual. No problem I thought, I’ll just substitute a couple of photo pages and share some of the many images that the wild life that “wrambles” onto or through my backyard has provided. My hope was that just organizing a few pictures would take away some of the strain from “writing and wreading Wramblings.” 2024 so far has given an abundance of photo opportunities within sight, and camera range, of my seat in the Bird-Sun Room. After I organized about 3½ to 4 pages of photos, having cropped them as much as I could without jeopardizing their value, I stopped editing and prepared to send off a picture page or two to the Sun owner/editor to see if he could do something with them.
Whoops! Neither of my email net browsers would send out the file as it was too large. I guess 45 Mbs worth of files are too big a bite for Roadrunner outright, and for Gmail without letting them send it out as a Google Drive link. I do have a software program that would let me send them as “Very Large Files” but that wouldn’t help on the receiving end. I have an idea or two for a “work around,” but that would make the pictures look like a printed sheet that would not have the quality of a photograph.
Even as I write this the potential for the size of the photo file increases, as the visitors from the skies keep doing “picturesque” things. I will use a picture taken just moments ago, even as we speak, figuratively speaking. I lamented the fact that I didn’t have any “Cowbird” solo pictures comparable to the other species. Wouldn’t you know, movement out of the corner of my eye attracted my attention to a male cowbird posed in silhouette on the Shepards Hook holding one of the Oriole feeders. I now have a picture I can use.
One thing that has surprised me somewhat is the comportment of the “residential” Cardinals given that they are year-round tenants to the area, as opposed to the short term longevity of the migratory species. The Cardinals have not left the area and, if anything, perhaps have lightened their visitation timing, even with their own fledged offspring being present. Even though they can be a little territorial, they have been restrained. They are definitely outnumbered by the “visitors” but have been willing to share.
Each of the bird species has a characteristic or habit that makes them unique and provides a non-visual or audible signal of their presence. The Cardinals of course still have their singing or repetitious “birdsong” so familiar to us. The Grosbeaks in the infancy stage identify themselves even having snuck in quietly alighting near a feeder. It takes a few seconds for their single sound “peep”…” “peep…” or maybe more “chirp like” sound to sink in, but the one syllable “beep” like chirp, by its repetition, finally makes itself known. Once you realize it’s there you can’t “not” hear it. And, even as I write, one of them has started doing it.
The Orioles have a very distinctive “chatter.” This is the most common evidence of their presence, and it usually announces their arrival or departure. Early on in our aviary careers we became accustomed to this sound and were able to recognize it and track it down as they landed or departed from a neighboring tree.
The relatively new, to us, species are the cowbirds and the catbirds. A close acquaintance of mine doesn’t care for these and considers them pests that steal the food away from the desired visitors. I feel the same about the Bluejays, Grackles, Ravens and Crows and even my childhood favorite Red Winged Blackbirds. Hard to be selective and convince the unwanted visitors, to not visit. Oddly enough some do seem to learn they aren’t welcome. This past year or so has added the Catbird to our repertoire of aviary friends. I have learned to identify them by sight but I can honestly say that I have never hear any cat “mewing” calls from them.
Regarding “not welcome” we have had 12 documented Raccoon nocturnal visits and the running tab on Chipmunk disposal is now at 22. As an interrupting side note; As I typed “Chipmonk” Auto-defect red flagged it suggesting either Chip Monk or Chipmunk. Sar far, Possums (Opossum) have been relieved of their incarceration in a live trap, as I have become a believer in their worth thanks to their Tick eating characteristic. Not sure how the ticks get caught in the “live traps” but since the Possum seem to like them and that’s where they end up, who am I to argue. Also given a “get out of jail” release card was the small light gray cat or large kitten that has been around for the last couple of nights.
Notice: The Black Bears are once again making their presence known both visually and destructively as one tried to pull our garage mounted feeder down the other night. It (not knowing if he or she) was able to bend the hell out of it but my wife’s inspired use of an extra bungy cord had fastened it securely to the support hooks.
I had intended to write a detailed article describing my long and cherished teaching career, not only in the traditional classroom, but “on the road” as well. Early on in my “technologies” teaching career, I was immersed into the realm(s) of Manufacturing and Computerized-Automated Manufacturing. I didn’t have one shred of experience in that entire area of specialization but still ended up being the professed “guru” of those fields as far as Alfred State College was concerned. Additionally, I ended up in part time teaching for both Corning Community College and Jamestown Community College at both the Olean and Jamestown locations. I could even add BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services) at both Allegany County and Cattaraugus Campuses as well. That Wrambling, when it gets written, will focus more on my interaction with the course materials and the people that I encountered, than the boring educational content. Despite the fact that Artificial Intelligence was already an item in the late 1990’s and early in the 2000’s it now, and currently, is spreading like a virus throughout our lives. I don’t like the evidence I’m seeing of its being spread into our lives, forcefully, more and more every day. Computer apps are getting more and more irritating.
When I spoke of it in my classes in Automated Manufacturing in the early 2000’s, I used to say that my intelligence was already artificial as I was not born with it, but worked hard to get it.
When I introduce my photo-array from the back yard visits, I sadly say that I likely missed the best photo of all the other night. As dusk approached, movement caught my eye from outside the Sun-Bird Room window. As I watched a single deer started its mosey through the neighboring field/yard having come up over the embankment of the old Buffalo & Susquehanna Railroad bed in my back yard. I noticed what looked like antlers still mostly in velvet. As I searched for the binoculars to get a better look, one after another, after another, followed the path of the first deer. As I watched I noticed several antlered deer that looked like 4-, 6-, and 8-point bucks. They were busily milling about, and I was so absorbed in trying to identify just what I was seeing, that I lost count. By that time, I was joined by my wife, with darkness closing around us. As the deer continued on across Back River Road, I disappointedly discovered that, in the excitement of what I was seeing, I hadn’t even thought to get my camera out.
I can now see why eyewitnesses are not reliable in an investigation, as the recall, even minutes after an event has occurred, is not necessarily accurate. I “think” that there were 6 or 7 deer in the group and nearly all, if not all, were bucks. It looked, based on antler sizes, like there were at last 3 or 4 generations all traveling together. Given our relative relationship to, or between, the heavily wooded area just to the west of us on County Route 31 as it winds its way to Friendship, and the Genesee River as it flows North toward Belmont, we are pretty much on a path of deer travel, which is a common route on a daily or nightly basis. It is no surprise that I have spinal nerve problems as I continue to raise and lower, and swivel my head side to side, trying to keep up with the adventures and travels of our wildlife visitors.
Well, now I can rest, and relax given that I have learned something new today. Before the past couple of months or so, there was an icon/button on my top “Word” menu bar that looked like arrows going in a circle. one was going each way, and they represented the “undo” and “redo” typing correction/edit commands in case you inadvertently typed or erased something. For some reason, the icons had disappeared. Unknown to me until just a while ago it was the same menu bar where you could turn the “AutoSave” function on or off. Despite searching for help numerous times, help was offered in a way that I didn’t understand. It told me it was on the “Quick Access Toolbar.” It meant nothing to me as I didn’t realize that there was a menu bar missing. It was a default menu bar that was apparently on at one time but had somehow gotten turned off or lost. Out of desperation I studied my MS Word menu looking for a secret path to the symbol(s). Sure, enough on the far-right side of the menu bar was the “down facing arrow.” I clicked on that and noticed there was a choice for the “Quick Access Toolbar.” Clicking on that added another line or row to the top Menu bar which not only included the AutoSave Button but also the CW and CCW symbols for undo and redo. I love it when I learn something even if I blindly taught it to myself. Stumbling around sometimes yields results.
If a picture page follows this then I did something else right. If not, then it will be published separately. In any event, please feel free to reach out with any questions, comments or concerns to IM.Wiserdad@gmail.com.
