By Chuck Wiser, I write the words to share what my eyes see and my heart feels
When I woke up, for the last time of this day, I didn’t really have any main topic to Wramble about. As I sat here in the comfort of my Sun-Bird Room, coffee in hand and eyes wide open, I looked up, out the window, and there on one of the Jelly feeding stations was my old friend “The Upside-Down Feeding Oriole.”
This male oriole only feeds from the jelly dish by suspending itself from a perch rod above it and reaches down to peck chunks of the orange marmalade jelly into its beak. I’ve never had the pleasure of witnessing any of the Orioles activity while feeding its offspring but suspect, given the construction of an Orioles “hanging nest” this is how they get food into the mouths of a still nested non-fledged “Oriole-let.” Their nest looks like a stretched out hanging sock.
As I watched this summer delight it came to mind that last years aviary visitors also included one male Oriole that followed the same exact eating process. Can it be the same one I asked myself? “Yep, self, it’s a possibility” I said to myself.
Until, or unless, a main theme comes to mind I may just insert a couple of poems, one written a few years ago, and one written just a week or so ago. If the adage “A picture is worth a thousand words” is true then this writing, sans any real topic is several thousands of words shared with you.
At the time this picture was taken there were three of these Wrambling Wrabbits. This was actually taken just a couple of hours ago, there were three rabbits and the cat. I couldn’t get all three in. For some reason neither paid any great amount of attention to the other.
I’m not sure if the cat lives somewhere in the neighborhood but it shows up almost daily, and nightly, based on the tracks in the snow noticed during wintertime.
With apologies to the little furry creature, I’ve named it “Chucky the Chippy Chipmunk.” As cute and adorable as they seem to be they can be a real nuisance. They burrow into and under the ground with a warren of channels. They also seem to feed on the roots and tender shoots of growing greenery around them.
This pair of Brown Thrashers are a new acquisition of aviary delights to us. For the first couple of weeks having noticed one of them frequenting the feeders I thought it was a single Wrambler. After a couple of days I happened to glance out toward what is supposed to be our orchard and there for my amazement was what I presume to be a mated pair.
The deer pictured following this comment is one of only a very few deer still inhabiting the area, and/or visiting our Apple trees. Until Spring of this year we had been blessed with multiple pairs of Twins. They were several generations as a group and I’m pretty sure it was the same ones that we had seen for years. Upon last sighting of the entire group the “family” consisted of two single prong, two 4 pointers and two 6 pointers.
I have no idea where they have disappeared off to. It is possible that they were all harvested in a season of deer hunting but I also have other suspicions as well. The dynamics of our residency have changed somewhat over the past couple of years
At this point my word count must be around 8000 given the 7 pictures and some Wrambling with Wiser Words. I had two poems I wanted to add but to include them in the “text style” that I prefer I scan the poem into a picture format file (.jpg) and then share them.
If owner/editor Andrew Harris permits this “volu-mous” file then I may add another short “Word Wrambling on another day.
PS: As I was proofing and editing this file a flurry of activity caught my eye. Out on one of the jelly feeders was a young female Oriole. As I watched, another Oriole landed on one of the branches I attach as a “landing zone.” The “feeding Oriole then left the dish and jumped up onto a branch above the 2nd and fed jelly to the apparent juvenile fledgling. As I continued to watch, a male Oriole and two more seemingly juveniles landed in the branches in close proximity to the two adult Orioles. Five Orioles all within feet of each other and I’m guessing they were a family of Orioles, all from the same tribe.
I’m pretty sure I have run out of Print space in The Sun so I will have to add a “special edition in the next couple of days to share the most recent of my poems.
If you have any comments, questions or concerns please email me at IM.Wiserdad@gmail.com.
