Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Speaking of birds... (and spring cuteness alert, don't leave now, scroll down a bit)

I’ve never been a birder, and I probably won’t go pro, but I’ve been moving from noticing birds and listening to birdsong (and saying “hello, bird” once in a while) to wondering what everyone’s name is. There are a lot of interesting birds here, and I just discovered Greensboro Birds (hat tip to Ed Cone). Nice to have something very local to consult. It has updates on sightings and great pictures. See below. My neighbor, of course, did something much more sensible right away when she moved here a few years ago: she set up a bird feeder and bought a bird book. She has a notepad by the window and notes which birds she sees.

I thought of setting up a feeder too, but this place has a different orientation from the neighbors’ and because I have more trees around, the birds just come naturally close to the house. On the other hand, they might enjoy the extra food in the winter. The local creatures are pretty well fed, though, being on or near a college campus with a lot of green spaces and plenty of food fragments.

Now for the “see below” part. Cuteness alert! We have new baby swans in town, a.k.a. cygnets. Not here – my neighborhood is more given to baby geese and I haven’t seen any yet this year, only the large mamas and papas – but at least the swans are somewhere in this city.
For the full four-fuzzy-photos “Swan Hatchlings” post at the Greensboro Birds blog, click here. It’ll cheer you right up.

4 comments:

Padre Rob+ said...

Adorable swan hatchkings... :) yup, that DID cheer me up- there's always this sense of joy in a new life. My son is in second grade. Each student in his class has a caterpillar, and his has enclosed itself into its cocoon. It's been there for about 4 days now. He is so excited to see this metamorphasis: I hope the butterfly doesn't emerge until Monday so he can see it. :)


Joyful Eastertide

Jane R said...

Oooh, I hope the butterfly waits. But of course you can't control butterflies :-).

Off to read my stack of student research papers... (For African American Religion and Theology course -- lots of interesting topics as I allow them free rein as long as the topic is in some way related to the course; but it must be very focused and that is hard for many students; plus they have to do library research and use footnotes and all that.)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the kind words about GreensboroBirds.com! I'm glad you're enjoying it and spreading the word. If you ever see a woman toting a big camera and staring up into the trees in Guilford Courthouse NMP, feel free to say hey!
Iris

Jane R said...

Iris, I am getting hooked on that blog of yours! What a great resource. I may become a birder yet. For now, I am paying increasing attention to the birds. Your photos are great. (I liked the bunny, too.)