Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Bird Pictures in BoneChillin Icy Global Winter (Blizzard Birds in Snow) and the Rusty Blackbird

Snow and Holyday Breaks Are Good. I know some of you have said many of my posts are quite alarming or horrible. Thank you- it is good to know one is being read correctly.
Here is one more sweet and cheerful post from the holiday break.
The yard,feeding birds during this iced winter:  (click to enlarge) 
( i was reduced some days to shooting pics through the windows as it was below zero, the wind was blowing, and i was afraid...) 

Crow in Ice by mary todd


Crow Walk  by mary todd


Crow in Snow


Meadowlark, kansas state bird, in winter by mary todd

Crow pics by mary todd

I have counted well over 20, maybe 30 species of birds coming for assistance in this very hard (for them) winter; some even come and knock on the door offering a feather or two in exchange for some water and a wee handful of seed.
Here are some American Crows; the Kansas State Bird--MeadowLark; and a thirsty squirrell.
A flock of Rusty Blackbirds (see pic at bottom of post) came yesterday; had to look them up, have never seen them, and the females and males are each quite different in autumn plumage.
I have had to give up mochas and the typical friday night steak to buy enough food for the literally hundreds of birds who are desperate for something until the deep ice/snow layer can be pierced for foraging once again. To say nothing of the -8 (MINUS 8) degree temps predicted for the next 2 nights. The birds are so cold they no longer fly away when the cats come outside (for about 3 minutes) -- it seems they have a truce not to add to the wind chill by moving fast...

we humans do a lot of
complaining; we are
a spoiled lot are we not

addendum 2-11-1010 (the day achmadinajhad said he was nuclear)--these are Rusty Blackbirds, not faring so well in the survival "game",  see more here and join the Great Backyard Birdcount  national day of birdcount:  http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/science-stories/past-stories/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-rusty-blackbird

2 comments:

  1. I enjoy coming across others who have a deep respect for the mother and would like to add a thought. Morality is self interest and compassion in balance. The immature are usually out of balance. Separate the objective reality which is or is not and subjective realism which exists as our awareness and is likelihood of probability. Delve deeper.

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  2. Intriguing.
    And proved for me an interesting beginning for some thinking.
    Then, to simplify at first
    Morality, M equals Self interest, SI and Compassion C –in Balance.
    So what are the balanced weights of these?
    If M = SI + C, are they equally weighted; and how is that weight determined or measured?
    For one particular individual, whose morality seems more determined by self interest-[[avoiding punishment or getting rewards]] which could even mean doing everything which looks like compassion but is in fact self interest (being “good” in order to not destroy their home planet and thus themselves or in order to get heaven) -Or for another individual, who sacrifices their health and self respect (SI) by staying with an abuser, for example, out of what they feel as compassion for the abuser—again, out of balance. Or adopting 20 cats out of compassion without thought of the consequences for the self.
    I often find
    that the so called “error term”
    (which picks up that unexplained by the named factors), is the most important (to say nothing of the interactions) That is, is there another factor which allows for balance outside of the typical wisdom? Mother Teresa certainly seemed out of balance.
    I wonder at the Third Factor, as three is more balanced than two? Rather than rewrite and ponder, I shall post.

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