Bird Brain

Thank you so much everyone for the wonderful comments you left on my last post.  It's always a little scary to say "hey world look at my dream," but you all made me feel like I can do anything!  And it's because of you all and the support of my family and some dear friends that I even entertained the notion of doing fine art photography in the first place, so thank you from the bottom of my heart!

The last couple of days I've been feeling kind of blechy.  I take several medications for my thyroid and adrenals and every so often the balance of everything gets knocked off center ever so slightly, but enough to make me feel pretty awful.  I then go have blood work done and my doctor adjusts the medications and then I'm back to feeling fit as a fiddle again.

This afternoon, after spending most of the day in sweats and not even getting a shower I decided I better drag myself outside and at least get some fresh air.  The swans were in the creek and they were actually pretty close to our property so I bundled up and headed out with camera in hand.

I quietly went around the side of our property into the woods so as not to startle the swans and make them move to the other side of the creek.  I was stealthy and I took great care in not crunching too many leaves or snapping too many sticks as I struggled through the brambles to get to the shoreline where I had a clear shot of them

It's like these birds have ESP or something and can sense me coming before I even leave the house.  As you can see by the pictures, by the time I got to a good vantage point, neatly hidden by the trees and briers they had moved off anyway!  That one swan put on quite a little show for me as I stood there patiently for the next almost 40 minutes, trying not to breath too loudly!  A little song bird was fooled and even landed about 2 feet from me, but not the swans, that one raised his wings as if he were saying nanny nanny boo boo, you'll never get a close up picture of us!

I waited a few hours and once again they moved closer to our shoreline, so I bundled myself back up, unshowered and in my lovely sweats and headed back out...I would not let them win I thought!  I'm sure my neighbor gets a big kick out of this little game I play with the wildlife around here.  I bet she thinks I'm some sort of crazy person, but she's just too polite to say so.  She probably calls her friends and family and says things like  "She's out in that darned red hat and pink scarf again...and I don't think she's had a shower either, she looks a mess!"

I wouldn't blame her, I do kind of look like a cross between a crazy person and some sort of artsy eccentric on days like today when I'm feeling under the weather.

Once again the swans thumbed their beaks at me, but thankfully a few other birds were more cooperative, like the gorgeous male cardinal in the two photos above!  He and a female cardinal happily flitted from tree to tree and were glad to get somewhat close.

Mr. Tide released the hounds a little while later and came out to see if I was a popsicle yet.  I was half frozen due to the fact that I left both socks and my gloves in the house.  When you go out to take pictures you sometimes tell yourself that you'll just be out for a few minutes, but you rarely are.  At least I rarely am!  I sometimes talk to the swans in my head and tell them that if they would just come a little closer I would share all of their majesty and beauty with all of you, but apparently they don't care too much for publicity!

Just when I was ready to throw in the towel for getting any really good bird photos, the bluebirds showed up and they were more than happy to cheer me up and give me a few good photo ops.  I love that about the bluebirds, they are always so happy and sweet looking.  They were also my mother's favorite bird so they remind me of her, which makes me glad whenever they grace us with their presence.

By this point I truly was a bit of an ice cube so Mr. Tide took over the picture taking duties and I headed back inside to fix a cup of tea.

The bluebirds were out in force and had moved over to my neighbor's yard to feast on whatever they found so appetizing in her grass.

You can see 4 of them all lined up waiting to fly down to the ground and grab a bit of dinner before heading back to their comfy nests for the night.  They are so brightly colored and when they fly you see bright flashes of blue out our windows.

This was Mr. Tide's favorite photo that he took.  It's out of focus but it shows you how cool these little birds look as they dart around our property and that of our neighbor.

And speaking of bird brains, I was in bed and watching a program last night about the intelligence levels of different animals.  It was really fascinating and further confirmed much of what I've always believed, that we are not the only intelligent animals on this planet.  The show featured how an octopus can completely change it's color, shape, and texture within seconds to mimic almost any surrounding.  They showed an octopus on a piece of coral, and you absolutely could not tell the difference between it and the coral until it moved on to mimic yet another thing on the floor of the ocean!  I knew they could change color, but I had no idea that they could change their actual shape and texture as well, it was amazing!

Before I turned it off and headed to bed they did a piece on Alex the talking African Grey Parrot.  Alex was the constant companion of a scientist who picked him randomly from a pet store to use to try and show the world that being called a bird brain was actually a compliment.  For over 30 years, Alex and Irene, the scientist worked together, sometimes up to 10 hours a day.  The bond between them was incredible and although I'm not a big fan of seeing animals used for research, clearly this scientist saw Alex as a pet and a companion who she loved, not just a research subject.  When Alex died suddenly the whole world reacted, he received an obituary which aired on ABC News.  So the next time someone calls you a bird brain, just smile and say thank you!