The Adventure of the Bronzed Cowbird

In Washington State we see Brown-headed Cowbirds, which are nest parasites on other birds.  They lay their eggs in the nests of songbirds and warblers, and their young are then raised by the unsuspecting host birds.  One summer we saw a small Yellow Warbler feeding a cowbird baby that was considerably larger than the warbler itself.

Here in Arizona we also see Bronzed Cowbirds, which don't occur up north.  They look similar at first glance, but the Bronzed Cowbird is a bit larger, has a thick neck, and sports bright red eyes.  Here's one that was outside our kitchen window a few days ago.

A male Bronzed Cowbird at our home in Arizona.

Quite a handsome bird.  I wonder what species of bird raised this guy.

Happy-face Gets A Mug Shot

No, not that kind of mug shot.  The Happy-face Darner can now be found on a coffee mug, as shown below:

The Happy-face coffee mug.

I'm using the mug now on my desk as a pencil holder.  It's fun to see the happy face looking up at me all day.

The Adventure Of The Great Blue Herons

On our way to Mom's house here in Leisure World we walk right past a tree where the herons have a rookery.  There's always a big ruckus going on there as adults fly back and forth to feed their young.  Parts of the tree are "whitewashed" with droppings.

Here are a couple recent photos of an adult feeding its young in the nest.

An adult Great Blue Heron on the nest.  One of the young is visible below the adult.

When the adult interacts with the young it tends to erect its crest, which is normally not so prominent.  In the next photo the young heron is begging to be fed.

A young heron (left) trying to induce the adult to regurgitate food.

Finally, the adult feeds the young, though it certainly looks like a rough way to get a meal.

Ramming the food down the throat is the heron way of feeding its young.

The Whisperer Spoke!

I gave a dragonfly presentation for Maricopa Audubon last night.  Here's an ad for the talk:

We had fun and met a lot of nice people.  The talk was well received.  They treated us to dinner before the talk, and we got back home around 10:30 pm.

Blood Oranges!

Every now and then we pick up a bag of grapefruit that someone has left for others who would like to have them.  Many people here can't have grapefruit because it interferes with some of the medicine they take, so they're happy to give them to someone who can enjoy them.

The other day we picked up a bag of grapefruit, and noticed another bag carefully labeled Blood Oranges.  We were curious, so we decided to give them a try.  We quickly found that they are well named.  Here's a picture of one of the blood oranges sliced open:

A sliced blood orange.

The juice they make is equally sanguine.  Take a look at our morning orange juice, as produced with the blood oranges:

Blood orange juice.  Quite a contrast between the blood orange and the white grapefruit.

Looks like a drink fit for a vampire!  Actually, the taste is almost identical to that of a normal orange, and you might not even notice the difference if you were drinking your orange juice blindfolded.

Apparently, blood oranges are popular in Italy, and are the ones in common usage there.  You might want to keep that in mind if you travel to Italy and order some orange juice.

The Whisperer Speaks

I'll be giving a dragonfly talk for the Maricopa Audubon Society next Tuesday, April 2, at 7:30 pm.  It will be held at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona.  Here's a little blurb about the talk:

It will be fun, as usual, to share the enjoyment of dragonflies with others.

Comet PanSTARRS

Last week Betsy and I had some great views of Comet PanSTARRS (C/2011 L4).  It was just barely visible with the naked eye, and was an easy object with binoculars.  We also had nice views of it with our spotting scope.  I found the following picture on the web that shows pretty much what it looked like in our binoculars on March 12, just to the left of the crescent Moon.  Notice the nice tail pointing away from the Sun.

Comet PanSTARRS, as it appeared in the western sky on March 12, 2013.

As we viewed the comet one evening a couple drove up and asked what we were looking at.  We told them the comet, and they asked if we could show it to them.  They had gone out that evening specifically to look for the comet, but hadn't seen it yet.  We were happy to point it out in the sky and show it to them in the spotting scope as well.

The next comet to be coming our way is Comet Ison, sometime around Thanksgiving, 2013.  It may put one a good show, too.