Watching The Birds

[manitou]

Unfortunately, I'm old enough to remember them both -

 

How could you possibly want to forget the Bird is the Word?  It think it's lovely, helps me sleep at night.  Can you imagine it with a little tuba?  Sweet.

 

Thanks for posting that, lol.  I knew I could count on you -

 

 

P.S.  I still dance like that.

Edited June 18, 2016 by manitou

[Marblehead]

I'm actually proud of being as old as I am.  It means that I have not been too reckless and I have not pissed anyone off so badly that they decided to kill me.

 

That song, "Bird is the Word" just did nothing for me when it was popular.  No, I would never be able to imagine that song with any kind of instruments.

 

Well, good that you still dance.  Dancing freely and spontaneously means we are still alive and an emotional person.

 

However, I'll bet you don't belly dance to that song.

[manitou]

Jim, I was just kidding about the tuba, lol.

 

I tried belly dancing to that song once and nearly flogged myself to death with cellulite.

[Marblehead]

This morning while working outside I was taking a break watching for the birds and something other passed by.

 

A young boy, maybe just in his early teens was walking his dog.

 

Well, not really "walking" his dog.  Yes, the dog was walking.  The dog had a collar and leash.  The boy was holding the other end of the leash.  Not walking though.  He was on his skateboard.  The dog was pulling the boy down the road.  It appeared that both were enjoying it very much.

[Marblehead]

I saw the hummer this morning drinking from the feeder.  It actually perched and stood drinking for about 30 seconds.

 

Something I think is cute that has been going on for a while.

 

I have mentioned that the pigeons come around and eat the bird and cat food.  Well, there are a couple pigeons who fly in to the cat food bowls.  They will eat everything available and then go for the bird feed.

 

There is about twenty-five feet separation between the cat food and the bird food.  There is a walk way between the two made of mostly 18" x 18" walkway squares.  There is a small space between each walkway square about three inches wide.

 

The pigeon will start walking toward the bird feeder, get to the first separation, pause and then jump to the next square continuing this process until it reaches the bird feeding area.

 

It would be so easy for it to fly from the one area to the other but for whatever the reason it prefers walking and jumping.

Edited June 23, 2016 by Marblehead

[Junko]

I wonder why birds sing?

[Marblehead]

I wonder why birds sing?

 

We call it singing.  They are talking.  Most of it is about claiming territory and calling for a mate.  Not much different from humans.

[Junko]

What are birds talking about? Are they talking about peace?

[Marblehead]

 Are they talking about peace?

I so wish I could say "Yes" in response to your question.  However, life in the wild isn't all that peaceful.  Lots of aggression going on and lots of talk similar to what we hear from North Korea.

[blue eyed snake]

What are birds talking about? Are they talking about peace?

 

i think more like: lookout, there's the cat,

or: come here, good food. 

 

yesterday I saw two of these beauties in my backyard, think they're called eurasian jay

 

 

and this morning this small birdie, the eurasian wren. That worries me a bit, we call them winterkings and i think they should not be here in this season, i've never seen them this far into summer.

 

[manitou]

I was doing some peaceful abiding out in my yin yang garden, no thoughts going through my head.

 

I observed two sparrows on the lawn about 20 feet apart from each other, each looking down into the grass, probably for seed.  My thought process was still vacant.

 

Suddenly both birds ran balls out towards each other, still on the ground, and quickly gave each other a kiss.  Just once, with their beaks.  Then they ran back to their respective positions 20' apart.

 

A true quantum observation of a collapsing wave of improbability.

[cold]

I was resting in the shade watching my squash patch grow. The patch is about 30 feet square and expanding out at a foot or two a day in all directions. The largest leaves are a foot and half long and wide. The patch has some weeds going to seed, some in flower. First I noticed a humming bird zooming in about 5 feet above the plants hovering for just a second the darting away, feeding on mosquitos. In one area the squash leaves began to flutter, I suspected a whistling pig. But much to my surprise a juvenile cardinal emerged to capture a moth. The cardinal startled the doves which were feeding on the grass going to seed. Also got the resident mocking birds attention. The hawk sounded off and a murder of crows arrived over head in pursuit of the hawk. Moments like that are pure joy.

[manitou]

In my yin yang garden last night at dusk again.

 

A big black carpenter bee was buzzing about the phlox, looking for nectar.  i had never noticed before that the carpenter bees look below the blossom, where the stem of the blossom meets the greener part of the stem.  Right at that junction is where they feed.

 

But suddenly a pink blossom fell off the plant, and the bee carried it down to the earth.  It fell slower than normal gravity would dictate, it rather floated to the earth because the bee was flying with this huge blossom in its grasp.

 

Now, I wondered, was the bee trying to break the fall of the blossom, as an act of kindness?  Or was the bee unaware that the blossom had fallen off the plant?  The bee was under the blossom - I wonder if he hurt his little head.  Was the bee just a mite confused?

 

At any rate, it was magical and down the rabbit hole.

[joeblast]

Funny yesterday, I watched a hawk chase a little bird into my neighbors yard, and then go OH SHIT!!! as the big dog in the yard immediately jumped up and after the hawk. 

 

Lil birdy smiled from the bushes

[Marblehead]

The bee was under the blossom - I wonder if he hurt his little head.  Was the bee just a mite confused?

 

 

The bee was drunk from all the nectar.

[manitou]

speaking of carpenter bees - has anyone ever seen their incredible calculus when they are ascending into one of their little round holes under a wooden overhang?  Incredible.  they'll start an arc in a pendulum motion from about a foot below where the hole is overhead, and start swinging in a maybe 45 degree arc, the arc being equidistant on both sides of the hole.  The hole is circular, maybe 3/4 inch in diameter.  Then, as though they have an invisible string pulling them up through the hole, they will slowly ascend, continuing their pendulum motion, but the degree of the arc diminishes the closer they get to the hole.  By the time they've fully ascended and reached their mark the pendulum has stopped, and they zoom right into their little condo.  What an incredible triangulation, done with a calculus that demonstrates an unbelievable innate intelligence.

Edited August 12, 2016 by manitou

[joeblast]

Does the degree of the arc really diminish, or are they simply keeping the same arc while the distance closes

 

( I had that a bit backward, the arc is the segment,  can keep 45 degrees while diminishing the arc and closing distance...)

Edited August 12, 2016 by joeblast

[manitou]

The arc, which would follow the circumference of a circle, remains the same - but the degree diminishes as they get closer to the hole - no longer a need for a full 45 degree swing, it might be down to 3 degrees at the hole, then finally down to nothing and they pop right in.  I'm not a mathematician so maybe I'm looking at it wrong.  I'm looking at the degree as would be measured from the radius to the triangle of the outer circumference terminal points getting smaller and smaller as he approaches; the degree of angle of a measuring protractor diminishing.  But he never flatlines, I don't think.  It's the same arc all the way up.

 

Perhaps we can get federal funding to study this phenomenon.  

[joeblast]

you understand it in your head right

 

the arc is the segment, that diminishes

 

the angle in degrees stays the same for concentric circles.

 

if ee kept the same arc length, ee'd be making a lot of movement at the entrance

Edited August 12, 2016 by joeblast

[Miffymog]

The arc, which would follow the circumference of a circle, remains the same - but the degree diminishes as they get closer to the hole - no longer a need for a full 45 degree swing, it might be down to 3 degrees at the hole, then finally down to nothing and they pop right in.  I'm not a mathematician so maybe I'm looking at it wrong.  I'm looking at the degree as would be measured from the radius to the triangle of the outer circumference terminal points getting smaller and smaller as he approaches; the degree of angle of a measuring protractor diminishing.  But he never flatlines, I don't think.  It's the same arc all the way up.

 

Perhaps we can get federal funding to study this phenomenon.  

 

 

They've done studies measuring the speed of a dog as it runs to catch a thrown ball. I'm afraid that it was a while ago that I read it and so I don't have a source for it nor can I tell you exactly what the equation was - but they found that the equation that described their speed was a differential of the tangent of the angle that the dog was looking up at.

 

Basically, the dog's brain was performing calculus at high speed, without the dog being aware of it. This may be similar to those bees.

[manitou]

Astounding, the workings of nature.

 

Unfortunately, we've taken a mystical moment of magic and awe and turned into into a total mind fork.

 

Whippet.  Whippet good, lol.

Edited August 12, 2016 by manitou

[mostly_empty]

They've done studies measuring the speed of a dog as it runs to catch a thrown ball. I'm afraid that it was a while ago that I read it and so I don't have a source for it nor can I tell you exactly what the equation was - but they found that the equation that described their speed was a differential of the tangent of the angle that the dog was looking up at.

 

Basically, the dog's brain was performing calculus at high speed, without the dog being aware of it. This may be similar to those bees.

 

 

Reference tau - the rate of change of the apparent angle to the apparent size being a constant that describes the distance from you.

 

More to the point - an amusing coincidence that something with this phonology so correctly describes the relations in the world...

Perhaps dogs are "tau-ist" after all.

[joeblast]

http://news.sky.com/story/birds-sing-special-song-to-babies-through-shell-10542774

[Marblehead]

I saw my hummingbird earlier this afternoon.

 

There is a young pair of Mourning Doves hanging around mostly in the afternoon doing a little eating, drinking, and basically just hanging out.

[manitou]

http://news.sky.com/story/birds-sing-special-song-to-babies-through-shell-10542774

 

The intelligence built into nature just gives me the chills.  I'm so glad mankind has gotten to the point where we can determine the workings of this incredible intelligence, and I am heartened to know that there are studies being done to explore this - it seems to counter-balance all the negative.

 

I spent the last couple days in Las Vegas - watched covies of quail, the young trailing behind the adults - so many little juveniles!  I counted 18 in one group - they look like little ball bearings rolling around, and with their sandy coloration, they blend right in with the ground.  So cute.  And the hummingbirds!  Watching from my vantage point of inside a restaurant but seated next to a big view window, the hummers would dart right toward the window going for insects, I suspect - they were doing it down at the bottom, not as though they were confused by the reflection.  I think they were Calliope's, not sure.

 

What subtle beauty in the desert - so many funny little sounds and rustlings - plus coyotes.  And migrating ducks and the occasional Brandt's cormorant on a golf course pond.  Just a little patience yields lots of sightings of wonderful things -