Foreign Language Skills
March 28th, 2010
Sometimes you just suspect it, but then other times it's undeniable.
I had scattered sunflower seeds on a rock and a chickadee landed there to pick through them. At just that time, a red-winged blackbird some distance away, at the top of a tree, uttered a RWB-style alarm call, i.e., a call used to warn other red-winged blackbirds that a potential predator, such as a raptor, is near. (You've probably heard it before: a high-pitched piercing note, falling in tone, or sometimes three or more such notes in quick succession. The latter is a more urgent call, I suspect, and is the one he used in this case.)
The chickadee made a sort of startled chirrup, left the seeds behind, and immediately dove for cover in the nearest bush.
I was also mildly surprised and thoroughly pleased to run into a Wild Turkey at Mud Lake this morning. He was right at the start of the trail, off Cassels. He slipped away down a side path as I approached. Turkeys tend to be fairly sedentary, so there's a good chance I'll get to photograph him on some future visit before he moves on.
March 28th, 2010
Sometimes you just suspect it, but then other times it's undeniable.
I had scattered sunflower seeds on a rock and a chickadee landed there to pick through them. At just that time, a red-winged blackbird some distance away, at the top of a tree, uttered a RWB-style alarm call, i.e., a call used to warn other red-winged blackbirds that a potential predator, such as a raptor, is near. (You've probably heard it before: a high-pitched piercing note, falling in tone, or sometimes three or more such notes in quick succession. The latter is a more urgent call, I suspect, and is the one he used in this case.)
The chickadee made a sort of startled chirrup, left the seeds behind, and immediately dove for cover in the nearest bush.
I was also mildly surprised and thoroughly pleased to run into a Wild Turkey at Mud Lake this morning. He was right at the start of the trail, off Cassels. He slipped away down a side path as I approached. Turkeys tend to be fairly sedentary, so there's a good chance I'll get to photograph him on some future visit before he moves on.
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