Capital Giraffe – adventures of a washingtonian

Sound the Alarm

February 4th, 2020

The song of the northern cardinal sounds like a car alarm to my ear – so much so that if I didn’t know their song so well, I might think the sounds were coming from a mockingbird who was imitating a car alarm. I have never come across another description of the northern cardinal’s song that matches my own and so I must conclude that I am alone in my opinion, but if you have the chance, dear reader, to listen to a northern cardinal sing, do let me know if you agree with me!

Northern cardinals are territorial birds who rigorously defend their territories during the breeding season. That said, I often see many cardinals in the same area getting along just fine. I saw two bright-red male cardinals on a lawn with only about 24 inches between them when I was out walking today. They seemed to be on friendly terms, though I could hear the car-alarm song of another northern cardinal somewhere nearby. Perhaps that unseen, third bird was not at all cool with the situation.

XOXO,
Bernice
Song in Every Breath

January 28th, 2020

I was pretty sure I heard a winter wren’s beautiful song on my walk this morning. When I got home I looked the song of the winter wren up online and I had been right! And you know how much I love it when I am right!

Readers of this blog will have noticed I link to a podcast called BirdNote with some frequency. It is my absolute favorite podcast. I love the short format, I love the digestible nuggets of information, and I love hearing the bird songs included in each episode.

A few BirdNote episodes popped up when I searched for winter wrens and I learned an absolutely fascinating new thing today about these birds: winter wrens sing when they are exhaling, just like the rest of us. But did you know that they also sing while inhaling? Isn’t that amazing? If this fact is not striking you as impressive-as-heck, I suggest you try it right now – try to sing something while inhaling – I bet you cannot do it!

XOXO,
Bernice
Close Your Eyes and Listen

January 21st, 2020

I can carry a tune and I don’t think I am somehow disabled when it comes to my hearing, but I confess that recognizing an unseen bird from its song alone is not my strong suit as a birder. It’s a skill I am working on.

Sometimes Hector and I play a game in which we take turns testing each other. One of us will play a bird song recording found online and the other one of us will guess which bird was singing. Sometimes we guess correctly, but usually we do not. Hopefully we will get better with time!

The other day I heard what I thought was the sound of quite a few white-throated sparrows singing nearby. I looked high and low but I never did see any white-throated sparrows, so I couldn’t verify the accuracy of my guess right then and there. I did my best to memorize the tune and I raced home to look white-throated sparrows up online. I listened to quite a few recordings and I think my guess was correct.

Can you recognize any birds by their song alone?

XOXO,
Bernice

PS: I have two links to podcasts from BirdNote to share with you this week and both feature white-throated sparrows: Voices and Vocabularies – Three Hidden Sparrows and Bird Song, Music, and Neuroscience. Enjoy!
Familiar Faces

January 14th, 2020

I have not yet discussed house sparrows in this blog, which strikes me as an obscene oversight because house sparrows are the most common bird on earth!

I am sure that you, dear reader, are familiar with house sparrows already, but did you know that these birds are not native to North America? House sparrows were brought to this continent by humans close to 170 years ago. These small songbirds thrived here and can now be found from coast to coast.

House sparrows are often derided: they are an invasive species that compete with native birds for resources. That said, being brought here was hardly the fault of the birds, and it is just plain old unfair to hate them for something so beyond their control.

House sparrows live wherever humans live. If you keep your eyes open, you will notice house sparrow nests in all kinds of urban nooks and crannies like traffic lights, the eaves of houses, and vents. Or you may encounter house sparrows the way I did earlier today. I was just about to enjoy my last slice of acacia pizza when I was distracted by the sight of a raptor perched in a tree in the distance. I walked away from my pizza for just a few minutes to try to get a better look at the bird and when I returned, house sparrows were busy nibbling my pizza! Even though I had really been looking forward to eating that last slice of my vegan pizza, I decided I had better leave it to the birds – the tapioca cheese had little sparrow footprints in it and I found that quite unappetizing.

XOXO,
Bernice

PS: I have three more fabulous links about house sparrows for you today. The first is an article from Smithsonian Magazine entitled The Story of the Most Common Bird in the World. The second is an article from the Audubon Society called How the House Sparrow Conquered the World Is Encoded in Its Genes. Finally, I found a marvelous video from National Geographic called You’re a Sparrow. Here’s How to Survive New York. Enjoy!
Wintering Juncos

January 7th, 2020

Hector and I saw a bunch of dark-eyed juncos flitting around on the ground yesterday. I don’t know what startled them, but they suddenly moved as a group and flew up into the branches of a nearby eastern hemlock.

Here in the east, we have slate-colored dark-eyed juncos, but these common-in-winter sparrows come in a wide variety of colors. One might not realize that, for example, the brown dark-eyed juncos in Oregon are the same species as the pink-sided dark-eyed juncos of the southwest – they look like totally different birds. That said, dark-eyed juncos do have a few things in common when it comes to their appearance: they all have dark eyes, pale beaks and white outer-tail feathers.

Have you seen any dark-eyed juncos this winter? What do they look like in your neck of the woods?

XOXO,
Bernice
Farewell to 2019

December 31st, 2019

As the year comes to a close, I wanted to take a quick break from my new year’s eve party preparations to write one final 2019 post. I am going to have to multitask – I am starving – so I will be having a bit of a snack while I write this.

First of all, I would like to thank my muses, Ella and Abby, for all the fabulous inspiration this year! It’s such a blessing to have such wonderful muses, and I wouldn’t want you to think I take you for granted.

Next, I’d like to thank my Dad, my most prolific commenter, for his delightful notes.

It would be quite remiss to not thank my illustrator, Auntie NuNu, for her lovely drawings. NuNu misses quite a few deadlines, but as I do not pay her, I can hardly complain. And I am always happy with her work when she gets it to me, even when she is late.

Finally, dear readers, I would like to thank you all for taking an interest in my adventures. I feel so honored that you do.

Happy New Year to you all!

XOXO,
Bernice
The Shortest Day of the Year

December 24th, 2019

For those of us living north of the equator, Saturday was the winter solstice, which is the shortest day of the year.

I didn’t do anything in particular to celebrate, but I do always look forward to the winter solstice because once it’s behind us, the days start getting longer. We will get just a touch more sunlight every single day until the summer solstice (June 20th), when, alas, the days will begin to get shorter again.

I prefer the long days and short nights of summer because more daylight hours mean more birding hours. But I realize my tastes may not be universal.

How about you? Do you like the short days and long nights of winter? Or do you, like me, prefer the long days and short nights of summer?

XOXO,
Bernice

PS: I want to share three links with you today that will explain the why of the winter solstice. The first is from PBS Kids’ Nature Cat. The second is from the Register-Guard newspaper’s YouTube channel and features the director of the Eugene Science Center Planetarium, who does a wonderful job of explaining the winter solstice. The third is from BBC News and covers the same topic. All three videos are under three minutes long. Enjoy!
When the Challenge Is the Reward

December 17th, 2019

I adore ice skating. Have I mentioned that before?

My non-giraffe readers may assume I can indulge my passion for skating any old time of year because, of course, there are indoor rinks. But at over sixteen feet tall, indoor ice-skating rinks are not an option for me. I must wait each year for the weather to become cold enough for outdoor ice rinks to open.

Luckily for me, there are quite a few great outdoor ice-skating options here in the D.C. area. I took Louisa to my absolute favorite, the National Gallery of Art ice rink, yesterday. Louisa is very athletic and she is a marvelous skater. She floats around the ice with stylish elegance. I admire her skill.

As for me, I gracelessly fumble around the ice and I fall quite frequently, especially in the beginning of the season when I am out of practice. But the challenge is the fun for me. I even kind of like the twinge of fear I feel when I first step out onto the ice, feeling like I cannot get my four feet organized under me, the very real possibility of slipping and falling imminent.

I eventually find my groove and manage to circle the rink with some speed and grace. It’s always such a hard-won victory! I think those infrequent moments are what make the whole endeavor so addictive for me.

Do you have something you like to do because it’s hard? Something in which the challenge itself is the reward?

XOXO,
Bernice
Let’s Talk About Beaks

December 10th, 2019

Have you noticed what a wide variety of beaks there are in the world? Bird beaks, or bills, come in a lot of different sizes and shapes. This is not random – the shape of a bird’s bill has to do with what it eats – bird bills function as tools birds use to gather and break food down with.

Let’s compare and contrast the bills of two different kinds of birds I see frequently here in D.C.:

Ruby-throated hummingbirds, which visit this area in summer, have long, thin beaks. Their beaks look like drinking straws and they function a bit like them, too: a ruby-throated hummingbird pokes its long, straw-like beak down the middle of a flower in order to drink the nectar found inside. The hummingbird’s beak is shaped in a special way to do the specific job of nectar-drinking.

Northern cardinals, which can be found in this area all year long, have short, triangular beaks. Triangles are strong and stable and having a triangular beak helps cardinals do the tough work of cracking open shells so they can get to the edible seeds inside. Again, the cardinal’s specific beak shape is ideally suited for the job it needs to do.

For a deeper dive into this topic, check out this thirteen-minute video from Cornell University’s Naturalist Outreach called Bird Feeding Adaptations: How Beaks are Adapted to What Birds Eat. The video is substantive and worth watching, even if a teeny bit glitchy (the screen goes dark a few times and you may wonder if the video cut off prematurely. It did not. Just keep watching).

I also wanted to share the link to a post from Maine Birds, a blog I love, entitled Bills as Tools: Specialized versus Generalized. The post discusses crossed-billed birds, such as the red crossbill, who specialize in harvesting the seeds in pinecones. It is fascinating. I have never seen a crossed-bill in real life and am now absolutely dying to!

XOXO,
Bernice
On the Hunt

December 3rd, 2019

Red-tailed hawks are pretty common and if you keep your eyes peeled anywhere in the country, you just may see one yourself.

I have seen three red-tailed hawks in the last month alone. I saw one slowly circling the sky over the National Arboretum. I saw a red-tailed hawk perched on a utility pole on Massachusetts Avenue and then I saw one perched on the ridge of a gabled roof in Chevy Chase.

There is a good chance all three hawks were hunting. These raptors have excellent vision, which enables them to identify their prey from afar. Red-tailed hawks monitor the ground they are perched or flying above, watching for some small creature, like a mouse or a squirrel, to capture. When they see one, they pounce: swooping down to catch the rodent with their powerful feet.

I found a pretty awesome three-minute video of some red-tailed hawks hunting bats in Texas. It is called Red Tailed Hawk Hunts Bats and is from the good folks at BBC Earth. If you have the time, you should definitely check it out!

XOXO,
Bernice