Bad Cat!!

   When Son named the half-grown cat that we "inherited", he said Bat stood for black cat.  He also mentioned that it could be appropriate for bad cat.  We laughed because up to that point, this was the most laid back, well behaved cat we had ever seen.  Bad cat, indeed.  Little did we know that once he received his name that assured him a place in this home, he would start being a rascal.

  As usual, I let the cat roam free in the house while I went out to grind more of the hurricane debris into mulch.  I work for about four hours then take a water break.  Since I rest for maybe ten minutes before starting anew, I play with the cat to work out some of his energy.  Well, that energy had already been spent before I took my break.  Whoa!  What a mess I found when I finally came inside.  Goodness, Bat!

  The Little Bayou House is filled with all sorts of oddities.  Most are antiques that I acquired over the past 50 years or so.  I have been told that I am the "Keeper of Weird and Wonderful Things" and that moniker fits nicely.  Bat seems to think that my weird and wonderful things are his play toys.  He attacked the hat boxes and hats from my great-grandfather's hat shop!  I came inside to find feathers floating about the room, a stack of hats and boxes askew and a very frustrated looking cat. I do believe he was aggravated that I disturbed his playtime.  Ugh!  Bad Cat!! Bad cat, indeed! The saga has begun.  I can see it now.  Bad cat!

Help Comes In All Shapes

   This past year has been a rough one in so many ways...not just for me but for people everywhere.  While others faced a world-wide pandemic, I faced more personal storms in the way of illness and, well, storms.  Generally, the year 2020 has officially been marked down as a pretty rotten year for most folks.  Still, we have to look at things in a different perspective if we ever wish to get past our troubles.  I, for one, refuse to let things linger long. 

  All along the top edge of one section of the garden fence, there are dozens of cormorant feathers tucked safely in between the wire and railing.  Why?  Well, it all started as a way of coping with the massive cleanup after Hurricane Zeta.  I had found a long, black feather in the debris.  Not thinking much about it since surely a few feathers were lost during the storm, I stuck that feather into the crevice of the bark of a pine tree.  I promptly forgot about the feather until I found another.  That, too, was stuck in the tree bark.  Then another...and another.  About this time, Son was becoming a bit confused and questioned my actions.  Flippantly, I replied that I was saving the feathers in case I came across the whole bird.  "The bird will need its feathers once I find it!"  It had already become clear that the bird had not survived.  As I worked, I kept poking feathers along the tree trunk. It was Son who first stuck one in the garden fence and I soon followed suit.  Thus, our feathered fence became a thing.

 After a few days, finding and collecting the feathers sort of blocked out the reality of the devastation around us.  We could focus our attention on retrieving the feathers and not the huge piles of debris.  Silly?  Probably to most folks but to us, it was simply an act to relieve stress.  (It still saddens me that the bird perished during the storm.)  Now, the top of the fence proudly wears the feathered crown and I am reminded to not let stress get to me.  I assume that the feathers will stay as long as Mother Nature allows them to do so.  The wind and rain have split and curled the feathers into curious shapes so that now they are more of a point of interest in the yard...a point of interest that saved a bit of my sanity.

Drying Out

   Earlier today, I managed to slip down to the pier in between rain showers.  The weather is on one of those quirky runs again with rain ruling the night and morning with the temperatures hovering around 80.  By late afternoon, the winds shifted and the temperatures are to drop to the mid 30s by midnight.  Well now!  That is nigh on a 50 (supposedly) degree drop in a few hours!  Crazy! But being on the pier felt good today.  

  While there, I watched as several cormorants were air-drying their wings.  The birds were perched on the posts of my brother's pier just to my west.  They had their wings held out to let the warm air dry them so they could go right back to diving for more fish.  Cormorants have relatively short wings compared to other birds.  This is to allow them to swim better underwater.  They use the wings sort of like rudders to steer themselves along.  The bird spends so much time underwater that their feathers become waterlogged and need to be dried occasionally.  Perching on some convenient post or pier with wings widespread is their way of drying.  The short wings do not seem to cause any problems during flight other than it is a bit more taxing on the bird.  Underwater, however, the cormorants are pros at speeding along.

  The birds, today, took no notice of my camera being pointed at them.  They were intent on drying out enough to get back to hunting for their supper before the chill sets in for the night.  

Feathers, Feathers, Feathers!

  My word!!!  It looks like several chickens molted in the Little Bayou House! Or maybe we had a massive pillow fight!  Or maybe my feather duster broke free and is flying away. Feathers are floating everywhere!  Fluffy, black feathers can be found scooting across the floor with each whirl of the ceiling fans.  Twirly, black feathers are peeking out from under furniture.  Tiny tidbits of black feathers are stuck to the sofa, to clothes and even the old dog.  Feathers, feathers, feathers are everywhere!  I have been startled more than once, in recent weeks, by a stray feathers wisping along the floor.  They sure are reminiscent of mice scurrying underfoot!

  I had no idea when I bought the two long, black feather boas that the things would shed so much.  With the theme of the Sixth Annual Clue Hunt on the Bayou being a masquerade ball, I needed a ballgown.  I had the bright idea (with the help of darling daughter) to pattern my costume after a raven.  A raven has made its appearance in almost every hunt since its beginning, so it was only logical that I be the raven.  That said, a raven needs feathers so my gown has feathers.  Two long boas have been stitched along the hem and up the front right side of the gown making it flow nicely.  More feathers are to be added to the wrists and the shoulders.  I will indeed resemble a bird!  The gown has lots of feathers...at least for the moment.  As it stands, the boas are molting and are soon to be bald, at this rate.  The first clue hunt run is this Friday so I need to gather up all of the loose feathers.  What am I saying??  No need to do that as I am sure I will be leaving a trail behind me with every step I take!  Fun times on the Bayou!

Not The Most Pleasant

  Not every hike about the hillside is pleasant.  Sometimes, a find along the way can be saddening.  This morning, a pile of feathers meant that another songbird met its untimely death in the clutches of the Cooper's Hawk.  These hawks are amazingly agile hunters and can swoop in and out of tree branches without ever making contact with any.  This gives the hawk and almost unfair advantage over other birds.  A Cooper's Hawk rarely ever misses its target.  Besides using the speed and agility, the bird also relies upon stealth in its quest for a meal.   Just last year, I watched as a young hawk fly into the hickory tree just above the feeders.  Before dawn, it would take its station in the tree to await the songbirds that would come for breakfast.  Then, at daybreak, it would choose its prey and swoop down for an easy meal.

  I used to enjoy watching the birds come to the feeders but since the hawks have moved into the area, that is not an option.  It is not up to me to fatten the doves for a hawk's meal.  Now, the feeders sit empty and my songbirds have moved to other areas.  Perhaps, if the food source is removed, the hawks will find another breeding ground, as well.   My yard is not their diner!

  Finding the feathers this morning made me sad for the songbird but, in a weird (almost morbid) way, glad for the hawk.  If the hawk is able to catch prey, then it is healthy. I do enjoy watching the hawks but wish they would eat the voles that plague the garden instead of the songbirds that visit the feeders. 

Proof of Residence!

  The other day, I went out to gather hickory nuts for the fireplace.  The nuts burn slow and produce a great amount of heat.  Since the nuts are too hard to crack to be of any other use, I figure I might as well make use of them somehow.  Once a fire is started in the old woodstove and has burned down to a good pile of hot coals, I can pour a gallon bucket of nuts into the firebox and they will do a slow burn for hours.  Keep in mind that this is a woodstove that can be completely closed so I do not have to worry about any sparks or nutshell pieces popping out on the hardwood floors.  Once the hotplate is placed back on the top of the stove, I just let it burn.  It sure feels fine!

  On my way back from gathering the nuts, I spied two large bird feathers on the ground.  Hmmm....some bird must be molting!  The feathers were a striking black and white with the black at the tip.  Each feather was nigh on seven inches in length and judging from the shape, one was from each wing...left and right.  From the size of the feathers and from the color arrangement, I knew right away that these were from the Pileated Woodpecker that visited the yard.  I have had a pair hanging around for quite some time now and last year, they raised two little ones to adulthood.  When the parent birds brought the youngsters to the yard, I was simply elated.  It is nice to see that the birds are thriving here on the Bayou.

  Pileated Woodpeckers are the largest of all woodpeckers that inhabit the area.  At one time, the Ivory-billed Woodpeckers held that reign but since their near extinction, they are not known to be around here any more.  Now the Pileated reigns as king woodpecker this far south.  The bird is normally quite shy around humans and prefers to stay deep in the woods.  I know for a fact that their nest is in a dead tree far down in the creek bed.  Still, they visit the yard often which brings a smile.  I like the birds and their unusual look.  The birds are mostly black and white but have a striking flame-red, triangular-shaped crest.  Males have a red stripe on each cheek.  

A family of Pileated Woodpeckers that visited the yard last year.

  The woodpeckers use their beaks and strong neck muscles to drum on dead trees as a method of claiming territory.  Their heavy drumming can be heard echoing through the creek bed in the late afternoon.  They also use the large beak to drill rectangular holes in dead trees as they search for ants and beetles.  A much deeper hole will be drilled to use as a nesting site.  In the tree chosen for a nest, the Pileated Woodpecker will drill up to sixteen holes that are all connected to the nest cavity. These tunnels and holes are "doorways" that allow for easy escape if a predator enters the nesting cavity.  The female lays up to five eggs in the cavity but usually only two chicks ever survive.  

  Finding the two feathers means that my woodpeckers are doing well and will soon be nesting once again.  Perhaps I will have more visitors to the yard come springtime.

Those Eyes!

  Growing up on the farm, we had a wide assortment of animals. There were the usual "farm" animals such as cows, hogs and chickens in the barns, the yard was filled with numerous cats and dogs and the pond always had ducks.  Occasionally, someone would give us critters that they no longer wanted.  Pop took them in and we fed them with the rest of the menagerie.  Geese and turkeys roamed the yard with the chickens and there was even a time when a pair of Easter rabbits found their way to the place.  But there was always one critter that I wished would suddenly appear in the yard..it just never happened.  I wanted peafowl!  In my young mind, there was nothing more magical, more beautiful....and more elusive than the peacock!  I had my first sighting of the birds at a young age.  If you walked through the fields behind the house, then took a nice long hike through the woods and, then, crossed the street, a lady had peafowls in her yard!  I had gone there one time with Pop and was mesmerized by the gorgeous birds from that day forward.  I still am.

  Peafowl (the female is a peahen and the male is a peacock) are not much good on a farm for egg-laying purposes but could be worth their weight in gold as protection.  The birds will eat snakes...even venomous ones.  That, alone, would make their upkeep a minor thing. Then there is the profitable market for the plumes.  Those beautiful, colorful feathers of blues, greens, purples and blacks.  These feathers are some of the most recognizable plumage in the world and are very sought after for decorations and costuming.  It is this market for feathers which brings me to my point today.  The peafowl feather market is sustainable!  The bird does not have to be harmed to retain the feathers as the bird fully molts each year.  During the year, the feathers drop a few at a time until the bird has an entirely new set. This brings me to another point.  

  The peafowl (in particular the peacock) is revered in many parts of the world for those fantastic feathers.  Their molting or shedding of feathers is seen as a divine representation of  renewal and  rebirth. With the coming of spring, the bird is plumed anew in all its glory.  Think about it.  What better time to be spiritually reborn than spring?........Just think about it.  I hope you all had a Blessed Easter and have a wonderful spring.   

A change of the wardrobe!

Walking always seems to be a good time to ponder things.  While out and about in the fresh air with nothing clogging the brain, I can usually delve deep into all sorts of things.  The peace and quiet of the Bayou offers no interruptions.  Today's pondering?  Feathers! As Ms. Ez and I meandered about the hillside this afternoon, I noticed a large feather on the ground.  Being the curious person that I am, I picked up the feather to examine it closer.  Hmmm?  I do believe this was an owl feather!  It was creamy in color with brown markings but the telltale characteristic that led me to an owl was the wispy, fringe-like edge to the feather.  This soft edge allows the owl to fly silently through the air.  The fringe breaks up or muffles the sound of the air rushing over the wing.  If you ever have the opportunity to be near an owl in flight..listen! You will be hard-pressed to hear anything!  The owl is the original "Stealth"!  It is no wonder that they are expert hunters!  

There is nothing unusual about finding an occasional feather while out walking but today was a tad different.  I found twenty-six feathers all within a time frame of about twenty minutes.  Along with the one large owl feather, I found two smaller, softer feathers from an owl.  Then I found some from blue jays, doves, redwinged blackbirds and redheaded woodpeckers.   There are a couple of feathers that I have not positively identified.   Still, it was interesting that I found so many feathers today.  I thought some of these feathers might have been lost during some squabble or maybe from a larger bird attacking a smaller one but the randomness of their placement gave me doubts of this.  None were in close proximity to others.  They were scattered over the entire hill leading me to think this was more feather loss due to molting.  Perhaps the birds are shedding their breeding plumage and trading it for their non-breeding plumage of winter.  It is sort of like us pulling out our winter sweaters in preparation for the coming cooler weather! Ahh, yes...cooler weather..sounds nice!

Easily amused

My son, Michael, has repeatedly said that I am easily amused.  He usually says this when I am totally absorbed in something so trivial as the construction of a wing from a dead cicada or the number of toes on a gecko.  It is not that I am actually "just" amused..these things are important!  I am not sure why they are important but they just are!  I am thinking it is because all of these "trivial" things are part of life and life is important.  Too many folks never take the time to observe these sorts of things so I guess I just have to make up for everyone's slacking!

The other day, I found myself engrossed in the construction of a feather.  Under the bird feeders, there were two feathers.  One was from a Redwinged Blackbird and the other from a Blue Jay.  The feathers sat one on top of the other as if someone had carefully laid them on the ground.  That was interesting enough but I was more intrigued by the way the sunlight played on the colors and the tiny barbs that held the feather together.  The color was almost iridescent!  The blues and blacks of the feathers sparkled in the sun.  It is no wonder that birds are so beautiful!  They wear the most exciting clothes!  The barbs are sort of like Velcro.  Once pulled apart, the bird can preen the feather back into place.  This comes in handy since without that delightful trick, the bird would become quite ragged in just a matter of days.  I tried my hand at "rezipping" the feathers..it did not work!  How can a bird, that has no fingers, zip the barbs back together?  I tried several times to make the feather all intact and pretty again but failed with each attempt.  I am not good at this preening stuff!

It is small things like these feathers that I find most enthralling.  I have said it before and will probably say it a thousand times more but I think folks need to start noticing the fantastical world around them.  Folks..slow down a bit and take notice of some of the things that you are passing each day.  These "unnoticed treasures" might not be around forever especially if we do not start taking better care of this old earth.

The Gruesome Discovery

 As I was having my first mug of coffee, a clattering of Blue Jays made me aware that some predator was prowling the Bayou. I peered into the early morning darkness but nothing could be seen from the kitchen door.  Just the old tomcat, I supposed as I finished the last sip.  Nothing to be alarmed about as he was a bit too lazy to catch anything.  I glanced at the stairway just to be sure that Ms. Put was still inside.  She stretched and ambled down the step into the kitchen as if to say, "Its not me this time!"  After feeding her, I headed out the door to the pier.  Last evening, I had set the crab pots and I was in hopes of having a dozen or so fat crabs this morning.  The sun was just coming up so I had to watch my step.  I did not want to find a moccasin..the hard way.  The birds were still uneasy about something.  Now the Red-winged Blackbirds had joined the Blue Jays in their proclamations of danger.  Somewhere near a predator lurked..somewhere near another creature was in peril..I just did not know how quickly I was to discover the evidence.

The startling surprise came as soon as I stepped on the pier!  A whoosh of wings and a loud shriek scared the bejeebies out of me!  Being careful of where I was stepping, I had unwittingly walked right up on a hawk and its prey.  Obviously, this Red-shouldered Hawk had caught a Mourning Dove not long before and was using my pier as its dining table.  It was too busy eating to notice my footsteps and I was too busy watching my footsteps to notice the hawk!  When I startled it, the hawk grasped its breakfast and flew to the top of a nearby pine tree.  Only the gruesome evidence was left behind.  There on the pier was masses of feathers of what once was one of my doves!  This is the third one, to my knowledge, that the Red-shouldered Hawk has caught this month.  I have even stopped feeding the birds in the front yard as I felt as I was just fattening them up for the hawk!  Doves do not seem to be the brightest of birds as they will just squat when threatened.  If a hawk flies over, their seemingly best defense is to flatten themselves against the ground. Perhaps they think they are camouflaged enough to disappear from the hawk's vision or perhaps they panic and just freeze.  I hate to tell them but the technique is not working!  This is not a defense against the agility and strength of a hawk!  Fly..fly away, dove..do not squat there waiting to be eaten!  I have seen this Red-shouldered Hawk fly in before daybreak.  It sits in a large hickory tree waiting until the birds gather for breakfast and then swoops down to grasp its chosen target.  Usually, it will then fly off to some treetop to devour its meal.  This time, however, the pier served as its feasting place. I am not sure how to rectify the problem of the hawk dining on my yard birds but something has to be done!  Since I am so against killing off any of the birds..hawks included..perhaps I will have to devise a more secure feeding area for the yard birds.  (Just a note..it is illegal to kill a bird of prey..so don't do it!) ....Or maybe I could just have survival classes for the doves!

Birds of a Feather....

Out and about, I find an interest in a number of things that most people would just pass by and never even notice. Case in point...a bird's feather that was on the ground. Not that this was any special feather to anyone other than the bird that lost it. It seems like this would not be too appropriate of time to be losing feathers since we are facing perhaps some of the coldest weather yet of this winter. Some poor bird is a bit colder tonight just because of this one feather. This particular feather came from a Blue Jay. As raucous as they get, the Jay might have lost this feather while aggravating some other poor bird or perhaps the Sparrow Hawk took a liking to Jay for a meal!

All birds have feathers and anything that has feathers is a bird..wow! Imagine that...birds of a feather and all of that. Anyway, this feather interested me to the point that I became curious of just how a bird uses its feathers to keep warm. I grabbed the feather and headed to the computer to do a little research. I was right in assuming that when a bird fluffs out its feathers, it is actually insulating itself with layers of air trapped between the feathers. Smart birds! So the next time you see a nice fluffy bird, you will know that it is cold outside! They are sort of like a thermometer...you can tell the temperature by how fluffy they are!

Cardinal fluffed out against the cold.

I did, however, learn something about feathers that I did not know! They are made sort of like zippers! It seems that feathers have a central shaft called a rachis and a bunch of smaller side branches. These side branches are then divided into subbranches or the feathery part as we see it. The subbranches are actually little barbs. The barbules are connected together with little hooklets. Hmmmm..I have never heard of those words before! After reading about the barbules and hooklets..this all began to make sense, though. If you have ever seen a feather that is sort of ragged or separated and then smoothed it back together again by running your fingers over it, you have just connected the barbules and hooklets! You sort of "zipped" the feather back together again! This explains why birds preen their feathers so much! They are zipping them back together again! Ok..so we all knew that feathers were a bird's clothes..now with all of this zipping, it is a proven fact!

Mockingbird using the insulation of his feathers to stay warm!

I worry about my little adopted Mockingbirds out in weather like this. I sure hope they learned how to zip up their feathers and fluff out against the cold! Knox..Shelby..zip up those coats..it is going to be a cold one out there tonight!