A Bug! I Need a Bug!!

  The little teeter-tail raced up and down the pier in search of anything that resembled a bug.  The bird, a Spotted Sandpiper, was most likely a bit hungry after its long migration and a meal was of high importance. The little one needed sustenance before the cool air that was to arrive late this evening.  Up and down, up and down...searching...ever searching for one tiny bug.  I watched as the sandpiper hopped down on one post and jubilantly snatched up a spider.  In the bird's eyes, a spider would work in a pinch.  Then, on to bigger and better things, the bird found a late moth that was clinging to the old boat hook.  Well, a moth and a spider would at least give the bird energy to keep on searching for a meal.  

  It did not take long before the small bird hopped down onto the mudflats.  There, it found a plethora of midges that hovered around the mud and marsh roots.  Hoping to fill its belly, the sandpiper darted about snatching bugs in mid flight.  

  The sandpiper gets its nickname "Teeter-tail" from its habit of bobbing up and down. While there has been no scientific explanation for the teetering habit, the birds do it naturally rather quickly after hatching.  Up and down, up and down....the birds remind me of some balance toy from back when the kids were tots. 

  I sure hope my little friend can find lots to eat before the incoming cold front.  There is nothing worse than to spend a cold, wet night on an empty stomach.  Perhaps I should consider putting suet/insect blocks out on the pier in a last ditch effort to help my little friends.  Maybe??...

Birds of all sizes!

   A tiny friend came back to the Bayou in today's drizzly rain.  A wee Spotted Sandpiper flew in to rest on the pier.  While out checking the garden, I noticed the little bird.  It seemed to be not feeling too well as it was practically flat on the boards.  At first, I was not even sure the blob was a bird but figured that whatever was there needed my attention.  The trek to the pier should have only taken a moment but I was waylaid before I got there.  I heard a certain screeching in the sky and looked up to see the pair of Bald Eagles.  Alrighty then!  Perhaps I could get a photograph of these fine birds.  They soared about the hillside with such grace!  They swooped in between the pines and down near the marsh. They flew in circles about each other.  Not once, however, did they get in a good range for my camera!  I had to be happy with a long-distanced photograph where it could be argued if these were eagles at all.  The exciting interruption had not dampened my intentions of checking on my little friend, though, so down the pier, I headed.

  Sure enough, the blob was, indeed, a sandpiper.  I was relieved to find that the bird was not injured but just exhausted.  This lone sandpiper must have migrated in from parts unknown and made the decision to stop for a rest.  Even when I neared the bird, it made no effort to fly away.  It only stayed a few steps ahead of me all the way to the end of the pier.  Once there, it sort of squatted and looked at me pitifully.  "Please do not hurt me." I imagined it saying.  "Ok, little friend.  You are welcome to stay as long as you like." was my answer.

  The size difference in the two types of birds today is astronomical.  The tiny sandpiper weighs in at less than two ounces while the eagle can tip the scales at a hefty fourteen pounds!  The wingspan of a sandpiper is all of about fourteen inches while the eagle is nigh on eighty inches!  I do believe that the difference in size is massive but...what the little sandpiper lacks in size, it makes up for in personality!  The little squirt is adorable and has some funny little antics that make it quite amusing to watch!  AND...they are much easier to photograph!

Teeter-tails

  Back in the day when the kids were small, they had a few toys that were called "Weebles".  I don't even know if they still make those funny little things but the advertising jingle was something like "Weebles wobble but they won't fall down!".  Strange...very strange indeed but still sort of cute.  Now, I find that Mother Nature actually invented those Weebles long before PlaySkool did and her Teeter-tails wobble but don't fall down either.

  A lot of birds call the Bayou home during the wintertime.  There is always a food supply and the marshes offer some bit of protection from the cold.  One of the many is the sandpiper.  I only occasionally see them during the summer months but come cold weather, there will always be at least a couple resting on the pier.  Most of the ones that come are Spotted Sandpipers. Although they look similar to a lot of the other sandpipers, it is relatively easy to distinguish them by their actions.  Spotted Sandpipers wobble.  They are always teetering about like they got into some rotten grapes or something.  Up, down, up, down.  Their teetering never stops unless they become concerned about an intruder.  I have no idea why in the world they do this but it is rather comical!

  Some folks might recall a toy from years and years ago called the "Drinking Bird".  This critter would bob its head up and down while it supposedly drank. A bubble of some weird chemical inside would rise up in the glass tube of the neck and cause the toy to bob its head back into the water. When the water evaporated off the beak, it would cool the chemical causing it to slide back down to the bottom of the bird and, tada!, the bird would stand tall again....until the bubble went back up the neck. I promise!  The Spotted Sandpipers bear a great resemblance to that science-related toy!  Not in appearance but in action.  Up, down, up, down.  The bird wobbles...so much so that the action has earned the bird a nickname of "Teeter-tail".

  I like the little sandpipers that come to visit as they make me snicker. They bobble about the pier like a bunch of drunk little critters that cannot find the right step.  Their actions might seem strange but these birds are rather agile at catching bugs either in flight or on land. Gnats, mayflies, midges, moths, flies..all are fair game for the sandpipers.

***Now before anyone questions why a "Spotted Sandpiper" has no spots...this bird is in its non-breeding plumage.  During the breeding season the breast is dappled with large, dark spots.  Right now, the only spots are near the back under the tail.  Question answered before asked!***

In a "Bind"!

I wandered to the pier late this afternoon and there found that I was in a "Bind". This Bind being the collective name of a group of Spotted Sandpipers that had decided to rest on the pier. I am assuming that they are in route to some faraway place and just stopped in for a visit. According to the bird book that I was given by a "birder" cousin, these Sandpipers will winter in the South and then head back as far as Alaska or Canada to breed. There were a dozen or so of these small birds huddled together against the stiff southerly wind. The birds were all wobbling and looked as if they were going to topple head first onto the pier. I thought that they were being blown around a good bit as they were all bobbing up and down, but the bird book said that this is a trait of the species. It is called "teetering"..imagine that..hmmm..someone had to think long and hard to come up with a name as appropriate as "teetering" for a wobbly, up and down motion. The birds wobbled around for quite some time as I sat watching them. I decided that perhaps they needed to rest, so I eased off the pier and gave them their peace. Have a good night, little birds..rest up for your long journey.

Walking back up the boardwalk to the house, I realized that the Wisteria on the front arbor is brown and crispy. This is not good. I assume that it is just the drought but I have never seen Wisteria just up and die like this. Just last week, it looked great. It was full of seed pods and still bright green. Hubby was quite concerned that the Wisteria might overtake the Jasmine and Seven Sisters Rose that inhabit the same arbor. Not to worry..the Wisteria has met its demise..much to my dismay. At least the two on the back arbors still look rather healthy! This drought is killing off a lot of the garden. We try to run the sprinklers in hopes of saving what we can but I noticed that things are dropping fruit and withering. If we do not get several good soaking rains soon, the garden will be at an end as will the canning for the season. Perhaps I shall have to find more drought tolerant plants for the Summer garden. Here it is only Spring and there is a rainfall deficit of over 14 inches. The lack of rain has caused the grasses and leaves to become a severe fire threat along the Coast. We need rain! Desperately!

The earlier part of today was spent mostly in the kitchen. My brother so graciously donated me a bunch of squash..as if I did not have enough already! It seems that squash plants can do well in dry weather and so between the two of us, we have squash..lots and lots of squash! I do not care for the canned or frozen squash so just what do you do with approximately fifteen pounds of the lovely little yellow things?? Simple solution..you make relish. When all else fails, you chop everything into tiny pieces and call it squash relish! Actually, it is delicious! So, Son and I spent the morning dicing twenty-four cups of squash, twenty-four cups of onions and as many bell peppers as we could get..which was not many..only about a dozen. After chopping, the whole conglomeration was salted and iced for several hours. After mixing together the vinegar, sugar and spices, the vegetables were drained and added to the liquid to be cooked. Now there are seven quarts of beautiful relish instead of two buckets of squash! Hmmm..somehow that just doesn't add up! Twenty-four cups of squash plus twenty-four cups of onions plus the peppers, vinegar and sugar..that should be a lot more than seven quarts! Oh well..it is made, I am happy, my brother will eat relish and I have no squash in buckets on the kitchen floor! Just think...we have to pick the squash again tomorrow...oh my!