Tweety Bird...

For quite some time now T Rex has been asking to meet and hold a real life Tweety Bird. I think he may have even sneaked in this request during evening prayer one time. We tried taking him to a local pet store but those little finches are not able to be held.


He loves visiting the VW Bus at the mall that has a giant Tweety Bird at the wheel. That might be where the idea originated. We're really not sure. Regardless, the request has been made several times. Well, today his wish came true.


As we were eating our breakfast, I heard a dull thud at the front window. I know that sound all too well. A bird flew into the window. I could feel the dread filling my body as I rose from the table to assess damages. Since T Rex Dad is at work during the day time hours, I usually get the clean up duty when we have bird strikes. About 25% of the time they are fatal. Walking to the front door I could feel my legs dragging as I opened the door.


Lo and behold, the bird was alive and breathing. It was stunned but fine. I swept it into my hands as I have many times to other birds when this same situation has occurred. However, this time I had an idea. This tiny feathered friend was colored green and mostly yellow. Perfect for a Tweety Bird encounter.


With Bebe Sister happily eating her banana, yogurt, and waffle I called to T Rex to join me outside. Poor dear was still in his jammies and had bare feet but when I told him he could meet Tweety Bird he softly padded out the front door and joined me on the step.


There I placed a tiny little finch on his lap. As he held the bird he just beamed. It was a really amazing moment. He held his feathered friend for several minutes stroking it and talking softly to it. Then the bird started to wake up so we moved it to the near by bushes where it could rest until ready for flying. When we came in he ran to the phone and asked to call his dad to tell him about it. Later this evening as I was putting him to bed he offered a prayer of thanks that his Tweety Bird friend came for a visit and that it was alright after hitting the window.


I did manage a few photos and some video from this. I share them with you now. Enjoy.

 

Wordful Wednesday - Bird Strike

No, the birds are not going on strike. Rather, T Rex Dad has been cleaning the kitchen windows again (along with a certain helper pictured below). He always does such a great job that the birds try to fly right through them. Note to self - have him clean the windows after spring mating season.

Generally when we have a bird strike the bird gets up and flies away. With the exception of once we had a hawk grab a bird sitting on the fence and then the hawk, with his prey in talons, flew into the window. His prey was dead but he was not. He waited on the fence for a while but he never came back for the slain bird leaving me to handle his dirty work. I know, circle of life. Still traumatic for me.

Yesterday I had a blue finch crash into the window. When I went to see if it was alright his mate was by his side trying to nudge him to get up. It broke my heart. When she flew away I went out thinking I would bury the fallen avian. I picked him up and noticed he was still breathing. Great - was I going to have to watch him die? I was not up for that - especially with T Rex watching my every move through the windows that were causing all the troubles.

After setting him on the grass I noted how beautiful he was. I had never seen such a blue bird before. I decided I would hold him until he passed away to where his other flying friends would meet him at the far green plains. Then he started to perk up. He sat up and perched on my finger. It was quite charming. I felt like Snow White!

He perched another few minutes while I examined his wings. They seemed intact. If he had a broken wing, I knew someone who could fix it, but he probably would never get to see his mate again, and this saddened me. Then, he hopped a few times and flew to the fence post when he perched another few minutes.

Of course, little T Rex was glued to the windows watching our every move and grinning every time I showed him the bird. I stayed outside until my winged friend flew to meet his waiting mate. I was fearful a hawk would snatch him up while he was resting on the fence and all the attachment I had developed for my new friend would make it even harder to handle.

Thus, a happy ending. After he flew off, I imagined he went off to be with his mate and their nest of eggs that will soon hatch and bring forth more gorgeous blue baby birds. Not to mention, a really cool experience, having a wild bird perch on my hand!

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Hummingbird Close Encounter...

Sometimes some of the most extraordinary things happen in one's own backyard. First some back story.


The past couple of days my nephew has been staying with us. It's really a big deal for T Rex - he's been wanting to have his cousin over for a sleep over for quite some time. When we scheduled this a couple weeks back it was just about all he could talk about. It has been nice to have a brief break from non-stop chatter about Lightning McQueen and Thomas the Tank Engine. Nana also joined in on the fun, too.


We did library time on Tuesday - Dede was a great sport and kindly sat through toddler tales even thought he could have roamed the huge library (I would have chosen the latter option but he said he wanted to hang with his cousins). Then we had a great Mongolian BBQ lunch before the kids had naps. After naps we headed to the pool. Upon arriving back home, Nana and Dede saw a hummingbird hit one of our back windows. I intentionally keep the feeder away from the windows to avoid this. Up to this point, this was the first time I have seen this happen. 


Nana quietly told me about it in case it was a fatal crash and I needed to do some clean up without the little kids being sad. I went outside and this is what I saw (see photo below) - our tiny feathered friend was stunned but alive. I picked him up as I have done many other times with some of the other stunned birds. Remember the last time T Rex was able to hold one and thought he was holding a "real life tweety bird"? 

 

I called T Rex and Dede outside to see the teeny tiny bird. It was so amazing and very small. I have actually always wanted to hold one. These birds completely facinate me. In fact, I have even attended a local bird watching group who bands hummingbirds. I did this with the hope of seeing one up close. However, this is the most up close encounter I could have ever imagined. 

I held him for a bit, T Rex held him for a brief moment, and then Dede held him while I snapped this video. However, the coolest moment was when T Rex reached over and kissed the little bird on the head. When I took the video I asked him to do it again which he happily complied with. How many of us can say we've kissed a hummingbird? Pretty amazing. My teenage nephew thought it was pretty cool and if you can impress a teenager then it must be awesome. 

The photo of Dede holding it shows you how tiny this little bird was. Its feathers were so soft, its tiny heart beating so fast, such delicate wings, and an impressively long beak. We were most intriqued by how his tiny and sharp claws held on to our fingers.

After a while the wind came up and as it blew through his wings it made them flutter. He fluttered while perched on Dede's hand and then off he went. We did see this same hummer back at the feeder a few hours later so we know he is doing well.

Here's that video of T Rex giving this sweet hummingbird a  kiss. Pardon the chaos - we were just not sure what was going to happen from moment to moment.

Have you ever had something unexpectedly wonderful happen to you? Or ever have any cool close encounters?

Entertainment...

When we're not almost crawling to the Lego bin...

Or building cardboard houses for the toy guys to play in...

We sometimes cruise the local shopping mall. We don't purchase anything, but rather go to let the toddler burn off some energy and see the sights he dreams about...

Riding the escalator - BIG attraction and lots of toddler entertainment!

Hiding his "guys" aka Buzz and Woody figurines in the cone so they can cross the street. Ringing any bells?

A couple mornings ago upon waking, T Rex whispered in T Rex Dad's ear, "Saw lellow Tweety Bird and 'Manian Devil in V at the mall last night." Translation - I had a dream about the giant stuffed yellow Tweety Bird and Tasmanian Devil in the VW bus at the shopping mall." T Rex LOVES going and seeing these stuffed animals at the mall. There are also several riding toys near this section but T Rex is a cheap date - he won't ride any of them. He only wants to watch other kids ride them or have his "guys adventure".

Peering into the VW bus to see the "lellow Tweety Bird and 'Manian Devil"

His guys are "adventuring"

So what of Bebe Sister?

She LOVES watching her big brother play. But when tired of that...


She plays with her own toys.

After plenty of mall fun, it's time to head home...

And take our naps...(yes, we seem to actually have them napping simultaneously - at least for the time being).

And after we're recharged and ready to go, we have some snuggles and "rough housing"...

Note T Rex's vest - look familiar? I made it so he can dress up like one of his favorite characters from Toy Story - Sheriff Woody.

Then onto some play/pretend time at home - the kid is seriously into complex pretend play these days. I'm pretty sure he'll be founding his own empire any day now!

When asked what he was doing, he stated, "Putting 'Manian Devil, Tweety Bird, and Bugs Bunny into the V" - the horse is Tazmanian Devil, a white polar bear is Tweety, and my velveteen rabbit is Bugs Bunny. And I think his stuffed Buzz Lightyear is thrown in for fun.

What do you do for entertainment?

Wordful Wednesday - Humming Bird Friends...

The long awaited humming bird photos...

Our feeder has been Grand Central Station lately - or at least for the past month and a half. And since all the neighbors have feeders hanging off their back fences like us, it has become Hummingbird Lane!

Morning feeding...


Evening feeding...

For two weeks we had one male who dominated the feeder and only allowed 1 or 2 other females access. During this time the feeder went from needing to be filled every other day to a filling every 5 - 6 days. He would just camp out on the fence and attack anyone intruding on his feeder.

He would perch all day to ensure only those deemed "worthy" used the feeder.

Ariel "bird fighting" - experienced advice - don't get in the way!

In the past two days he has disappeared and a new hummer has taken over and is much more liberal with who she lets use the feeder. And we are back to filling every other day. I'm not sure what happened to him but he may have finally met his match or moved onto dominating another feeder.

Our new dominant hummer...

And last, but certainly not least, my favorite bird watching companion...

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Birds, Birds, Birds...

I recently did a search on this blog with the key word bird. There were several hits - literally. With our large windows in back we do tend to have several bird strikes a year. Recently, I posted about an injured hummingbird. Well, this week it was a little finch. 


Our hearts always stop a bit when we hear a bird hit the window hoping it survives. This one did. The kids were so excited to go out and hold it until it felt well enough to fly away. This was Lil Sister's first bird holding experience and she was thrilled by it.


Here are the photos:

 

 As always, they were extremely gentle and there were lots of smiles all around.

Bird Photos

As mentioned previously, I received a new camera for my birthday. I am still learning all the nuances that go along with it but so far I am having a really great time.

Thomas was actually the one looking out the window. Sometimes he will just stare and stare - probably watching the birds. Both of his grandmas love to watch birds so I am guessing that's where he gets it from.

As he was looking out, I noticed a dove land on the fence post.

Then it took off - the camera does auto focus so it decided the house should be in focus but I was snapping the photo when the bird too off - still kind of cool, I think.

Then a finch landed on another fence post - they are really tiny. My camera digitally zoomed in to get that shot. Again, I thought that to be pretty amazing.

Hummingbird Close Encounter - Year Two...

It's been one year almost to the day since our first hummingbird close encounter.


This year it was just me who was able to touch the tiny bird. This female frequents our feeder. There is one dominant male who pretty much owns the feeder but he will allow this female to drink when he sees fit for her to do so. Fickle fellow.


This past weekend we were having our Saturday evening gaming session  - D & D 1st edition for those who are curious. Our dining table has perfect viewing of the hummingbird feeder. As we all sat, talked politics, and attempted to solve the county's problems over homemade chili I noticed my female had been perched at the feeder for a long time. She seemed to be stunned.  However, when the male would buzz her or even nudge her, she would turn her head in defense but not offer much else. We watched and a couple hours passed. It still was not dark (no, it does not get dark until 9:30 pm) and hummingbirds rarely fly in the dark so I was hoping she'd take off soon. Nothing.


I went out and decided to give a little nudge but with a little more force behind it than the male bird. I did so and she opened her eyes and perked up. She did not fly away but she started drinking from the feeder. I grabbed my camera and took the most close up photos I've ever been able to take along with a somewhat shaky video because toward the end when the male came back he buzzed my head. Still, it was cool to watch her drink and suck bugs out of the sky.

Let me just say, her feathers were so soft and she was so tiny. I jumped up and down with happiness when she flew away knowing she had recovered from whatever had stunned her. 

Bird Strike II

Remember last year - the blue bird who flew into the window? Well, it's been happening again, and again and again this year. We've had two causalities which always make me extremely bummed. But we've also had two beautiful birds that did not suffer any ill effects.

Here is the feathered friend I found this weekend:

It took about an hour before she was able to stand again.


This was where she hit on the window.

And this is what the birds are up against.

Poor, dears, hardly seems fair.

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