Fowl Play
The Shreveport urban bird experience with art and photography along with information and entertaining stories of common backyard birds.
The Shreveport urban bird experience with art and photography along with information and entertaining stories of common backyard birds.
Turdus Robine - Photograph portrait of American Robin by Rybird
Above: Gallery Slide Show of some of the common birds photography by Rybird
The Blue Visitor. Blue Jay portrait by Rybird
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Listen to a bird. Take the song as a message from My Father. Let it sink into your soul. That too will be given back to the world in ways I have said.
Laugh more, laugh often. Love more. I am with you. I am your Lord. - God Calling by Two Listeners You may call a jay a bird. Well, so he is, in a measure - because he's got feathers on him, and don't belong to no church, perhaps; but otherwise he is just as much a human as you be. And I'll tell you for why. A jay's gifts, and instincts, and feelings, and interests, cover the whole ground. A jay hasn't got any more principle than a congressman. A jay will lie, a jay will steal, a jay will deceive, a jay will betray; and four times out of five, a jay will go back on his solemnest promise. The sacredness of an obligation is a thing which you can't cram into no bluejay's head. Now, on top of all this, there's another thing; a jay can out swear any gentleman in the mines. You think a cat can swear. Well, a cat can; but you give a bluejay a subject that calls for his reserve powers, and where is your cat! Don't talk to me - I know too much about this thing. And there's yet another thing; in the one little particular of scolding - just good, clean, out-and-out scolding - a bluejay can lay over anything, human or divine. Yes, sir, a jay is everything that a man is. A jay can cry, a jay can laugh, a jay can feel shame, a jay can reason and plan and discuss, a jay likes gossip and scandal, a jay has got a sense of humor, a jay knows when he is an ass just as well as you do - maybe better. If a jay ain't human, he better take in his sign, that's all. From Mark Twain What Stumped the Bluejays
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Above: A complete mockingbird male solo song at night. Two sets: First song has 16 verses and second song has 46 verses Or verses and songs depending on how they are named, I am naming each vocalization that is repeated again before the mockingbird sings the next one as a verse.
Below: Sparrows Chattering in the Cherry Laurel Tree. One is slowed down and lowered in pitch so you can hear the complex vocalizations. |
Above: Slide Show of various bird photography and art by Rybird. Below.Decaocto the Mindful Dove. Further down another gallery of birds
Eurasian Dove In a Fig Tree
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The Storm Crow is the bird of change. Crows live in the void and have no sense of time, therefore being able to see past, present and future simultaneously. They unite both the light and the dark, both the inner and the outer. They are representations of creation and spiritual strength.
Crows are messengers, telling us about the creation and magic all around us, that is available to us just for the asking. The striking black color of the crow represents the color of creation. It is the womb out of which the new comes into existence. Black is the color of the night, giving birth to the light of a new day. Without paying careful attention, we are unable to understand the language of crows, this signifies the fact that we can’t always see beyond our own cultural limitations. Excerpts from Crow Power Animal Symbol Of Sacred Law Change by By Ina Woolcott Decaocto the Mindful Dove. Decaocto was pushed to her limit, and she broke down crying. The headmaster had told her to wash the dishes again, but she had already washed them numerous times and wasn't allowed to eat breakfast or lunch. Please! I am hungry she sobbed, but Pasquino, headmaster and chief cook, repeated. No food til I say so! Get back to work! She prayed and prayed and an angel appeared in a large spoon she was washing. The angel said.. continue reading at Doves. The Eurasian collared dove (Streptopelia decaocto), most often simply called the collared dove. It was designed to be an intermediate model, between the mourning dove and the rock pigeon to fill the ecomarket niche. The collared dove rode horseback into the Bahamas in the 1970s and then took a boat to Florida in 1982. It immediately declared North America as its homeland and launched it's invasion. It has previously conquered the Balkans, the Faroe Islands and many parts of Asia, simultaniously attacking parts of Africa and China, but had little success in Iceland. They like to breed, and they like humans, but they don't breed with humans. They go coo coo , but for some reason are not called coo coo birds. Cats like them too., They lay eggs. You just had an episode of Ry-facts. New page on Doves |
Crow is an omen of change. Crows live in the void and have no sense of time, therefore being able to see past, present and future simultaneously. They unite both the light and the dark, both the inner and the outer. Crow is the totem of the Great Spirit and must be held with utmost respected. They are representations of creation and spiritual strength.
Crows are messengers, telling us about the creation and magic all around us, that is available to us just for the asking. Look for opportunities to bring into being the magic of life. The striking black colour of the crow represents the colour of creation. It is the womb out of which the new comes into existence. Black is the colour of the night, giving birth to the light of a new day. Without paying careful attention, we are unable to understand the language of crows, this signifies the fact that we can’t always see beyond our own cultural limitations. 
Visit new page Doves! Portrait of a White-winged dove
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Black and White Photographic art of a morning dove by Rybird
ow the sky became blue. "A long time ago, the bluebird was a very ugly color. But Bluebird knew of a lake where no river flowed in or out, and he bathed in this four times every morning for four mornings. Every morning he sang a magic song:
"There's a blue water. It lies there.
I went in.
I am all blue."
On the fourth morning Bluebird shed all his feathers and came out of the lake just in his skin. But the next morning when he came out of the lake he was covered with blue feathers. " From Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest
Author: Katharine Berry Judson
"Then the bluebird continued to sing from the top of the trees then fly and the blue from his wings would touch the sky. And each time the sky would get less and less gray and get more and more blue. So the bluebird was like a paint brush that got his color from the bottom of the blue lake and used it to paint the sky. Rybird.
Bluebird on the look out. Photo by Rybird
About the Bluebird
Of all the birds a gardener could choose to attract, the bluebird is the quintessential helpful garden bird. Gardeners go to extreme lengths to attract and keep them in the garden for their advantageous properties. Bluebirds are voracious insect consumers, quickly ridding a garden of insect pests.
Songwriters have adopted the bluebird as a symbol of happiness and cheer. Examples are Jan Peerce's signature song, "Bluebird of Happiness", "Over the Rainbow" ("Somewhere over the Rainbow/Bluebirds fly"), "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" ("I'm Always Chasing Rainbows/Waiting to find a little bluebird in vain"), "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" ("Mr. Bluebird's on my shoulder"), and "The White Cliffs of Dover" ("There'll be bluebirds over/The White Cliffs of Dover"). The last song, written in 1941, alludes to the hoped for end of World War II. It employs poetic license: there are no bluebirds in Europe. Songwriters have also portrayed the bluebirds as a muse, as in the song "Voices in the Sky" by the British rock group The Moody Blues, from their 1968 album In Search of the Lost Chord.
By the 1970s, bluebird numbers had declined by estimates ranging to 70% due to unsuccessful competition with house sparrows and starlings, both introduced species, for nesting cavities, coupled with a decline in habitat. However, in late 2005 Cornell University's Laboratory of Ornithology reported bluebird sightings across the southern U.S. as part of its yearly Backyard Bird Count, a strong indication of the bluebird's return to the region. This upsurge can largely be attributed to a movement of volunteers establishing and maintaining bluebird trails. From Wikipedia
Blue Jay Way -George Harrison wrote "Blue Jay Way" after arriving in Los Angeles on 1 August 1967 with his wife Pattie Boyd[ and Beatles associates Neil Aspinall and Alex Mardas. The purpose of the trip was to spend a week withDerek Taylor, the Beatles' former press officer and latterly the publicist for Californian acts such as the Beach Boys and the Byrds. The title of the song comes from a street named Blue Jay Way, high in the Hollywood Hills West area overlooking Sunset Strip, where Harrison had rented a house for his stay. Jet-lagged after the flight from London, he began writing the composition on a Hammond organ as he and Boyd waited for Taylor and the latter's wife Joan to join them. The home's location, on a hillside of narrow, winding roads, and the foggy conditions that night created the backdrop for the song's opening lines: "There's a fog upon L.A. / And my friends have lost their way." Harrison had completed the song by the time the Taylors arrived.... Wiki
"There's a blue water. It lies there.
I went in.
I am all blue."
On the fourth morning Bluebird shed all his feathers and came out of the lake just in his skin. But the next morning when he came out of the lake he was covered with blue feathers. " From Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest
Author: Katharine Berry Judson
"Then the bluebird continued to sing from the top of the trees then fly and the blue from his wings would touch the sky. And each time the sky would get less and less gray and get more and more blue. So the bluebird was like a paint brush that got his color from the bottom of the blue lake and used it to paint the sky. Rybird.
Bluebird on the look out. Photo by Rybird
About the Bluebird
Of all the birds a gardener could choose to attract, the bluebird is the quintessential helpful garden bird. Gardeners go to extreme lengths to attract and keep them in the garden for their advantageous properties. Bluebirds are voracious insect consumers, quickly ridding a garden of insect pests.
Songwriters have adopted the bluebird as a symbol of happiness and cheer. Examples are Jan Peerce's signature song, "Bluebird of Happiness", "Over the Rainbow" ("Somewhere over the Rainbow/Bluebirds fly"), "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" ("I'm Always Chasing Rainbows/Waiting to find a little bluebird in vain"), "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" ("Mr. Bluebird's on my shoulder"), and "The White Cliffs of Dover" ("There'll be bluebirds over/The White Cliffs of Dover"). The last song, written in 1941, alludes to the hoped for end of World War II. It employs poetic license: there are no bluebirds in Europe. Songwriters have also portrayed the bluebirds as a muse, as in the song "Voices in the Sky" by the British rock group The Moody Blues, from their 1968 album In Search of the Lost Chord.
By the 1970s, bluebird numbers had declined by estimates ranging to 70% due to unsuccessful competition with house sparrows and starlings, both introduced species, for nesting cavities, coupled with a decline in habitat. However, in late 2005 Cornell University's Laboratory of Ornithology reported bluebird sightings across the southern U.S. as part of its yearly Backyard Bird Count, a strong indication of the bluebird's return to the region. This upsurge can largely be attributed to a movement of volunteers establishing and maintaining bluebird trails. From Wikipedia
Blue Jay Way -George Harrison wrote "Blue Jay Way" after arriving in Los Angeles on 1 August 1967 with his wife Pattie Boyd[ and Beatles associates Neil Aspinall and Alex Mardas. The purpose of the trip was to spend a week withDerek Taylor, the Beatles' former press officer and latterly the publicist for Californian acts such as the Beach Boys and the Byrds. The title of the song comes from a street named Blue Jay Way, high in the Hollywood Hills West area overlooking Sunset Strip, where Harrison had rented a house for his stay. Jet-lagged after the flight from London, he began writing the composition on a Hammond organ as he and Boyd waited for Taylor and the latter's wife Joan to join them. The home's location, on a hillside of narrow, winding roads, and the foggy conditions that night created the backdrop for the song's opening lines: "There's a fog upon L.A. / And my friends have lost their way." Harrison had completed the song by the time the Taylors arrived.... Wiki
The Storm Crow, Fine photographic art of a black crow and storm clouds in sepia. Available as Print at ArtPal
The Color of Sex.
Male house finches (Carpodacus mexicanus) have carotenoid-based ornamental plumage coloration. In previous research it was shown that for a single population of house finches in a single year, males that paired were on average redder in plumage coloration than males that did not pair, and males with redder plumage tended to nest earlier than males with less red plumage.
One of the most widespread ornamental traits among birds is carotenoid-based red, orange, and yellow plumage coloration. Carotenoid pigments cannot be synthesized de novo by birds or by any vertebrates; they must be ingested. Because carotenoid pigments must be derived from food, expression of carotenoid pigmentation is dependent on access to sufficient amounts of foods that provide the right type of carotenoid pigments. The physiological condition of a bird at the time of molt, independent of parasitic infection, has also been invoked as a factor in the efficiency with which ingested carotenoids might be used to pigment feathers.
Models of sexual selection predict that condition-dependent ornamental traits such as carotenoid-based plumage coloration should be of particular interest to females when they choose a mate .
In both laboratory and field experiments, female house finches have been shown to prefer mates with redder and more intensely pigmented plumage
One result of female preference for redder males is that the mean redness of paired male house finches is greater than the mean redness of unpaired males, among male house finches that pair, redder males tend to initiate nesting earlier (i.e., their mates lay eggs earlier) than less red males.
Rybird deductive corollary, Good food and hygiene offers better choices of a mate, thus better sex. We already knew that, but they had to prove it.
Previous condensed from: http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/content/10/1/48.full
Proudly Pugnacious -Naturally pugnacious in disposition, the starling drives other birds away from the vicinity of houses, especially such species as the bluebird (Sialia sialis) and the flicker (Colaptes auratus), which nest in holes or boxes provided for their use. Experiments have shown, however, that the starling can not enter a hole less than 1 ½ inches in diameter, so that it is possible to protect some of the native birds by providing boxes with holes large enough for them but too small for the starling (6). Whether or not the starling will cause any decrease in the total number of native birds is as yet an open question, but it will probably drive some away from the vicinity of houses. Partiality for our native birds naturally causes antagonism to the starling, even though the food habits of the newcomer may be better than those of the native birds it supplants.
The greatest danger from the starling seems to be from its habit of gathering in large flocks. A few individuals may be harmless or even beneficial, but the immense flocks of starlings that gather after the breeding season may cause harm through over concentration in crop areas or from their insanitary habits.
From http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/biogeog/COOK1928.htm
A Greater Sense.
Despite its unassuming looks and gentle temperament, the humble red breasted robin (Erithacus rubecula) boasts a superhero-like ability. They can see magnetic fields, giving them an almost perfect sense of direction.
Just to be clear, we don’t mean that a robin can sense the Earth’s magnetic field or something like that as many other birds can, it can literally see it. In fact, if you cover a robin’s eyes with an adorably tiny blindfold, it loses this ability completely, though it will still look rather dapper. From http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/01/robins-can-see-magnetic-fields-one-eye/
Rising above the earth and soaring through the skies, crows have been symbols of power and freedom throughout the ages. In many myths and legends, crows and other birds link the human world to the divine or supernatural realms that lie beyond ordinary experience.
Male house finches (Carpodacus mexicanus) have carotenoid-based ornamental plumage coloration. In previous research it was shown that for a single population of house finches in a single year, males that paired were on average redder in plumage coloration than males that did not pair, and males with redder plumage tended to nest earlier than males with less red plumage.
One of the most widespread ornamental traits among birds is carotenoid-based red, orange, and yellow plumage coloration. Carotenoid pigments cannot be synthesized de novo by birds or by any vertebrates; they must be ingested. Because carotenoid pigments must be derived from food, expression of carotenoid pigmentation is dependent on access to sufficient amounts of foods that provide the right type of carotenoid pigments. The physiological condition of a bird at the time of molt, independent of parasitic infection, has also been invoked as a factor in the efficiency with which ingested carotenoids might be used to pigment feathers.
Models of sexual selection predict that condition-dependent ornamental traits such as carotenoid-based plumage coloration should be of particular interest to females when they choose a mate .
In both laboratory and field experiments, female house finches have been shown to prefer mates with redder and more intensely pigmented plumage
One result of female preference for redder males is that the mean redness of paired male house finches is greater than the mean redness of unpaired males, among male house finches that pair, redder males tend to initiate nesting earlier (i.e., their mates lay eggs earlier) than less red males.
Rybird deductive corollary, Good food and hygiene offers better choices of a mate, thus better sex. We already knew that, but they had to prove it.
Previous condensed from: http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/content/10/1/48.full
Proudly Pugnacious -Naturally pugnacious in disposition, the starling drives other birds away from the vicinity of houses, especially such species as the bluebird (Sialia sialis) and the flicker (Colaptes auratus), which nest in holes or boxes provided for their use. Experiments have shown, however, that the starling can not enter a hole less than 1 ½ inches in diameter, so that it is possible to protect some of the native birds by providing boxes with holes large enough for them but too small for the starling (6). Whether or not the starling will cause any decrease in the total number of native birds is as yet an open question, but it will probably drive some away from the vicinity of houses. Partiality for our native birds naturally causes antagonism to the starling, even though the food habits of the newcomer may be better than those of the native birds it supplants.
The greatest danger from the starling seems to be from its habit of gathering in large flocks. A few individuals may be harmless or even beneficial, but the immense flocks of starlings that gather after the breeding season may cause harm through over concentration in crop areas or from their insanitary habits.
From http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/biogeog/COOK1928.htm
A Greater Sense.
Despite its unassuming looks and gentle temperament, the humble red breasted robin (Erithacus rubecula) boasts a superhero-like ability. They can see magnetic fields, giving them an almost perfect sense of direction.
Just to be clear, we don’t mean that a robin can sense the Earth’s magnetic field or something like that as many other birds can, it can literally see it. In fact, if you cover a robin’s eyes with an adorably tiny blindfold, it loses this ability completely, though it will still look rather dapper. From http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/01/robins-can-see-magnetic-fields-one-eye/
Rising above the earth and soaring through the skies, crows have been symbols of power and freedom throughout the ages. In many myths and legends, crows and other birds link the human world to the divine or supernatural realms that lie beyond ordinary experience.
Below: One of the most alluring backyard birds to photographers young and old is the Northern Cardinal. Visit the Cardinal Delights Gallery for more about the Redbird
Avis Ultrices Lux - Redbird photographic art by Rybird. Visit Cardinal Delights for more about the Northern Cardinal