BUMBLE BEES OF NORTH AMERICA – AN IDENTIFICATION GUIDE BY WILLIAMS, THORP, RICHARDSON & COLLA FROM PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS I just got my hands a wonderful new book; Bumble Bees of ...
http://ruralchatter.blogspot.com/2014/03/normal-0-microsoftinternetexplorer4.html
For several days, I've heard a couple Great Horned Owls hooting back and forth across my yard. Mid-August is too late for this to be a breeding pair, so I know these are likely newly fledged y...
http://ruralchatter.blogspot.com/2012/08/mid-august-great-horned-owl.html
The Boat-tailed Grackle was once considered the same species as the Great-tailed Grackle, though its body size is larger, it has a longer tail and lacks the Great-tailed Grackles’ disti...
http://ruralchatter.blogspot.com/2012/08/boat-tailed-grackle-quiscalus-major.html
These grackles have moved to the United States from Mexico. Their range is the southern states from California to Florida, however, they are slowly moving more to the north. They prefer areas wit...
http://ruralchatter.blogspot.com/2012/05/great-tailed-grackle-quiscalus.html
Visitors today asked me, "What is the best or favorite bird you've had visit your yard?" Interesting question...that I couldn't answer. After pondering my yard's Total List I came up with a few c...
http://ruralchatter.blogspot.com/2012/04/my-best-yard-bird.html
Common Grackles, or Crow Blackbirds as they are sometimes called, are blackbirds that look like they've been slightly stretched. They very common almost everywhere east of the Rockies Longer t...
http://ruralchatter.blogspot.com/2012/04/common-grackle-quiscalus-quiscula.html
Grackle is the common name of any of eleven (usually) black passerine birds native to North and South America. All are members of the Icterid family but belong to multiple genera. The members of ...
It was getting late; owls, foxes and soon the racoons would be coming around...it was time to get the McNuggets in the house (that's what I call my two, sister, 10-lb puppies.) I sat at my huge k...
http://ruralchatter.blogspot.com/2012/03/yikesits-butcher-bird.html
. It is my intention to start ‘Open House’ meetings, perhaps weekly at first (since this is an intense time to start; spring is just ahead and February is the time for planning), for folks in...
http://ruralchatter.blogspot.com/2012/02/victorygardenwildlifegardenwatergarden.html
As I mentioned in the last post, my friend Polly Wren brought a new neighbor over when she came the other day. Turns out Colette is a budding birder and a very good photographer! I begged more ph...
http://ruralchatter.blogspot.com/2012/01/can-there-be-too-many.html
Yesterday I had the first visitors of the new year. What fun, and one is a new neighbor right up my street! Colette came with another friend of mine; Polly Wren. These are some of Polly Wren's ph...
http://ruralchatter.blogspot.com/2012/01/new-years-rosy-finches.html
A huge flock of Rosy-Finches in my yard: just before Christmas 2011. They first came on December 1st...the earliest recorded visit (by me). They were here about 5 days and left when the weather...
http://ruralchatter.blogspot.com/2011/12/two-waves-of-rosies.html
I am feeling so smug! Is that okay, sitting alone, with a huge grin on my face? It was enough that I told my brother, in California, yesterday it was a beautiful, warm day outside. When he asked...
http://ruralchatter.blogspot.com/2011/12/fos-rosy-finches.html
Okay, I admit it...I nearly always walk through the Garden Section at the big Target Stores. While I avoid Walmart and Sam's Club like the plague (that they are), I rather like Target. In spite o...
> "... that I should stop feeding hummingbirds in the fall so that > they can begin their southern migration. Is this correct? > A. That's a myth (from Cornell's All�...
…can achieve speeds of up to 25 miles per hour when running down lizards? That question was posed by AudubonGuides on Facebook, recently, and I did NOT know this bit of information, of course ...
http://ruralchatter.blogspot.com/2011/09/did-you-know-roadrunner.html
It has been awhile since I've posted something; funny how life gets in the way, sometimes. Still, I enjoy writing, the weather is cooling, I'm unemployed and running out of excuses. So, I've pick...
http://ruralchatter.blogspot.com/2011/09/native-and-natural-foods-for-wildlife.html
Photo by Leslie Holzmann Oh my, how I do love this time of year...no telling what I'll find in my yard! This morning, I walked out to fill feeders and came under a thistle feeder at the corner...
http://ruralchatter.blogspot.com/2011/05/middle-of-may-and-spring-is-here-at.html
So, some people chase birds, twitchers they're called; some folks just keep their eyes open and get really lucky. My friends Paul and Polly Wren are just such people. Last week another friend, De...
http://ruralchatter.blogspot.com/2011/02/nemesis-is-shot.html
Today, I hosted a couple groups of folks to my home and to my neighbor's Polly Wren and Paul's home, and a ride up Hwy 12 for Lewis's Woodpeckers. I'll write more later, but just had to post thes...
http://ruralchatter.blogspot.com/2011/02/one-lifer-and-one-new-yardbird.html
Yesterday, I was visited by Lisa from Palmer Lake and David from Washington DC, two birders who’d planned to come see the Rosy-Finches in my yard and nearly ran into each other on the highway ...
http://ruralchatter.blogspot.com/2011/02/early-february-around-la-veta.html
Okay, after the post (Wuzza Blackbird) earlier today, I thought I should leave you with something more sweet to dream about: Rosy-Finches! I really don't think one can post too many shots of thes...
http://ruralchatter.blogspot.com/2011/02/la-vetas-lovely-rosies.html
Well, it is kinda gruesome, but I was fascinated by how precise the predator was. That rib-cage is clean as a whistle; every bit of meat is gone...only the epaulets are left! It must have taken...
http://ruralchatter.blogspot.com/2011/02/wuzza-blackbird.html
Hmmmmmmmm... Perhaps I should by less bird-seed and invest in some paint! Oh my... Do click on these pictures, they look so much better 'imbiggened'. The Rosies 'stage' on my roof. They star...
http://ruralchatter.blogspot.com/2011/02/rosy-pics-from-polly-wren.html
As I predicted, the Rosy-finches arrived as soon as it got light. We got several inches of snow last night and it's still snowing lightly and right on schedule all three Rosies arrived. Yester...
http://ruralchatter.blogspot.com/2011/02/snowy-ground-hog-day-with-finches.html