Yesterday, when it was warmer and almost spring-like, I saw many birds on my block, including a hawk flying low. Today there are big, white fluffy flakes coming day outside my window. By necessity (I need to pick my kids soon, early dismissal due to the weather), this will be a short post. Note the bill and the plume of the head (thanks, Michelle and Lorri).

You can see the drawing of the cardinal on last week’s post. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to take out the paints.

For more Nature Notes, visit Rambling Woods:

If you have a camera, why would you want to draw or paint a bird? With a camera you can capture all the details you need. Why learn how to draw?

When you are drawing, you concentrate on every detail of what you are looking at – the colors, the texture, the shapes, the depth, the values. And when I drew the bird (it’s going to be a cardinal – wait until I apply the paint), I learned about how the head, body, tail and feet are shaped. And I had to think about how to present the textures of the feathers.

Look forward to showing you the finished painting. Oh, and another reason to draw is your daughter (or son) might then take out her own piece of paper and draw her own bird. I just might show you the bird that my daughter drew as well.

For more Nature Notes, visit Rambling Woods:

Spring is sprung, da grass is riz.
I wonder where dem boidies is?
Some say da boids is on der wing.
But dat’s absoid!
Da little wings is on da boid…

It is a Jewish custom before the Shabbat in which one sings Shirat HaYam (the Song of the Sea, the song about the crossing of the Reed Sea) to feed the birds. Why feed the birds? I found two explanations:

1) There is a tradition that on the first Shabbat of the Manna, not only did people go out looking for Manna, but they (wicked people, says Rashi) had previously scattered Manna around the camp in order to find it and “make a liar out of Moshe”.

Birds came by early in the morning and ate up the Manna, thus protecting the honor of Moshe, and of G-d Who had said that Manna would not fall on Shabbat. In repayment “one good turn deserves another” style, we feed the birds around this Shabbat when we read of the Manna in the weekly portion.

And here is the second:

2) We joyously sing praise to G-d for His having taken us out of Egypt and saved us from the Egyptians. Singing is the special domain of the birds. That is how they express themselves in acknowledgment of the Creator (so to speak – or so to sing). We borrowed their skill; therefore we “pay royalties” on our Song by feeding birds on (before) this Shabbat.

Since last Friday was right before Shabbat Shira, I decided that this was the perfect time finally to take the new bird feeder I bought out of the box and hang it on our garage window (with the help of my seven-year-old daughter):

After some initial difficulty with the suction cup attachments (you have to first soak the suction cups in hot water, then dry them, then rub them with your thumb, then attach them), I finally got the feeder to stay up properly. However, I don’t believe any of our neighborhood birds have been eating from it. I did see one pecking away at my compost.

I believe this bird is a chickadee (thanks, Eileen).

This is what is left of the finch feeder sock I bought one month ago:

As one of the reasons for the feeding the birds custom is to become more sensitive to the needs of the animals around us, I plan to continue to feed the birds. As Michelle of Rambling Woods has taught me, once you start feeding the birds, they expect it.

I hope to post more bird photos tomorrow for SkyWatch; one day last week, my eldest son said, Eema, there’s a bird making a strange noise outside. I went out with my camera and there many, many, many birds.

For more Nature Notes, visit:

I’ve been noticing yellow growth on trees. This tree above is my neighbor’s tree.

I first started noticing yellow on local trees a few weeks ago when I was taking pictures of one of our brief snowstorms.

I don’t know if the moss is a problem or just part of nature. I found this on Wikipedia: “In northern latitudes, the north side of trees and rocks will generally have more moss on average than other sides (though south-side outcroppings are not unknown). This is assumed to be because of the lack of sufficient water for reproduction on the sun-facing side of trees. South of the equator the reverse is true. In deep forests where sunlight does not penetrate, mosses grow equally well on all sides of the tree trunk.”

And just for the fun of it, here is a cardinal I saw in my neighbor’s yard this week:

Do you think he’s talking to me? For more Nature Notes:

Does anyone know what kind of tree this is? I photographed this bud on the day we went sledding in Donaldson Park. I’ll go back to Donaldson in the spring to photograph it again with leaves. Below is a shot of more of the buds.

A few selections of Nature Notes from 2009:

• Carver: Photos from 2009
• Michelle: Robins with a Lemony Snicket Quote
• Stine: Woodpecker
• Gemma: Petals of Spring
• Arija: Goslings
• Nicole: Pond Turtle
• Hagemor: Little Brat-Frida Goes on a Hike
• Eileen: Brown Headed Nuthatch
• Caron: Leeks, Chives and Rhubarb
• Maria: Butterfly
• Julia: Deer
• Flamingo: Mockingbird
• Jill: Texas Birds 2009
• Leora: Butterfly

If I missed selecting a Nature Notes from your blog, kindly put your favorite from 2009 in the comments, and I will happily include it with the others.

By the time I had a chance to photograph the hawthorn berries this year, they were a bit past their prime. You can see some of my photos of the hawthorn tree from last year.

My main goal for this year was to get a shot of the thorns. Do you see the sharp thorns?

  

For more nature notes or signs of the season, visit Rambling Woods: