Nature Study Monday: Red-Bellied Woodpecker

This bird (or one of the same species) has visited our backyard throughout the half year that we have been here.  I spotted it briefly over the summer, but his visits are becoming more frequent in the winter months.  Even to my novice eyes, he is clearly a woodpecker   (I mistook him for a visitor when he pecked away at our backdoor a couple weeks ago) and the only woodpecker I know is the Downy Woodpecker.  His flash of red is so much more startling, though, than the pictures I have seen of Downy Woodpeckers.  Sure enough, a little research turned up the Red-Bellied Woodpecker.  Pictured above is a male; females have less red on their heads.

These woodpeckers are year round here in our part of the world.  They often nest in dead trees or on dead branches attached to live trees.  Evidently their nests are often taken over by starlings.  I still do not feel confident that I could identify the call of this bird, but  I will be listening more intently over the spring and summer as their calls are supposed to be easy to distinguish.

Swift

Oh yes, Amanda was right, the swift is our latest and greatest entertainment.  What is best about it is that it serves different purposes for different ages.  For the youngest, a mobile of sorts, for middle a crank that shoots fire, and for the oldest a... yarn winder (and a really awesome one at that).  Thank you Aunt Donna.  I (we) love it!

Today...

was one of those days that I would like to do over, or delete, or edit out, or forget about entirely.  I tried to do too much and wasn't good to my children or myself.  After yelling at my four year old, I apologized by saying, "Mama is in a really grumpy mood today."  And from the background, my three year old, focused on his drawing, said without looking up, "Oh yeah she is." And then we laughed, a lot.  Tomorrow is a few hours away.

Yarn Along

I am joining in with Ginny again this week for the Yarn Along...

I am a pretty monogamous knitter.  I have finish one thing before I start another.  If anything, I have a small, portable project that I carry with me (typically socks) and a larger one for home.  So I am still knitting away on the Rainbow Dress.  Hopefully by next week's Wednesday post, I will be on to something.  I am in the middle of a holiday making frenzy, one that I hoped to avoid this year, but is inevitable.

And I am staying up way too late reading this book.  A wonderful work for someone who is just starting to think of the possibilities homeschooling might afford a little family like ours.

The Coming of Winter

{Playing guitar: not gardening}

{Napping: not riding bikes}

{Roasted root vegetables: not raw tomatoes or green beans}

Nature Study Monday: Northern Cardinal

In a suburb on New York City town, we see a great many of these brilliant birds and their somewhat lackluster female partners.  They are especially pretty in the winter when they provide a streak of color amidst beds of white.

Cardinals mate for life so when you see one, his partner is likely nearby.  Male cardinals are bright red in color (like the one pictured below).  They are in fact such bright red that one might doubt that their feathers were natural if they were not attached to them!  On a walk over the summer, we found a male cardinal feather and it could just as well have been purchased at a craft store as fallen off of the body of a cardinal.

Cardinals evidently have elaborate calling patterns.  As a bird watching novice, I do not yet have the ears for deciphering calls.  According to The Backyard Birdsong Guide, the male sings more often and has a bolder song than the female.

I have to make sure our seed continues to contain sunflower seeds as they evidently like them!  What a beautiful crimson gift these are to our morning eyes.

Yarn Along

Joining along with Ginny again this week...

This has been a couple weeks full of a great deal of knitting (+watching of some great documentaries) and reading.  I fell really ill last week and was bedridden for four days, which gave me an excuse to do my favorite things guilt-free (all while madness occurred downstairs with my hubby trying to man the fort).

Just finishing Teach Your Own by John Holt.  I have so many books waiting to be read--not sure which one to pick up next.  Maybe this one, or this one, or this one?

We changed out our fall books for winter books this week (a little early, I know) so the kids have been immersed in our winter reads, especially the Christmas stories.  

I am still knitting away on the Rainbow Dress.  I knit it at night when my oldest is asleep.  My husband and I have multiple old episodes of Thirty-Something queued up for the weeks leading up to Christmas so I am in good shape.