The Quiet Forest

Here is a short poem I made today as part of a Literature test. I thought it was nice enough to put on this blog, which so many nature-lovers follow.

The Quiet Forest
A Poem By Tucker L

“I took a walk in a forest so calm and so still
There were no noises, perhaps it was ill

I listened intently but didn’t hear a thing
But then a thought inside me began to ring

Perhaps there were things here both big and both small
But I had not the ears to hear them at all
So I decided to look on the trees so tall for those things which were so small

On the bark I saw many bugs crawling along,
I listened and heard them singing their song,
So quietly scuffling their way up the trees.

Perhaps this forest was not ill at all.

It took not long to find a bee buzzing by,
And a pair of doves cooing in the trees so high.
A mouse scampered by and the fleas followed with

Perhaps this forest was not ill at all, but maybe it was me.

Maybe I was the one who was ill, the one that detached my own self from the things of the trees, and, immersed in music and movies, drowned out the faint call of the wild, which was whispering as quietly as a small child, telling me to take a look into these things which most of us nowadays have been unable to see.”

Last of 2009 and First of 2010

Last night while driving to Sioux City I saw an owl fly over the road in the fading light. I watched it as it coursed over the farm fields out of sight and finally identified it as a Short-eared Owl. This bird was the last one I saw in 2009. I usually don't keep track of the last bird but I couldn't help but notice this one.

The first birds of 2010 were nowhere near as eventful as the last bird of 2009 was. The first three birds I saw were as follows-Rock Pigeon, House Sparrow, and European Starling! Talk about a bummer. Too bad a Varied Thrush wasn't around :-)

I took a short trip to the creek near my house this afternoon and saw some better birds than the ones mentioned in the paragraph above. A good number of hardy Mourning Doves were flying around a cattle farm along with the usual Eurasian-collared Doves. As I was watching the doves a Cooper's Hawk sure got things stirred up.

I am going on a Christmas Bird Count tomorrow and can't wait to see what shows up there. I am going to have to dress warmly since the low tonight is going to be -23 degrees farenheit and it is only going to "warm up" to -3 for the high!

Once in a Blue Moon...

The moon last night was called a blue moon. This does not mean that it was blue but that it was the second full moon to occur in a one month period. They occur every 2.5 years but only every 19 years does one happen on New Year's eve. I got this picture of the blue moon from my yard last night.

Feeder Watching and Christmas Bird Counting

With all of the snow recently, going out birding is a bit impractical since most good birding spots are along gravel roads which do not get plowed to often. Instead of risking my life on the hazardous roads I have just been doing some birding around my home and have found some nice birds recently. The best was the Tufted Titmouse which is a rare bird where I live. To read more about it go to this link which is to a past blog post about the bird: http://birdingwithtucker.blogspot.com/2009/11/surprise-visitor.html

A lot of birds have been drawn to the feeders because of the storm including Common Grackle, Red-winged Blackbird, and Brown-headed Cowbird. I wouldn't be surprised if a Rusty Blackbird showed up but none have visited yet.

An American Tree Sparrow (the first at the feeders this winter) was feeding with the juncos this morning. One of the juncos was cooperative enough for me to get a nice picture of it.

Away from the feeders in the yard I saw some pheasant tracks. This was the first time I have proof that there was a pheasant in my yard. I have found feathers before but they may have blown in from somewhere else.

Before the storm I saw 32 Eurasian-collared Doves in the neighbor's tree. Not all birds are in the photo but it gives you a good idea of how many there were .Also before the storm I went on the Sioux City CBC. I wasn't out long since I had some other things to do that day but we did pick up 25 or so species including the Northern Shrike below.

This Eastern Cottontail was also seen on the CBC and posed nicely for a picture.
I really don't have time to keep blogging today (I have somewhere to go) so I will have to call that good for now!

A Very White Christmas!

Twenty inches of snow and strong winds made Christmas 2009 one for the record books. The 8 inches that fell on Christmas day alone was the most that ever fell on Christmas day in Sioux City, IA. The three day snowfall total ended up putting this storm in the top 3 worst seen in Sioux City, IA ever. Combined with the other snowfall seen in December it was the snowiest on record with 30 inches of the white stuff.
The best present I received was the news that I am going to be an uncle next August!

The Cleaners of Walmart

My dad and I saw these two tagged crows at a Walmart here in Iowa. One of the crows which was eating something nasty looking in the parking lot had the letters CW on it's tag which we said meant a Cleaner of Walmart! We later came to find out that they were part of a biology study being done at a local college.

What in the world is this?

That is exactly what I asked myself when I saw this arachnid sitting on the ground at our campsite one night at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. Thanks to Internet I was able to in the matter of minutes find out that this was a spider in the genus Eremobates. These are ground dwelling spiders of the west that most often come out at night. I learned on Wikipedia that these spiders have the largest jaw size to body ratio of any creature! So next time you are out at night in the west keep your eyes on the ground to see if you can spot any of these fascinating creepy creatures for yourself.

Butterfly Laying an Egg!