Birdtober Day 28: Sultan Tit

 

Sultan with a crown of yellow

Eating bugs, a regal fellow,

Foraging in East Asian trees

He's the king of all he sees.

 

©Ruth Bowen Hersey 

 

 

 

Birdtober Day 27: California Condor

 

Here's your dinner, precious chicky:

Not even a little icky.

I'm flying in from high above

To vomit up my gift of love.

 

©Ruth Bowen Hersey 

Birdtober Day 26: Pacific Wren

 

Tiny brown ball of birdness

living in lush green forestness

with a little tail sticking up

and a song that's full of springness

 

©Ruth Bowen Hersey 

 

Birdtober Day 25: Acorn Woodpecker

 

Acorn Woodpeckers

are misers guarding their wealth

homemakers storing up food for the winter

hoarders saving thousands of acorns even though they mostly eat bugs

 

Acorn Woodpeckers

are cooperative family members

destroyers of siding on people's houses

noisy groups of cartoon characters who sound like Woody

 

©Ruth Bowen Hersey 

Poetry Friday: Birdtober Day 24: Olive Warbler

 

Before we meet the Olive Warbler, here are links to this week's Birdtober birds:

 

 

Saturday: Crowned Parrot 

Sunday: Red-footed Booby 

Monday: Golden Plover 

Tuesday: Eurasian Tree Sparrow 

Wednesday: Tree Swallow 

Thursday: Northern Waterthrush 

 

 

Today's bird, the Olive Warbler, lives in the southwestern United States, Mexico, and Central America. There is a little bit of olive green on the wings, but olive certainly isn't the main color of these birds: the male is more orange and the female more yellow.

 

 

Hopping on branches

in the ponderosa pines

the Olive Warbler isn't concerned

that it's neither olive nor a warbler.  

It's more interested in finding

a crunchy, delicious bug to eat.

 

©Ruth Bowen Hersey 

 

 

Patricia has today's roundup. 

Birdtober Day 23: Northern Waterthrush

 

Northern Waterthrush

Spends winter in the mangroves

Summer in the swamp

 

©Ruth Bowen Hersey 

Birdtober Day 22: Tree Swallow

 

 

 

 

Tree Swallow flocking fills the sky,

Tornadoes of birds careen on by.

Shiny birds of bluish green:

 The best tornado ever seen.

 

©Ruth Bowen Hersey 

Birdtober Day 21: Eurasian Tree Sparrow

 

Here's my post about the House Sparrow. In the video you can see that it's very much like the Eurasian Tree Sparrow, and you can also learn how to tell them apart. One of the things I love about birding is that there are people who care about these tiny details; it matters to them which kind of sparrow they are seeing. The Eurasian Tree Sparrow, like the House Sparrow, was introduced into the United States. All the Eurasian Tree Sparrows in the US are descended from twelve individuals who were brought over in 1870 from Germany so that immigrants would have familiar species around them. They are found all over Europe and much of Asia, but only in a very small part of the United States. (The video is from the UK.) 

 

 

 

Neat bird of brown and black and white,

House Sparrow's country cousin.

The ones that live in Iowa

Descended from a dozen. 

©Ruth Bowen Hersey

 

Birdtober Day 20: Golden Plover

The American Golden-Plover travels about 25,000 miles during migration. 

 

 

Black and white with flecks of gold,

Plumage beautiful and bold 

Journeys through places hot and cold

Leaves the travel tales untold

 

©Ruth Bowen Hersey