16 December 2024
Hello Everyone,
Today is more about Calico’s list of books that SHE enjoyed during 2024 than it is catching up on nest news. There are a few things happening and we will touch on them. I will be sending this posting out late Sunday evening and the next post will come Wednesday morning. Please watch for the hatch of E25 prior to that blog.
Hugo Yugo will be having her surgery early and my focus will be on her over the next few days and her recovery.
Sunday afternoon E25 was trying to get out of its shell and join its older sibling, E24! Terrific that the delayed incubation is working so well. F23 is a pro! M15 picked well. Thanks, ‘J’.
Here is E24 hatching if you missed it! https://youtu.be/bQ1ajd9J3xc?
It was +1 on Sunday. Gentle flakes of snow fell on Winnipeg in the early afternoon. The Starlings, some 34 of them, were busy at the feeders. There was plenty of cat kibble and it would seem that was what brought the extra birds to the garden. Dyson and Gang were here – the entire troop of five. It is wonderful to see them scurrying about. The Sparrows are busy eating snow. It is time to get the heater to keep the water warm out of the cupboard!
Calico has been sitting beside me all morning. We are writing the story of her and Baby Hope and finding photos. I so wish that I had taken images of her when she first came to the feeder in late 2022. Still, I am grateful for the ones that we have. She has sat patiently and slowly the others have poured into the warm conservatory to listen and watch the birds. I don’t think they have ever seen so many starlings! There is one Blue Jay and one Crow – which worries me. There should be two of each. The Blue Jays always come together at some point to the feeders. Little Red is busy caching peanuts and causing mischief. Oh, oh. The second Crow has arrived. Now we just wait to see if there is a second Blue Jay.
Calico’s book list for 2024 is not all about our feathered friends but often about nature, how individual lives have been changed by learning about wildlife and their transformation into good citizens of our planet. This year, it is shorter than usual – not because there weren’t a lot of books coming in to read but because she has gotten picky about what she likes to hear!
The top book for 2024 is Raising Hare. We have now read it four times. Chloe Dalton’s busy urban life is changed during the pandemic when she scoops up a tiny hare from the road and takes it into her country home. Line drawings, great narrative. Ten Golden Paws for readability!
Her second choice for 2024 publications is An Anthology of Exquisite Birds. We pick several species and read about them each evening. The writing is clear and while the book was meant for children, Calico thinks everyone would enjoy it. Packed with gorgeous illustrations!
Calico really enjoyed listening to Jennifer Ackerman’s What an Owl Knows. The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds. Who would have thought Calico would like hearing about owls! She hears me scream at the local one all the time! Small black and white illustrations within the text and a central part of coloured images. Of course, Calico doesn’t care about the images – only the words, but you might like them.
It is and it isn’t a bird book. Our Green Heart is about the special place forests and trees play in our lives. Calico really enjoyed this book!
Canada’s female astronaut examines the beauty and threat to two species, The Whooping Crane and the Lesser Flamingo in Space for Birds. It is a gorgeous book – just look at that cover! Calico appreciated the writing. I loved that and the beautiful images.
Calico must be into the symbolism and mystical qualities of birds because she truly enjoyed having several entries of Ornithography. An Illustrated Guide to Bird Lore and Symbolism read to her each evening. There are 100 entires, all illustrated. (I found it interesting that Calico sat and listened to these entries when she is always bored by field guides, and while I genuinely enjoyed Amy Tan’s Backyard Chronicles, Calico didn’t. Go figure!
It is not a 2024 publication, but Calico cannot get enough of this book about life in the Welsh countryside. It is another transformative story of a young East Indian woman who moves to rural Wales. It was the first book Calico ever heard during story time. It is I can hear the Cuckoo.
Another old favourite is The Meaning of Geese. A thousand miles in search of home. It is the story of the author who gives up a wondrous life of travel to ride a bicycle around Norfolk, his home, studying the geese that migrate to the UK during the winter from Iceland, Greenland, and Siberia. Calico says if you like geese, this is the book for you!
We read every night and sometimes in the afternoons. Some books are favourites of mine and I will be making a much longer list for the end of the year. There are quite a number of new books that we have added to the library that appealed to me, but not to Calico! She is very particular about the sound of the words and which words are joined together. She will actually get up and walk out!
Another all time favourite that we read when Calico got tired of hearing scientific data about Ospreys, Falcons, or Condors was The Comfort of Crows. A Backyard Year by Margaret Renkl. It is a wonderful little book that follows the life of the wildlife in Renkl’s garden with some amusing stories.
My listing will appear before the end of the year. I hope that it will contain some new books that will delight you over the winter.
Meanwhile at the nest of M15 and F23 in SW Florida, each tries to feed little E24. https://youtu.be/_BfPWsfaJLU?
In South Australia, Fran Solly has kindly posted the nests, the names, and the banding colours of this years chicks. Kasse’s bands are red left and white right, I think.
Missy flying about from Coobowie.
At Port Lincoln, all four family members are at the barge. Wilko is 72 days old today and Kasse is 69.
Noon. Kasse and Wilko hoping for fish!
Precious eggs of Beau and Gabby.
Good news for eggs and the Moli on the island of Kauai.
On Midway the albatross are breeding, too.
Thank you so much for being with us today. We will see you again on Wednesday. Send good wishes to Hugo Yugo on Monday for a successful surgery and take care of yourself.
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, and streaming cam that helped me to write my post today: ‘J’ SK Hideaways, the authors of all the books and Amazon, NestFlix Memories, Fran Solly, Port Lincoln Osprey, Bart M and the PLO, NEFL-AEF, Hob Osterlund, Friends of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge
