I loved this post. The mixed media painting is brilliant! We have jackdaws in our garden but they as discouraged because they take the moss off the roof, which would be ok if it wasn’t for the fact they take the very old crumbling tiles with it. They are all shapes and sizes too xx
Thanks, Jo! Jackdaws in bulk are pretty annoying, aren't they? Our local gang seems to enjoy terrorising next-door's TV aerial. Jacko's no trouble on his own, of course - well, apart from those big eyes looking at me through the kitchen door every time he wants some attention, of course. But that's a pleasure, rather than trouble!
Oh, that's so kind - thank you, Charlie. And it's such a pleasure - I'm so glad I've found you here on Substack, having just recently discovered your YouTube videos. 😁
Wow. Your journals are wonderful. It reminds me of scrapbooking— something I did when the kids were little. It’s a homemade photo album with different kinds of paper, stickers, etc on acid free paper. Big business here. Thx for sharing Charlie’s YouTube link, Rebecca.
I smiled and got teary reading this post and watching Jacko's video. I love him and love your description of his coming into your life and his current relationship with you and the other birds. His practiced nonchalance is heartwarming and would make a wonderful children's picture book. Love your art, too. Win, win, win.
The art was a bit of a cheat, being of a blackbird rather than a jackdaw - but hey, our history with blackbirds was part of the story too! I need to draw Jacko himself one of his days.
We so, so enjoyed having our tame blackbird - he was around for years. It was wonderful one spring when he appeared at the kitchen door with a splotchy, speckledy freshly-fledged baby in tow, as if to show it off to us. Blackbirds parent equally, and they were gorgeous to watch.
I marvel at your observations and the delightful character you have drawn for us. Or perhaps drawn out of Jacko. Sad yet defiant. Love the references to the White Feather, and how you beautifully tie this up with the Camelias at the beginning. Wonderful Rebecca!
Ah! Birds! What a great post, Rebecca. The corvids! Now you're talking! Such smart, comical creatures. ( Both my ebay store and my antique lace reference website are The Rook and The Raven.) Our California hills are rife with ravens, but we rarely see them here at the coast. We are absolutely overrun with huge, fat glossy crows, which are considered pests. Alas, there are no rooks in the US. I once witnessed a rookery - a huge oak tree in Elgin, Scotland swarming with rooks, thousands of them all talking at once. A magical event I will always remember. Your art with black bird and black rain is gorgeous. You are so very talented.
Thanks, Sharron! Corvids are all such characters, aren't they? I'm not convinced that I can tell a rook from a crow, to be honest - I think it's the latter we have around here, though, rather than the former. I was staggered the first time I saw a raven - they are absolutely enormous; the size of a buzzard! Our little Jacko is a tiny little thing in comparison.
Thank you for such kind words about my blackbird art. I was so fond of that bird - he was a good friend for years, but doesn't come any more. I think he 'went to live somewhere else' - at least that's what I'm telling myself.... 🌈
Rooks are easy to distinguish - their faces are white and speckled at the base of their beaks where feathers are absent. Crows and ravens have solid black faces. Also, crows and ravens yell a sharp CAW! Rooks chatter a short string of "caw-caw-caw-caw-caw-caw" (almost like a clucking hen) as if they are holding a conversation. And they dig in the ground with their beaks! They are everywhere in Scotland, and love a freshly tilled field.
This is lovely. We had a robin family who came back for three years to nest at the neighbour's house and then educate their young in our backyard. Now it's a family of partridges who nested in the flowerbed at the front of our home and brought what remained of their 19 offspring to winter in the backyard, under the deck.
My sons tease us that we are old, watching the birds. They bring us joy with their antics, songs (the little birds more than the partridges, lol) and their resilience.
Thank you so much, Patricia! How wonderful to have returning robins - they're such gorgeous birds to watch, so engaging! As for those partridges - wow, NINETEEN offspring? That's incredible!
Regarding birdwatching and ageing - well, it's something that I've noticed in myself too. But rather than a sign of ageing, I am viewing my ever-growing interest in nature as a sign that I am really beginning to fully appreciate the world around me. I have such funny conversations with Jim - last summer we camped near a bird reserve and couldn't wait to get up in the morning and go for a long walk with our binoculars. We spotted teal, wigeon, pintails, egrets, tufted ducks, yellowhammers, all kinds of amazing birds - and giggled the whole way back, saying things like 'it would never have crossed our minds to do anything like this fifteen years ago when we met'! But we love it, we really do.
I love this perspective. We purchased a tandem kayak last summer. One of our highlights was to paddle around Bird Island which is a sanctuary for birds.
This area is known for its pelicans who landed so close to us. What an amazing experience to witness their dive for fish.
I agree with you. It is the gift of slowing down to watch nature and understand our connection to the web of life.
Oh wow, that sounds brilliant! I remember seeing pelicans at the zoo as a child, and finding them unattractive and ungainly - but later, as an adult seeing them diving in the wild I was absolutely blown away.
Finally discovering how to begin to recognise what's important is a special gift which has only been granted as I've been adding years to my clock!
Our blackbirds are just like yours - I adore their song and their presence while my brother hates how they mess up his garden - but your magpies are very different to ours. Ours have a beautiful white collar and lots of black and white and a shorter tail. Such friendly birds, no aggression on their part to others who share the garden and my neighbour’s treats. And as usual, I adore your art. Terrific work. Hugs dear Rebecca. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Oh, the blackbirds' song is beautiful, isn't it? I agree that your magpies are prettier than ours. 😊 I'm not keen on our magpies - they're such aggressive bullies, and I haven't forgiven them for what one of their number did to a baby blackbird IN FRONT OF ME during that first Covid lockdown. 😠
Some years ago I was given the book 'Penguin Bloom' about a magpie rescued by an Australian family, and what that one tiny bird did to hold the family together at an incredibly difficult time. I gather that it's now a film, although I'm not sure I'm brave enough to watch it.
Hugs back, Beth! And thank you for such lovely words - I so appreciate you! 😘
I felt the same way about the film. I wanted to watch it but I cry over ads so how will I cope with a movie like that. Meant to buy the DVD of it but never did. Ah well. Hugs my dear. 🤗🤗😘
I loved this tale of the birds in your garden! I’m still learning the varieties in our different gardens over recent years, and only just learned about jackdaws. I find them quite entertaining (and distracting when I should be writing!). Your story of the white feathered jackdaw is so heartwarming. Thanks for turning your backyard into our entertainment.
Thanks, Sabrina! Jackdaws are so entertaining, aren't they? I'm not all that happy when they arrive en masse - the smaller birds don't get a look-in! 😕
Birdlife in the garden is a neverending source of delight, isn't it? Birdfeeders are intrinsic, of course, but your lawn looks as if it would provide fabulous protein for the meat-eaters.
I fill our birdfeeder with birdseed for our native small birds but invariably, the parrots fly in and gobble everything. Anything that falls to the ground is feasted on by native woodpigeons and smaller birds who are swift to fly down and up again.
I have the softest spot for our magpies with their wonderful warble (mouthfuls of marbles come to mind) and have been throwing them dog treats as we walk. The other day, I walked onto the patio and found a maggie on a seat under the silver birch, just eyeing me off. And I swear it's one of the flock of five from our walks who has discovered where we live and thinks it might be a food source. They're very intelligent birds and fun (see https://www.instagram.com/peggyandmolly/?hl=en)
The white feathers of the wars were such a shameful part of history - bullying at its worst - and I think the 'smart' little women who did this should have been called out. I despise bullies!
PS: Rooting for the jackdaw. Go young fella!
PPS: And for the links. As a newbie to journalling, they're perfect!
Thank you so much, Prue! We love our birds - I feel so fortunate. Yes, our lawn (which needs its first cut of the year!) is a great source of earthworms and other goodies, and pretty soon there will be big holes in all the patches of moss due to birds collecting it for nesting material.
I read a news article last year about some very territorial Australian magpies swooping down on people passing too close to their nests. They look like beautiful birds. Ours don't have anything like a 'wonderful warble' - it's more like a scratchy croak. If you've ever watched 'Midsomer Murders' and wondered about any of the sinister sound-effects, they seem to alternate between audio clips of magpies and vixens!
Do you know the book 'Penguin Bloom'? Oh, Google's just told me it's also a film - I had no idea!
So glad you enjoyed the links. I started journalling in 2018 and find it really useful on all sorts of levels. 😊
I often think that all British murder mysteries have access to the same sound effects library (probably do at the Beeb) - the fox yip and the owl hoot seem awfully the same.
I do know of Penguin Bloom and whilst I haven't read or seen it, I must - it's certainly my type of movie/book. Currently knee-deep in a plethora of book titles which keeps me beyond my bedtime, and in terms of viewing, we are so hooked on Endeavour (2 episodes a night) that I think we might go into a decline when we reach the end of all that Britbox offers.
My journalling is not regular and is quite eclectic, with aphorisms, poems and even notes from loved ones, secured inside. Perhaps all the more interesting for that and not just an indulgent 'scope of the layers of grey cells and soul that inhabit my body.
Re avian life? Here's to birds of all kinds. Even old chooks and broilers!
I hear you on the sound effects, Prue! I'm a long-time listener of radio soap 'The Archers', and I swear that they only ever had ONE baby - every baby for about 30 years had exactly the same whiny cry - it was hilarious....! 🤣
My journalling is a kind of 'by the way' approach - my thoughts and 'must-get-this-out-of-my-head' stuff lands on my current daily page of my bullet journal (the book which also runs my life). I've dabbled in separate long-form journalling and morning pages etc, but I'm all for just getting thoughts down where they land. It's really interesting looking back - I have dated, indexed pages back to 2018, and whenever I flick back I think 'ooooooh yes, now THAT'S how I was feeling then - and on that day I also enjoyed the first asparagus of the season and got cross that X didn't ring me when they promised they would, and I went for a longer walk than normal because I had to get out of the house, and made a batch of yoghurt and filleted that prepacked side of salmon that I bought for 75% off the day before........ etc etc! 🤣
I need to be more disciplined re journals. I love it when I do it, but then things get in the way.
I should have been a Regency lady where I could sit at my cedar writing desk by the window, periodically gazing out over the park (where that lovely new gardener is working - la, he has such broad shoulders!) whilst finishing a letter to 'Clarissa' (I must tell her about the gardener!) and then journalling for a quiet hour or two (detailing the attributes of said gardener) or until the inkpot ran dry (too much written about said gardener).
What a beautiful post Rebecca, from mixed media painting, to a video of the courageous Jackdaw...what a cutie. I've never seen this type of bird around here...just crows. Thank you so much for sharing and have a lovely weekend. :)
Thank you so much, Julie! We have several members of the crow family over here - ravens are the biggest (not that there are many of those), and then the crows and the magpies. The jackdaws are, I think, the smallest - but are still quite a lot bigger than my beloved blackbirds. 🐦⬛
I love that your attentions gave your friend, Jacko, a way to integrate with the others! That's community, right there! We don't have jackdaws here, but my husband would very much like to have a pet crow.
Look up leucistic jackdaw and see if that fits for your birds. I think so!
Yes, it seemed that Jacko had the last laugh on that score - he's the only reason that the other jackdaws are getting human-supplied food!
I've looked up leucistic jackdaw - yes, you're right! Thank you so much. There is lots of variation to leucism, it seems - in some pictures I've just seen the birds are very speckledy, but many look very like Jacko. 😀
Aw, Jacko seems like quite a special bird! Being different has made him more adaptable and resilient than the average jackdaw (and that's saying something.) Glad to see the little guy getting along so well. I similarly feed a gang of crows (and their assorted feathered companions) that wait for me in the trees outside my front door every morning. They are such characters.
Very special, Jacquie! And yes, I think you're right - he IS more adaptable and resilient. Members of the crow family certainly have a certain something, don't they? Jackdaws are the smallest of the crows, I think, and they're quite fun to have around (Jacko especially)!
This was such a lovely post, from the roses to the little dinosaurs!
Firstly, I am watching the wind blow my ornamental grasses, the sun is out for the 2nd day in a row, and it is cold. 30 degrees F. No self respecting rose would dare to bloom! There are no flowers at all blooming. How lovely to have roses in winter!
Secondly, you are so kind to the birds. There are so many squirrels here that it is difficult to feed the birds without the rodents eating the seed. I have purchased “squirrel proof” bird feeders, but the squirrels don’t seem to know that. They still manage to get into the food.
I mostly have blue jays and cardinals and crows in the winter here.
We are warned not to have birdseed out during the months that bears are roaming the streets. So since there seem to be quite a few in central Connecticut I don’t have bird seed out until January.
Oh, loved your mixed media painting!!!
Anyway, thank you for your wonderfully entertaining posts!
Awwww, thanks, Julie! I've just got in from an afternoon walk - it's 10°C here, which equates to 50°F - for which I was wearing a woolly hat and gloves, despite it not being nearly so cold here as where you are. Google tells me that 30°F is minus 1°C! 🥶
Actually it's not a rose, but a camellia - a winter-flowering shrub. Roses would be lovely, but ours don't come out until around June. 🌹
I'm glad to say that we don't have bears - I quite understand why you don't put food out for the birds when there's a risk of it encouraging the ursine population. Scary! 🐻
I loved this post. The mixed media painting is brilliant! We have jackdaws in our garden but they as discouraged because they take the moss off the roof, which would be ok if it wasn’t for the fact they take the very old crumbling tiles with it. They are all shapes and sizes too xx
Does your last sentence, Jo, refer to your aviators or your tiles. Peace, Maurice
🤣
Thanks, Jo! Jackdaws in bulk are pretty annoying, aren't they? Our local gang seems to enjoy terrorising next-door's TV aerial. Jacko's no trouble on his own, of course - well, apart from those big eyes looking at me through the kitchen door every time he wants some attention, of course. But that's a pleasure, rather than trouble!
Poe and Hitchcock damaged the reputation of our feathered companions. You have flown in to restore it... Peace, Maurice
The birds 🤣🤣
Coo l ol !!
🤣
You're right, they did - a bit like Spielberg and sharks! Mind you, I wouldn't try to hand-feed a great white... 😲
And thank you for such kind words, Maurice - I appreciate you!
It's mutual, Rebelle
So true. Those dang ravens and crows.
A beautiful story! And thank you for the shout-out - it's a pleasure to connect with a fellow notebook lover!
Oh, that's so kind - thank you, Charlie. And it's such a pleasure - I'm so glad I've found you here on Substack, having just recently discovered your YouTube videos. 😁
Popping a link here so that others reading this comments thread can check out your channel: https://www.youtube.com/@charlierewilding
Aw thanks Rebecca, I'm happy to hear you enjoy my little videos 🥰
Wow. Your journals are wonderful. It reminds me of scrapbooking— something I did when the kids were little. It’s a homemade photo album with different kinds of paper, stickers, etc on acid free paper. Big business here. Thx for sharing Charlie’s YouTube link, Rebecca.
I smiled and got teary reading this post and watching Jacko's video. I love him and love your description of his coming into your life and his current relationship with you and the other birds. His practiced nonchalance is heartwarming and would make a wonderful children's picture book. Love your art, too. Win, win, win.
Awww Mary, thank you so much!
The art was a bit of a cheat, being of a blackbird rather than a jackdaw - but hey, our history with blackbirds was part of the story too! I need to draw Jacko himself one of his days.
We so, so enjoyed having our tame blackbird - he was around for years. It was wonderful one spring when he appeared at the kitchen door with a splotchy, speckledy freshly-fledged baby in tow, as if to show it off to us. Blackbirds parent equally, and they were gorgeous to watch.
Ohhhh I love that story, too, of the speckledy baby and co-parenting. Such a neat thing.
I marvel at your observations and the delightful character you have drawn for us. Or perhaps drawn out of Jacko. Sad yet defiant. Love the references to the White Feather, and how you beautifully tie this up with the Camelias at the beginning. Wonderful Rebecca!
Oh Linda, you're so kind! Thank you very much - I really appreciate you! 😘
Ah! Birds! What a great post, Rebecca. The corvids! Now you're talking! Such smart, comical creatures. ( Both my ebay store and my antique lace reference website are The Rook and The Raven.) Our California hills are rife with ravens, but we rarely see them here at the coast. We are absolutely overrun with huge, fat glossy crows, which are considered pests. Alas, there are no rooks in the US. I once witnessed a rookery - a huge oak tree in Elgin, Scotland swarming with rooks, thousands of them all talking at once. A magical event I will always remember. Your art with black bird and black rain is gorgeous. You are so very talented.
Thanks, Sharron! Corvids are all such characters, aren't they? I'm not convinced that I can tell a rook from a crow, to be honest - I think it's the latter we have around here, though, rather than the former. I was staggered the first time I saw a raven - they are absolutely enormous; the size of a buzzard! Our little Jacko is a tiny little thing in comparison.
Thank you for such kind words about my blackbird art. I was so fond of that bird - he was a good friend for years, but doesn't come any more. I think he 'went to live somewhere else' - at least that's what I'm telling myself.... 🌈
Rooks are easy to distinguish - their faces are white and speckled at the base of their beaks where feathers are absent. Crows and ravens have solid black faces. Also, crows and ravens yell a sharp CAW! Rooks chatter a short string of "caw-caw-caw-caw-caw-caw" (almost like a clucking hen) as if they are holding a conversation. And they dig in the ground with their beaks! They are everywhere in Scotland, and love a freshly tilled field.
Oooooh, that's so helpful - thanks, Sharron! I remember meeting hooded crows in Scotland - they were ever so sinister!
“Our feathered Sisyphus”!!! Love that. Thanks also for the mention💛
Thanks, Jillian! And it's my pleasure. 😘 Your posts are terrific, all of them!
Awe, that means a lot to me, Rebecca!
This is lovely. We had a robin family who came back for three years to nest at the neighbour's house and then educate their young in our backyard. Now it's a family of partridges who nested in the flowerbed at the front of our home and brought what remained of their 19 offspring to winter in the backyard, under the deck.
My sons tease us that we are old, watching the birds. They bring us joy with their antics, songs (the little birds more than the partridges, lol) and their resilience.
Thank you so much, Patricia! How wonderful to have returning robins - they're such gorgeous birds to watch, so engaging! As for those partridges - wow, NINETEEN offspring? That's incredible!
Regarding birdwatching and ageing - well, it's something that I've noticed in myself too. But rather than a sign of ageing, I am viewing my ever-growing interest in nature as a sign that I am really beginning to fully appreciate the world around me. I have such funny conversations with Jim - last summer we camped near a bird reserve and couldn't wait to get up in the morning and go for a long walk with our binoculars. We spotted teal, wigeon, pintails, egrets, tufted ducks, yellowhammers, all kinds of amazing birds - and giggled the whole way back, saying things like 'it would never have crossed our minds to do anything like this fifteen years ago when we met'! But we love it, we really do.
I love this perspective. We purchased a tandem kayak last summer. One of our highlights was to paddle around Bird Island which is a sanctuary for birds.
This area is known for its pelicans who landed so close to us. What an amazing experience to witness their dive for fish.
I agree with you. It is the gift of slowing down to watch nature and understand our connection to the web of life.
Oh wow, that sounds brilliant! I remember seeing pelicans at the zoo as a child, and finding them unattractive and ungainly - but later, as an adult seeing them diving in the wild I was absolutely blown away.
Finally discovering how to begin to recognise what's important is a special gift which has only been granted as I've been adding years to my clock!
Exactly! 💞 I also love your journals. On my bucket list to start an art journal
Oh, how lovely - thank you - and yes, do!!! Art journalling is such fun! 🤩
Our blackbirds are just like yours - I adore their song and their presence while my brother hates how they mess up his garden - but your magpies are very different to ours. Ours have a beautiful white collar and lots of black and white and a shorter tail. Such friendly birds, no aggression on their part to others who share the garden and my neighbour’s treats. And as usual, I adore your art. Terrific work. Hugs dear Rebecca. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Oh, the blackbirds' song is beautiful, isn't it? I agree that your magpies are prettier than ours. 😊 I'm not keen on our magpies - they're such aggressive bullies, and I haven't forgiven them for what one of their number did to a baby blackbird IN FRONT OF ME during that first Covid lockdown. 😠
Some years ago I was given the book 'Penguin Bloom' about a magpie rescued by an Australian family, and what that one tiny bird did to hold the family together at an incredibly difficult time. I gather that it's now a film, although I'm not sure I'm brave enough to watch it.
Hugs back, Beth! And thank you for such lovely words - I so appreciate you! 😘
I felt the same way about the film. I wanted to watch it but I cry over ads so how will I cope with a movie like that. Meant to buy the DVD of it but never did. Ah well. Hugs my dear. 🤗🤗😘
We have so much in common, Beth! Hugs back! 😘
I loved this tale of the birds in your garden! I’m still learning the varieties in our different gardens over recent years, and only just learned about jackdaws. I find them quite entertaining (and distracting when I should be writing!). Your story of the white feathered jackdaw is so heartwarming. Thanks for turning your backyard into our entertainment.
Thanks, Sabrina! Jackdaws are so entertaining, aren't they? I'm not all that happy when they arrive en masse - the smaller birds don't get a look-in! 😕
What a beautiful post, Rebecca.
Birdlife in the garden is a neverending source of delight, isn't it? Birdfeeders are intrinsic, of course, but your lawn looks as if it would provide fabulous protein for the meat-eaters.
I fill our birdfeeder with birdseed for our native small birds but invariably, the parrots fly in and gobble everything. Anything that falls to the ground is feasted on by native woodpigeons and smaller birds who are swift to fly down and up again.
I have the softest spot for our magpies with their wonderful warble (mouthfuls of marbles come to mind) and have been throwing them dog treats as we walk. The other day, I walked onto the patio and found a maggie on a seat under the silver birch, just eyeing me off. And I swear it's one of the flock of five from our walks who has discovered where we live and thinks it might be a food source. They're very intelligent birds and fun (see https://www.instagram.com/peggyandmolly/?hl=en)
The white feathers of the wars were such a shameful part of history - bullying at its worst - and I think the 'smart' little women who did this should have been called out. I despise bullies!
PS: Rooting for the jackdaw. Go young fella!
PPS: And for the links. As a newbie to journalling, they're perfect!
Thank you so much, Prue! We love our birds - I feel so fortunate. Yes, our lawn (which needs its first cut of the year!) is a great source of earthworms and other goodies, and pretty soon there will be big holes in all the patches of moss due to birds collecting it for nesting material.
I read a news article last year about some very territorial Australian magpies swooping down on people passing too close to their nests. They look like beautiful birds. Ours don't have anything like a 'wonderful warble' - it's more like a scratchy croak. If you've ever watched 'Midsomer Murders' and wondered about any of the sinister sound-effects, they seem to alternate between audio clips of magpies and vixens!
Do you know the book 'Penguin Bloom'? Oh, Google's just told me it's also a film - I had no idea!
So glad you enjoyed the links. I started journalling in 2018 and find it really useful on all sorts of levels. 😊
I often think that all British murder mysteries have access to the same sound effects library (probably do at the Beeb) - the fox yip and the owl hoot seem awfully the same.
I do know of Penguin Bloom and whilst I haven't read or seen it, I must - it's certainly my type of movie/book. Currently knee-deep in a plethora of book titles which keeps me beyond my bedtime, and in terms of viewing, we are so hooked on Endeavour (2 episodes a night) that I think we might go into a decline when we reach the end of all that Britbox offers.
My journalling is not regular and is quite eclectic, with aphorisms, poems and even notes from loved ones, secured inside. Perhaps all the more interesting for that and not just an indulgent 'scope of the layers of grey cells and soul that inhabit my body.
Re avian life? Here's to birds of all kinds. Even old chooks and broilers!
I hear you on the sound effects, Prue! I'm a long-time listener of radio soap 'The Archers', and I swear that they only ever had ONE baby - every baby for about 30 years had exactly the same whiny cry - it was hilarious....! 🤣
My journalling is a kind of 'by the way' approach - my thoughts and 'must-get-this-out-of-my-head' stuff lands on my current daily page of my bullet journal (the book which also runs my life). I've dabbled in separate long-form journalling and morning pages etc, but I'm all for just getting thoughts down where they land. It's really interesting looking back - I have dated, indexed pages back to 2018, and whenever I flick back I think 'ooooooh yes, now THAT'S how I was feeling then - and on that day I also enjoyed the first asparagus of the season and got cross that X didn't ring me when they promised they would, and I went for a longer walk than normal because I had to get out of the house, and made a batch of yoghurt and filleted that prepacked side of salmon that I bought for 75% off the day before........ etc etc! 🤣
I need to be more disciplined re journals. I love it when I do it, but then things get in the way.
I should have been a Regency lady where I could sit at my cedar writing desk by the window, periodically gazing out over the park (where that lovely new gardener is working - la, he has such broad shoulders!) whilst finishing a letter to 'Clarissa' (I must tell her about the gardener!) and then journalling for a quiet hour or two (detailing the attributes of said gardener) or until the inkpot ran dry (too much written about said gardener).
Oh Prue, that sounds marvellous! I can imagine you doing exactly that!
And a big LOL to '...detailing the attributes of said gardener...! 😉🌱
What a beautiful post Rebecca, from mixed media painting, to a video of the courageous Jackdaw...what a cutie. I've never seen this type of bird around here...just crows. Thank you so much for sharing and have a lovely weekend. :)
Thank you so much, Julie! We have several members of the crow family over here - ravens are the biggest (not that there are many of those), and then the crows and the magpies. The jackdaws are, I think, the smallest - but are still quite a lot bigger than my beloved blackbirds. 🐦⬛
Hi Rebecca! I love the name "magpie". I don't think we have those here in Central NY. You know got me researching... I wonder. :) Thank you!
I love that your attentions gave your friend, Jacko, a way to integrate with the others! That's community, right there! We don't have jackdaws here, but my husband would very much like to have a pet crow.
Look up leucistic jackdaw and see if that fits for your birds. I think so!
Yes, it seemed that Jacko had the last laugh on that score - he's the only reason that the other jackdaws are getting human-supplied food!
I've looked up leucistic jackdaw - yes, you're right! Thank you so much. There is lots of variation to leucism, it seems - in some pictures I've just seen the birds are very speckledy, but many look very like Jacko. 😀
What a wonderful story! I’m glad Jacko found a friend in you - don’t these wonderful unexpected connections have a way of making our hearts richer?💕
We feel so lucky to have him, Sydney! Well, I'm saying 'him', but I don't actually know whether Jacko is a Jack or a Jackie....
He won’t mind :) And if you find out one day he’s a she, you can have a giggle about it together 🤣
YES! #girltalk 😁
Aw, Jacko seems like quite a special bird! Being different has made him more adaptable and resilient than the average jackdaw (and that's saying something.) Glad to see the little guy getting along so well. I similarly feed a gang of crows (and their assorted feathered companions) that wait for me in the trees outside my front door every morning. They are such characters.
Very special, Jacquie! And yes, I think you're right - he IS more adaptable and resilient. Members of the crow family certainly have a certain something, don't they? Jackdaws are the smallest of the crows, I think, and they're quite fun to have around (Jacko especially)!
This was such a lovely post, from the roses to the little dinosaurs!
Firstly, I am watching the wind blow my ornamental grasses, the sun is out for the 2nd day in a row, and it is cold. 30 degrees F. No self respecting rose would dare to bloom! There are no flowers at all blooming. How lovely to have roses in winter!
Secondly, you are so kind to the birds. There are so many squirrels here that it is difficult to feed the birds without the rodents eating the seed. I have purchased “squirrel proof” bird feeders, but the squirrels don’t seem to know that. They still manage to get into the food.
I mostly have blue jays and cardinals and crows in the winter here.
We are warned not to have birdseed out during the months that bears are roaming the streets. So since there seem to be quite a few in central Connecticut I don’t have bird seed out until January.
Oh, loved your mixed media painting!!!
Anyway, thank you for your wonderfully entertaining posts!
Awwww, thanks, Julie! I've just got in from an afternoon walk - it's 10°C here, which equates to 50°F - for which I was wearing a woolly hat and gloves, despite it not being nearly so cold here as where you are. Google tells me that 30°F is minus 1°C! 🥶
Actually it's not a rose, but a camellia - a winter-flowering shrub. Roses would be lovely, but ours don't come out until around June. 🌹
I'm glad to say that we don't have bears - I quite understand why you don't put food out for the birds when there's a risk of it encouraging the ursine population. Scary! 🐻