at the tech store

After many months without a working cell phone — it wouldn’t hold a charge for even a minute — I finally got a new battery in it today. Voila! I can unplug and it stays charged! New life for the 8 year old phone! Certain friends are going to be very happy about this. You know who you are.

Sitta carolinensis

White-breasted nuthatches (Sitta carolinensis) eat insects and large, meaty seeds. They get their common name from their habit of jamming nuts and acorns into tree bark, then whacking them with their sharp bill to “hatch” out the seed from the inside. They nest in holes in trees (either created naturally or excavated by woodpeckers) and are most commonly found in deciduous woodland. I was very happy to meet this one today.

Pheucticus melanocephalus

It’s been a long while since we had a bird collision. The shelf outside the kitchen window, complete with tall plants, was doing the trick. But yesterday a black-headed grosbeak flew into a gap in the foliage and crashed. The saddest part was that we had only just seen her at the bird bath a day or two before — grosbeaks are not common visitors here. So freaking sad.

Bubo virginianus

The great horned owl (Bubo virginianus), also known as the hoot owl, is a large raptor native to the Americas. We often hear them at night, and sometimes see them. They eat “almost any living creature that walks, crawls, flies, or swims, except the large mammals.”1 In fact over 500 species have been identified as great horned owl prey.

1Lee, Carol. “Powerful feet and talons help birds of prey make their living”. Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.