Wait, it's February already?

Male cardinal, eating seed from our feeder

I can't believe it has been over a month since I last sat down to write here. I know I thought about it, but kept thinking it hadn't been that long since my last post, surely. Well, here are some of the things that have been keeping me busy since the beginning of this year. 

Open kibbeh, from Jerusalem by Yotem Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi

 Cooking, of course. I have so many good cookbooks now that I am really making an effort to try new recipes. Weekends tend to be the best time for that around here - more people to help with complicated prep work, or just keep Malcolm out of my hair while I do it.  For the savory side of things, my current crush is Jerusalem by Yotem Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. There are some recipes I know I will never make, but all the ones I have made have been amazing. This open kibbeh was so very good - lamb, bulgher, and some tahini, essentially - there was hardly any left for the next day.

Sticky Toffee Pudding from Jamie Oliver's Comfort Food

Last summer, while watching The Colbert Report,  we saw Jamie Oliver bring out this sticky toffee pudding and my mother-in-law was drooling over it. I told her if she bought me the book, I would make it for her; she remembered and gave it to me for Christmas. So, I made sticky toffee pudding for a New Year's treat. Oh. My. Goodness. Rich and flavorful and oh so good. I probably won't make it again any time soon, just because we really don't need that much cake in the house, but I might break it out for the next potluck we go to.

Chocolate sables from Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan

 Another reason I probably won't get around to making another sticky toffee pudding soon is that I also got Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan for Christmas, and I am attempting to bake my way through it. It will take a long time, since there are so many recipes and alternate variations, and I can't quite justify baking dessert every single weekend, but I don't really mind. Everything I have make so far is delicious.

Who can resist that face?

And of course, in addition to cooking, Malcolm is keeping me on my toes. At two and a half, he is far too smart for his own good, too good at getting into things he shouldn't, and just adorable enough to stay (mostly) out of trouble.

We are out riding bikes without coats, in February!

 He got a balance bike for Christmas, and has almost completely mastered it. He rides down our street without touching, rides circles in our cul-de-sac, and is generally getting set for a life on two wheels. It isn't so bad when the weather is warm, like it has been this week, but he was insisting we go out when it was 35 and windy, and that was a bit much for this mama. (Not that I should complain, since I made him go out in the stroller for runs with me when it was equally cold and windy. The difference is that he was swaddled in blankets and sleeps through most of the runs, whereas I have to stand around and watch for cars while he is bike riding - no blankets or naps for me). It is exciting to see how fast he learns and figures things out.

Sharp-shinned hawk (I think), staking out our feeder

 Malcolm and I have been participating in this year's Feeder Watch program, conducted by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Basically, we watch our bird feeders two consecutive days a week and try to identify and count the various birds we see, then we report that data and it helps the scientists get a picture of bird migration and numbers. Last week, this beauty showed up and scared all the little birds away. I didn't mind, because it stayed around long enough for me to get out my camera and take a few pictures.

So, there is my year so far, mostly. I am also training for a 10K in March, partially in order to be able to eat all the delicious things I bake, and tennis season is just about to pick up steam. I'll try not to let things go for another month this time!

Birding with Malcolm

Brown Creeper

Back in December, we had an ice/sleet/snow storm that kept us all at home and inside for several days - it was far too slick to even walk in the backyard! To keep ourselves occupied, Malcolm and I spent a lot of time watching birds out of his window. I had recently relocated the bird feeder to the front yard, in part so that we could do precisely that (and partly to keep it away from the dog, who developed an unhealthy obsession with it, and would spend hours trying to keep all the birds out of his yard).

Cardinal, white chinned sparrows, and mourning doves

Because it was so icy, the feeder was the best place around to get food, and we had about 20 different species of birds show up over the 3 days. Malcolm was captivated by them, and spent 30 minutes or more at a time standing on his little chair, watching them.

Eventually I remembered that I have a telephoto lens for my camera and I started taking pictures of as many of the birds as I could. It is just a standard zoom, so I couldn't get as close as I would have liked, and I was shooting out of a (not entirely clean) window, but I still managed to get some good shots.

Carolina Wren

I am delighted that Malcolm is already interested in bird watching, since it is the favorite past time of his grandmother and great-grandparents, who used to travel all over the world to see birds. And I am happy because he is already developing a love for nature that experts warn is becoming rarer and rarer among children these days. Not that I was particularly worried about him, since Benjamin and I both love being outdoors and doing nature-related activities, and plan to take him hiking and camping as often as possible.

White-breasted Nuthatch

Since he is getting started early, I am sure Malcolm will be a better birder than I am by the time he is 5 or 6. He even started getting the hang of binoculars (when he wasn't putting them in his mouth).

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Now that the ice and snow are gone, it is a bit harder to spot birds, and they aren't coming in such numbers, but we still spend time every day looking out the window to see if there are any birds.

My favorite, the Tufted Titmouse

Bluebird!

 

Last week I finally got a chance to do what I have been waiting 3 years to do - take a picture of a bluebird. They are a common bird around our neighborhood and the local park, and I often see them on walks, but they do not visit our backyard very often. This is most likely because of Miikka - he is very territorial towards birds in his yard, so much so that I have had to remove the bird feeder because it drove him crazy. He barks at the robins and jays that are brave enough to visit as much as he does the squirrels. Sigh.

But last week, while Miikka was asleep inside, one lone bluebird came for a quick visit. I almost didn't grab the camera, because I was convinced he would be gone by the time I changed to my telephoto lens. But he didn't fly away, and I was able to get several decent shots through the windows.

We didn't have bluebirds in Bellevue when I was growing up, although there is a Western Bluebird species, so until we moved to Arkansas, I had never seen one outside of pictures. I think they are one of my favorites to spot, and I always give an excited little "bluebird!" cry whenever I see one.

Speaking of bluebirds, you should all go out and read The Bluebird Effect: Uncommon Bonds With Common Birds by Julie Zickefoose. She is a naturalist, artist and writer who has a wonderful blog, in addition to this gorgeous book. I requested a copy for my birthday, and then read it like dessert - a little at a time - to make it last longer. The watercolors and drawings are fantastic, and the stories are amazing. A grown-up version of all the animal rescue stories I devoured as a kid.

Red-winged Blackbird

Red-winged blackbirds are one of the few birds I can identify by sound, and be 100% sure I am right. We have a lot of them around the city parks here in Maumelle, and I love to hear them. Here is a picture my mother took in Bellevue the other day.  Check out the Cornell Lab of Ornithology for more information and recordings of their songs.

(Hah! I found I posted about red-winged blackbirds last year in May, with the same link. Different picture though, so you just have to have a sense of deja vu. Deal.)

Today I Love

Picture from Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Red-winged blackbirds.* I remember seeing and hearing them on walks with my parents (often at the same Bellefields park that I will have pictures of later). I didn't hear or see them for years while I was living in Texas - too much in the city I guess - but they are abundant at the two local lake parks where Miikka and I walk. I love hearing them as I walk in the early morning.

*Take a look at the awesome Cornell Lab of Ornithology website. It has a searchable database with pictures, habitat information, conservation status, and most awesome - sounds. If you follow that link, you can hear just what I hear in the mornings on my walks.

Sedona wildlife (well, a very small portion of it)

I realized last night as I was going to bed that I forgot to give y'all a blog yesterday. Oh well. Means my pictures will last longer! Anyway, back to Sedona for today's shots. All of these were taken in my aunt and uncle's back yard.

Sedona has a rather large population of wild rabbits. I love rabbits. If I didn't have a chinchilla and a dog, I would probably get a rabbit. But I do have a chinchilla and a dog, and three cats, so I will have to content myself with cute pictures of rabbits instead. (Speaking of which, have you seen Disapproving Rabbits yet? It falls into the "cute animal pictures with captions" genre, and is a hoot.)

I, wild rabbit, disapprove of this shot.

Anyway, I saw so many bunnies on my walk around the neighborhood and through the golf course one morning that I lost count, or rather gave up counting. I am a little surprised that so many bunnies survive, because there are a lot of predators in Sedona too - I saw (but didn't get on camera) a bobcat and a very healthy looking coyote while I was there. These come into the town area from the surrounding hills, which are mostly National Forest, and thus undeveloped.

Here the feather looks like a punctuation mark.

There are also a lot of quail in Sedona. I love watching quail - they are so funny. 3 parts stiff English butler, 1 part John Cleese from the Ministry of Silly Walks, 1 part Vegas showgirl (it's that little head feather that does it).

Quail on a mission.

I was using a borrowed telephoto lens and didn't have a tripod, but I am still pleased with the number of good shots I got. Especially since quail don't often sit completely still.

Are you lookin' at me, punk?

Is this a snake? No? Good...

The Sedona area also is home to a wide range of other bird species. I am pretty sure those yellow birds are some sort of finch (no bird book with me at the minute to check). Seen but not caught on camera were hummingbirds, scrub jays, ravens, sparrows...

And this little rock dove. They make the neatest cooing noises early in the morning. No, really - I like hearing birds before the sun is up, makes it less lonely, more alive.

Blue jays

One of the nice things about our new backyard is the birds. The yard behind us is a mini-forest, and the neighbors never do anything outside, so it is a great refuge for birds. We have feeders. The two combine to provide us with an interesting assortment of birds. This morning at breakfast I got to see cardinals, a red-bellied woodpecker (why it was at the feeder I don't know, but it was), chickadees, a hummingbird, and last but definitely not least, blue jays.


We have a family of these colorful, raucous creatures. They swarm the feeders, call to each other from the trees, and drop feathers for me to find. This picture is one my dad took a couple of weeks ago of a juvenile on the feeder. I am sure it has grown by now, becoming less gray and more blue. They will probably stay the winter, as long as I keep the feeder filled. I can't wait to see what other birds show up in the spring.

Thursday bunny count

I went on the longer walk that Benjamin and I usually only do on weekends (just because it takes 40 minutes, and we tend to be short on time during the week). This is important because it made my bunny total for the morning higher than normal: 6 bunnies! Also spotted 5 cats (4 house cats out for their constitutionals and one stray on the UCA campus) and a pair of robins engaged in procreational activities. Not to mention all the other birds I heard and saw, going about their normal business.