I was so tired last night when we got back from the
cookout. Too little sleep and oppressive heat do not make for a lot of energy.
Falling asleep sitting up, typing on my computer.
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Woke up to the
alarm, feeling refreshed. Not in a hurry to get outside, though, because I’ve
decided to conclude my Breakfast Hour of Birds Study. The birds have been
pushing up against the earliest time limit I set for myself for getting out of
bed in the morning…6:15 a.m. I’m not willing to get up any earlier (purposely,
at least) so
What I’ve
learned over that last couple of weeks is that as the sun rises earlier, the
birds come earlier to eat. Astounding observation, right? 🙃 I know they’re awake because the
Dawn Chorus does some warm-up chirping while it’s still dark out, but it
appears that coming into the yard to eat has something to do with the timing of
the sky getting lighter. Therefore, as the sky gets lighter earlier, the birds
eat breakfast earlier.
Now that my
study is over, I plan to continue getting up early because that’s the best time
to take a bike ride before the heat of the day takes over. And when I step
outside, I’ll check to see what the birds are up to…just because.
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Played Mary
Poppins by throwing seed out for the birds before we took off on the e-bikes.
When we got back, I saw a mother sparrow feeding seed to a youngster again.
Then I went for my camera, the birds flew away. It didn’t take long for them to
return though.
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Just
because I had time to waste, I googled “why do birds flop around in the dirt”.
Much to my surprise, this is an actual thing. Found information online, which I’ve
paraphrased: A “dust bath” helps absorb excess oil in the
feathers; cleans off dandruff, old skin and debris; and helps dislodge mites,
lice, etc., all of which are crucial for feather health. It can also be social
behavior for flocks. Birds usually pick
dry, fine soil for their baths, digging a small depression before shaking the
dust onto their bodies. This last
sentence was exactly what that little bird was doing…creating a small
depression before flopping around in the dirt.
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Turned the air
conditioner on early today. Not so bad out at ten in the morning but we wanted
to try keeping ahead of the heat, instead of trying to cool the camper down in
the middle of the heat. That doesn’t work so well. We came home to a nicely
cool camper and decided to turn it off. As soon as the stovetop was turned on to
boil spaghetti, the kitchen/dinette area quickly heated up. Air went back on.
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We left for a
bike ride at about 7:15. Rode down to Harmon Rd. to do a quick check on Johnny
and June but they weren’t available. Continued on to Sunshine Blvd. and got
sidetracked by a field that had suddenly sprouted rows of tiny green plants…maybe
cotton? Anyway, the visual as we rode by
was too hard for me to pass up; I needed to try for a picture. Then Kim thought
about putting the drone up and flying it sideways to see if it would catch the
same effect that we were seeing. Like I said, we got sidetracked. We were back at
camp by 9:30. Then it was a matter of just staying cool and waiting until it
was time to leave for the airport.
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My ‘waiting to
leave for the airport’ time was spent preparing a new needle felting project. I
brought all my needle felting paraphernalia with me but haven’t done anything with
it. Been too busy with the birds, bike
riding, reading, etc. I’ve haven’t taken
the time to sit in the camper except to type. Today I figured since we might be
spending a lot of time inside the camper due to the heat, I should get a
project going. Going to make a saguaro cactus sitting on a bit of desert…at
least that’s my hope.
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Made it to the
airport with minutes to spare…and then it was another half hour before the
passengers started appearing through the doors of the waiting area. Fun to
watch faces light up when someone walks through the doors and sees a familiar
face waiting. A two-month-old baby was lifted high so his aunt (or grandma)
could see him as soon as she came through the doors. A mom and her maybe five-year-old
daughter were sitting in the front row of chairs, patiently waiting for someone.
As a woman and her five-year-old son came through the doors, the boy gave a
shout of joy, the little girl who was waiting squealed, and then they ran at
each other and hugged, just like a scene from a movie. Guaranteed to make even
the grumpiest person smile.
Finally, my mom came out,
wearing a sweatshirt because, you know, Michigan weather…and looking everywhere
but in my direction.🙂 Got her attention,
encouraged her to lose the sweatshirt and went outside to wait for Kim. Jumped into
the air-conditioned truck and we were outta there!
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Not only is it
too hot to be outside but it’s also too cloudy for Kim to image tonight. He’ll
have to wait until tomorrow night to get more data on the Jellyfish Nebula.
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