Birds and bee-thing suits and "tits"!

[thistlechaser]

Bathing suit first: How lucky I got! I've not bought a bathing suit in 15-20 years, and the first one I buy (over the net, no less) and it's perfect. It's the oddest bathing suit I ever saw, but perfect -- if I had known it existed, I would have gone looking for one just like this.

Two pieces, but it's no bikini (thank every god above and below). If you didn't know it was a bathing suit, it would appear to be a dress and a pair of shorts. The dress part comes down to my knees (YAY), the shorts don't matter, since you can't see them. My only worry is that the dress part might float up. Hopefully it won't. Worse comes to worst, I'll somehow add a belt (haha). It's not tight/clingy, the dress part is a straight line down (when dry...). It couldn't be more perfect for hiding as much skin and shape as you can.

Birds: Nine out of ten birds do not approve of thistle seed. They toss it out of the feeder and make a giant mess all over the ground. You haven't seen a mess until you've seen thistle seed all over the floor! (Why yes, I do amuse myself with this.) I ended up throwing half a bag of it out.

Birds, continued: I noticed a bird was pecking my bird feeder. I went over to the window for a closer look, and saw a pretty little bird. Soft grey color with a crest on its head. I thought it might be a woodpecker (after pecking the (plastic) feeder for a while, it moved to my wooden fence and pecked more). Turns out it was a titmouse!

OMG! NWS! Tits-- Oh wait...

(As usual not my photo.)

Not only are they a pretty little bird, they mate for life! My bird identification site says they shouldn't arrive until May, but it's nearly that. It's so exciting watching to see what new birds will show up! And the old bird species are growing bigger, too. (I'm probably making them fat with an endless supply of seed...) The tiny little house finches who were my first visitors are now twice as big as they were when they arrived! Huh, their average lifespan is 9-10 years. That's a lot for a tiny little bird!

Edit: Not sure why the identification site said they arrive in May. Other sites say titmouses (titmice?) defend a territory all year.

Comments

[al-zorra.livejournal.com]

Yay indeed for the swim suit and everything else.

One of my friends, ah, the one you can't see because like me you're not FB either, would love your bird stories.

Love, C.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Maybe you can talk her into getting a LJ! I know I'm biased, but I'd much rather have a LJ than a Facebook account. No reason she can't have both though!

[socksofjello.livejournal.com]

Tufted titmice are my favorite! Unfortunately the ones are here are very shy of people, but I love sneaking peeks at them when they come to our feeder. Something about them is incredibly endearing.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I think these are oak titmice. They don't seem more or less shy than other birds, but they do seem more aggressive towards other bird species. Most of the other birds can drive each other off the feeder, but they all make way when the titmouse comes.

I love how they peck at the feeder. So silly! It's plastic! But at least that lets me know that they've arrived. Then they take one of the sunflower hearts over to the fence and peck it there for a while.

[socksofjello.livejournal.com]

Hah, oops! Tufted are the only kind we get in my area, I believe, so I mistakenly assumed. It's interesting that they're so aggressive compared to the ones we have--though I've noticed their cousins, chickadees, can be bossy little things.

We have a metal feeder and the little birdbrains--including the nuthatches and chickadees--peck at that, too! In our case, it's usually just when the feed is nearly gone and they desperately want the last couple sunflower seeds stuck in the middle of the feeder. I'm not sure what they could be trying to accomplish at your place. (If it's new, maybe it's reflective enough for them to see movement/"another bird"?)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

It's odd, but I haven't had any chickadees yet. I'm used to them being the most common bird around.

And nope, it's red plastic. (Though the sides are clear plastic, maybe that acts reflective sometimes?) I don't know why they do it, but I'm glad they do. It's loud enough (when my window is open), that I can hear and know to go watch them.

Edit: Oh, huh, we don't have chickadees in this area. They don't come this far south on the west coast.

[changeling72.livejournal.com]

Do you not end up with hundreds of thistles growing in your garden..?

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't mind that! Unfortunately I live in an apartment, so I have the feeder up on my porch. All the seed falls down onto concrete. I wish I had a garden to hang it in, or at least some grass.

[loup_noir]

They were resident in Lafayette. I really miss them. The closest ones to where we live now are about an hour east, so I occasionally get to visit with them.

Niger seed lovers are chickadees, goldfinches, most finches, and sparrows.

I'm envious that you found a swimsuit that works for you. Not that it's ever warm enough here to swim outside, mind you, but last time I bought a suit, it was an hour of humiliation followed by settling for the least horrible one.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Most of the birds who come to my feeder are house finches, so I was surprised that they didn't like the seed. I think they were eating some, but tossing most of it out. Unfortunately the mourning doves weren't interested in it at all, so they didn't come by and clean it up.

My big bag of sunflower hearts and cores arrived, so I'm back to feeding that. Everyone loves that (sadly including the squirrels).

I got reeeealy lucky with the swimsuit. I'm looking forward to trying it out!