Let’s answer this prompt. It’s harmless. I used to prefer nights, back when I did a lot of music stuff and going out with friends. I think I liked the activities, like choir practice and rehearsals more than the fact that it was night.
This is here just because I thought it was pretty.
Now that I mostly stay home, I’ve come to enjoy my morning routine out in the fields and woods. It’s grounding and gets my mind ready to get stuff done. I do enjoy having morning rituals like coffee and filling out my bullet journal for the day, too.
I often meditate while looking at lichen and bark.
I have evening rituals, too, like blogging and reading before I go to sleep. I guess I like to ease into the day and ease back out.
Magazine patiently waiting for me to finish blogging
I enjoyed the distraction of a lesson on Apache this afternoon. I wanted to build on last weekend, and it worked. We are doing well together, and I’m impressed with his eagerness to learn. I’m a lot more calm, too. He’s feeling better.
He stopped nice and straight. He made a new friend, Nosy Noah. He’s losing fat. Good posture Bad postureGoodNot good Good Apache living and learning
Next lesson will be for Drew, but it’s been postponed for family stuff. That gives me lots of time to work with them both at home, though. Drew and I have lots to practice, too! He is still weird about his head but otherwise tons of fun.
Daily Bird
I think the great blue herons on the ranch will be upset (or more upset) with me if I don’t feature them, so today’s the day.
It’s about time.
At least today I didn’t scare one who was busily cleaning out the overflow pond like I’d done for two days. I just watched them flying and posing at water’s edge.
I’m watching you.
My favorite thing about these large birds is their croak. They yell when disturbed and made to fly off. Often they don’t vocalize enough for the Merlin app to catch them, but it did this week. It’s a great creaky sound.
I’m glad we have water to attract these and the other herons/egrets here. They have so many postures and look so elegant when they fly. And they’re so big! It’s a nice contrast with all the tiny woodland birds.
I say I’m a hippie, because when I saw the prompt for the day, two things popped into my head: blue jeans and t-shirts. I have had that as my uniform since the day I was allowed to wear pants to school, which I think was in 1971. It sure saved Mom money, so she didn’t argue with me. My clothing budget shrank a lot. And I bought my own shirts.
My avatar wears my usual stuff. Jeans, t-shirt, jean jacket and cowboy boots.
The t-shirts have only changed in that now there are more horses on them and before I had stylized drag racing cars. Peace symbols and flowers have stayed.
The jeans started out straight, became bell-bottoms, got high-waisted and low-waisted and repeated in various ways. Mostly I wore basic Levi’s.
I didn’t catch it, but I did see this goatweed leafwing butterfly today.
Now, on to the day off. I felt so good after a very long night of sleep, that I decided to take it easy today. I spent a lot of time birding, including being startled by the blue heron twice. It’s been picking off fish in the dwindling overflow pond, and neither of us can see the other until we’re on top of each other.
Location of heron.
The other encounter I had came when Carlton and I took a walk in the woods. Suddenly he froze. I think he was trying to point like a hunting dog. We’d come upon an opossum along the stream bed. he must have smelled it, since he doesn’t see well.
Look over there!
Carlton was a good boy and followed me so the animal could go on about its business. It was a good walk the rest of the way. I’m glad I didn’t bring the Mighty Huntress Goldie or we’d have had another bloodbath. Ugh.
Just hanging out
Other than enjoying birds, I enjoyed the horses. This morning I caught them at playtime, which involved Drew and Dusty nuzzling then running down the pasture to the pens, rearing and pawing, then running back. Dusty still has it in him! (Pictures are blurry because I was far away.)
Playing Dusty is ahead Drew passes himDrew turned around Going back Turned again.
Mabel eventually got into the running, but not the rest of it. I’ve noticed that she’s now strong enough to chase off any horse who tries to nip her.
Horse conference
Eventually Apache thundered back and forth until they all gathered around the hay bale. It’s nice to watch them play, and I’m glad they have the space to do so.
See, he doesn’t spend ALL his time staring into space.
Later I spent quality time with everyone, which is always so nice. Drew is a little pissy lately, since his head injury. But the other horses and Fiona were fine. I got all the burs off Mabel, even. I just have to wait until it’s her idea to have a petting session.
No burs!
I had plenty of time to make dinner, and was so relaxed I didn’t even get upset when Dish Network didn’t have the channel where Sunday Night Football was. Lee just went over and set up the antenna he’d bought weeks ago for just such an eventuality. Boom. TV. It comes in great, actually.
I made a potholder or hot pad. It’s very thick, because I crocheted it with thermal stitch.
And yes, I wore jeans and a t-shirt today.
Closeup of stitch
Daily Bird
I’m featuring the orange-crowned warbler today, because I’d never heard one here before, just on one camping trip. I didn’t see it, but I can sure ID one by sound now. It sounded like one of those rhythm instruments you scrape across in Latin music, usually five sets of scrapy sounds.
They only drop by here while migrating, according to the map.
A bird I saw a lot today was the Savannah sparrow. It’s a basic brown sparrow, but it’s everywhere this time of year. It and the pipit make little peeps.
No, I’m actually not the champion, but I’m very happy with myself and the beleaguered Apache, my equine partner in the last Working Horse Central show of the year. We’d been scheduled to go camping this weekend, but with no pet care, we canceled. I’m glad, because that let me go to the show.
Me and my fluffy buddy.
Apache was jittery in Functionality, the first part of the show. I didn’t think I was, since I knew the dressage pattern and knew he could do all the parts. I was ready to try to improve our performance by showing what we’d learned, but I insisted got to show how to deal with a horse that decides not to leg yield or turn right at a trot, both things he knows how to do. We were at Tarrin’s, too, the place he practices.
I think Suna projected nerves.
But after some initial irritation, I let Apache chill in a stall, and he settled down. We ended up doing our best Trail pattern ever. We even did the gate! He really didn’t mess up anything but the side pass and a bit with the garrocha pole. But we did it all! I think we were pretty calm, too.
He refused to look perky, though. Still a zombie.
After enjoying watching Sara and the others do their parts (Aragorn seems to feel great and was a superstar), we did the final event, Agility. On this one you try to go as fast as possible. And we DID. We just zipped through the curtains, over the rails, on the slalom, and everywhere. If we hadn’t made some mistake I’m not certain of, we’d have won that one, because we were fast!
This is how happy I was.
It was so much fun to do. It finally feels like we can be partners. We were turning and just plowing through. I’m so glad to have had this experience. It felt like we were really riding, not trying to ride, if that makes sense. Apache really seems to feel better now.
Sara said we look ready to canter. Ooh like the big kids. Hey, I may be slow, but I’m progressing. Everyone was happy for me, which felt great. Our little group is so supportive of each other that it’s hard to get down!
Cheering section.
After the show there were end of year awards. It was cute to see how many awards and prizes the young competitors got. I think the littlest one would have been just as happy to just play in the mud obstacle with the Rottweilers.
Generous donors enabled us to have some very nice prizes for the winners in each division. I was very happy for Sara and Aragorn, who really worked hard and attended every show. She is the actual champion, in her Novice group.
Very festive.
Apache and I were second in Beginners to our friends Jacqui and Jambo. I really enjoy watching them! We had a lot of fun with our ribbons.
Ribbons for all!
The winners of each group received beautiful belt buckles designed by one of the group moms. What a wonderful surprise. Sara sure deserves one for her effort. The big surprise was that the reserve champion in each group also got buckles. That means I got one, and it has turquoise on it!
I feel so legitimate now. I guess I always wanted to earn a buckle and work hard for it. Sara can wear hers to her next Working Equitation show! We are champions.
After last week having to abort any try at filming a virtual show entry, feeling connected and successful today was a real win. Life sure has its ups and downs! Today was up.
Apache made me proud. Even of the yellow. Other prizes, a cool hoodie, riding pants and a cleaning brushNeighbors with bucklesSara got a cool gift certificate. I got to wear my alligator boots, because Lee found them in the shipping container. So proud of Aragorn. SunriseSunset
Do you or your family make any special dishes for the holidays?
If they are referring to the winter holidays, like the Solstice or Christmas, then there’s only been one constant since my children were little, and that’s to have cinnamon rolls for breakfast. We used to eat them while opening gifts.
Something cheerful: Vlassic running at sunset.
For many, many reasons I’m not doing much for Christmas this year. It’s going to be a hard one for much of my family, and I’m not feeling very celebratory. I’m just going to go somewhere with Lee, if we can get someone to feed dogs and medicate Apache.
Speaking of horses, I caught Drew and Fiona being friendly today.
If not, I’ll stay home and eat cinnamon rolls then cook a meal for the same people I cooked Thanksgiving for. Maybe I’ll make pork loin and correct cranberry sauce. I think there will be small, handmade gifts for people.
You know, I think I just don’t want to do anything religious. I’m not happy with things being done in the name of religion these days, especially the ones stemming from Moses and his tribes. I’m disappointed in wars, book banning, misogyny, religious intolerance, and fundamentalism. All of it.
For the solstice, which at least predates Christmas, there will be candles and maybe a fire if the place we go has a fireplace. I’ll make decorations out of things from the woods and put intentions of peace into them.
Or we can watch a sunset.
It will be fine to skip materialism and shiny things for one year and concentrate on helping struggling loved ones however I can.
Daily Bird
We had some rain today, but it only rained hard briefly. It did quiet the birds down. The daily birds just have to be the European starlings.
As I went out to slog through the puddles to feed the horses, I heard sounds like tiny bells. It was a huge flock of starlings heading off to some field now that the sun was back out. It always amazes me how many there are.
I learned in a magazine that the flocks often contain the local grackles as well. Blackbirds like each other, I guess. I’m never going to love grackles, those resourceful parking lot scroungers with the incredibly annoying whistles, the great-tailed grackles. I’ll work on it.
…to have someone supportive confirm that your instincts are not off and you can do things you need to do, with the right tools.
I’m not talking about my new yarn spindle, though it’s a nice tool.
Today Tarrin came here to do the horse lessons, which was very helpful, even though I’d managed to write the time wrong on my calendar. I need a personal assistant!
I’d been wandering around looking at the heron and not realizing I needed to groom horses.
Since I got Drew to come with me easily, he went first. I got some really helpful input on not pushing myself to trot and trot if he isn’t in one of his good frames of mind. I feel so much better practicing on straightening him out at a walk. I do wish I’d gotten pictures of him doing his warmups. He was pretty spectacular cantering and jumping high, calmly. Probably the very cool weather had him perky.
He’s doing better in lots of ways. But I felt validated when Tarrin got on him and had trouble the same way I did. He took a long time to relax like he was still a bit unsettled. Maybe we’re both more settled now.
Me? Settled?
I had a really good lesson with Apache. He even came up to me in the pasture. All those “treats” (medicine) seem to help with that. I got good information from Tarrin on how to deal with his lethargy. She explained that he’s losing some of his stubborn fat and the toxins in it are going to his liver, so we’re going to give him some milk thistle for a time. And he’s changing to different supplements that will support his metabolism. Luckily most of it isn’t too costly.
As for the lesson, he had good energy for his ground work. I’d say he did the best I’ve ever seen him going over jumps and low obstacles. And he was a joy to ride. I got great information on ways to keep him standing up better, then we went out to test his “issues” with going outside his comfort zone.
Tarrin used his lead rope to keep him from flinging his head down (without constricting his comfortable head movement). Once he realized that option for making me nervous was gone, everything was better.
Since I took no pictures today, here’s a bonus.
We made tons of progress on re-settling him when he first starts to act concerned (as a helpful blog reader mentioned as well). We stopped and breathed, and we did lots of circles and figure eights to give him something to center himself on.
I did really well staying centered and calm, myself, thanks to not having the threat of him jerking the reins out of my hands and Tarrin providing helpful cues. I ended up feeling really good and like I have ways to make riding at home more fun with both horses. Whew. I sure needed the insights.
Carlton points out that he does nothing but emit good vibes. I love him, too.
I’m very grateful to have had my coach here at home for some help with my situations. Both horses are doing so well at her house. I’d like to get there at home.
Daily Bird
It was really cold (for here) so not many birds were out. But I thoroughly enjoyed listening to white-throated sparrows settling in the big tree by the pond for the night. Oh, the tweeting and chirping! It was like a mini bird concert. I was charmed.
Actually, no one asked this except the daily prompt writer, because everyone who knows me more than as a glancing acquaintance can tell you my favorite animal is the horse, followed closely by and endless parade of dogs.
Mabel laughs at the absurdity of anyone wondering what my favorite animal is.
I’ve loved horses since before I knew exactly what a horse was. My mother wasn’t clear on the concept either, and taught baby Suna that horses said “hee haw” of all things.
That’s re-donk-ulous.
In fact, my most beloved toddler toy was, um, a stuffed giraffe, which I named Hee Haw, and insisted was a horse. I panicked when Mom washed it.
I really loved horses. There are photos of me in a tiny cowboy hat riding my spring-loaded rocking horse and a giant pillow with a plastic horse head modeled after Fury the TV horse. I can’t find a picture of that, but I did eventually have this 1964 book.
By the time I was past the toddler years I already had a collection of porcelain horses, given to me by my Swedish grandfather. He must have had a lot of faith in me not to break them. More have been broken by house cleaners than were broken by me.
This is what’s left.
I drew horses constantly as a kid. It gave me something to do when I was done with schoolwork. No photos of those sad things are available. I didn’t actually know many horses, so they were a little off, even though I stared at my Album of Horses book and repeatedly read Black Beauty. I must have been a tiresome child. I went through a lot of crayons and paper.
Time to pause for the Daily Whine
That tiresomeness hasn’t changed. I still make very annoying word choices (like over apologizing) due to my long-term self esteem issues, which embarrasses me, which makes my dedicated efforts to love myself just as I am even more challenging. huh.
Let’s talk about how I did my best to soothe my soul today.
Even though it was pretty nippy outside due to a biting wind, I went for a nice walk in the woods, since cattle weren’t in that pasture at the moment.
I got to enjoy watching this happy young snapping turtle.
I found a few signs of fall color and enjoyed watching my “secret spring” behind the back pond. It’s not really a secret, but probably only Sara and I have really noticed it. Maybe Kathleen did when she was meditating in the woods. We’re all forest bathers!
Look! Colors!Cottonwood Big and little sycamore leavesSpring heading to the main spring The springHoney locust in Christmas colors My favorite yaupon holly treeGorgeous asters
There were even a few birds to watch. Now that most of the leaves are off the trees I can see the chickadees, titmice, sparrows, and vireos much better.
In addition to this egret who was checking out the shallow seasonal pools and lots of swirling vultures, Merlin heard a new bird, more than once, even: an evening grosbeak. I’d love to see it.
Great egret watching meIt went to another pond The vultures were flying overhead and making fun shadowsYour Daily Bird.
Anyway, all the dark trees, the bright green rye grass, and wintry blue skies made me relax a bit and got me ready for toting numerous 50-pound bags of horse and chicken feed later.
Poison ivy berries in rotting stump. Hmm. Walker’s Creek Pond on the other side of the woodsMorning sunCool treeAnother cool tree.
The good news is I didn’t fall off my horse. And I’m sure I learned a lot and will eventually be grateful for all the chances at relaxing and giving when I didn’t want to.
Ha ha. I repeat myself.
WAIT!
Isn’t that how I started yesterday’s blog? yep. I’m a glutton for punishment I guess. Today I spent the required bur and mud removal time, then headed back to Sara’s. This time I brought Apache. I was hoping things would go better going over obstacles with some friend horses around.
Here we are going over the course.
I swear to you that I was in a good mood and happy with my old boy. After all, he successfully ate his whole pill and let me remove all the burs. We had a nice walk over there, but his arrival disturbed the foal, which disturbed Aragorn in his dressage. Still, all good.
But when I mounted and started showing him the obstacles, he did the same thing he always does and started hopping and going sideways the minute he got near the pens. Honestly, I’d forgotten this would be an issue, so I wasn’t tensing up. Where are these invisible demons he senses?
I just want to go home.
After two one-rein stops and a lot of conscious relaxing and not tightening the reins, I was able to successfully do a slalom, go over a bridge, and walk over a jump. He even sort of did a turn in a box thing.
We dressed nicely. As you can see, he’s still tense.
But, I couldn’t reach the gate to unlatch it when we got to it, he acted like he’d never seen a mailbox, and he refused to approach a jug on a barrel. He’s done those things many times.
So I gave up on the virtual show and just tried to end on a good note. I took him to Sara’s round pen, you know, the one I’ve worked with him in for years. He did eventually settle down as we did some patterns in there. But, that was it.
I feel better.
I let him graze in the pen while other horses tried to do their show filming. Aragorn didn’t like the bridge after a non-stick matt was put down. Later, after I dragged my ass home, he did fine.
Oh, that’s what I was supposed to be doing. Oops.
And Cole, who came with our training friend Tracee, surprised everyone by cantering away and doing a great job. All that cheered me up.
Here’s Cole, studying the pattern.
And Apache was a good guy all the way home. Hmm.
I keep reading “helpful” articles saying if your horse behaves poorly, it’s something you did. I’m inclined to agree, since both my horses act so weird over there, it may well be me. I do get a little embarrassed that my horses are flailing around and not listening to me. But I’m doing my best to calmly regroup and try again.
I’ll keep trying. I’m disappointed, but we keep going.
The good news is I didn’t fall off my horse. And I’m sure I learned a lot and will eventually be grateful for all the chances at relaxing and giving when I didn’t want to.
Here I am, showing you my agitated look.
But no, my latest try at practicing dressage at Sara’s did not go very well. I appreciated Sara’s help with getting his bridle on and removing the fire ants he stepped on. That must have hurt, so no wonder he was head shaking, trying to canter, and dancing around, all things that I handled as calmly as I could.
It was all my fault that I didn’t have a death grip on the reins that were serving as lead rope while he was supposedly calming down and grazing. A truck pulling a rattling trailer sped by and scared him (even though the same vehicle has probably passed him when he grazed next to the road in our pasture). Drew jerked away and ran his ass off down the tree line.
I was too fast to photograph. Like my ancient halter Suna found in the pasture? It’s easier on my burs.
Luckily he stoped when he got to Spice in her paddock. All geldings love Spice. When we caught up with him he was happily interacting with her and Lakota. He doesn’t seem to have injured himself, and he went nicely back to the scene of the incident to graze some more.
Proof he grazed somewhat calmly.
And he made it back through the scary trees, though he was nervous. After a nice visit with Sully and Jhayati, we went home, which is where he will stay for a while. I’m not going to try to film a virtual show there this weekend. I could get hurt.
Hi. Do I like you?Oh yes, you’re the fun kid. She’s a big baby!
I did help set up the obstacles for the other parts of the show and will bring Apache there tomorrow to see if he can do a better job than last time we tried filming over there. It’s disheartening. I’m doing my best to be positive, but both horses act weird over there. Maybe tomorrow will be when the tide turns! Sara tries so hard to set up the spaces, and I’d like to take advantage of it. at least today I got some riding in that was calm. Yay?
Look at the flower and breathe, Suna.
Today was just plain challenging. I went to the Red House to help Anita get it clean for the next group (quick turnaround day), and I must have twisted my back putting sheets on the bunk bed. Between that and riding a jumping and pawing horse, I’m quite sore.
Decorations at the Red House. Not going crazy since so many kids come through.
I’ve always trusted my instincts. I’m intuitive. Besides that, I think I take in cues I don’t consciously perceive that lead me to know what I should or want to do. It’s just how I’m built. I’m not good at deliberation; in fact many bad decisions I’ve made came from overthinking.
Sunset looked like a flag
Sure, things go wrong, but often I learn the most when acting on instinct and getting different results than I expected. You just make the best decision with the information you have at the time. The worst thing is to not do anything at all, so my instincts are good enough for me.
Bug of the day is a young green stink bug. Yep, not green at this stage.
Honestly, as I’ve gotten older I’ve quit believing any predictions, promises, or plans for the future. I’m just going with the flow and not trying to influence the outcome. I’ll learn what I’m meant to learn. That has lessened my anxiety considerably.
Bird watching also helps. I saw the kingfisher catch a fish today!
So yeah, I think my instincts are correct for me and I’ll stick with them.
My instinct today was that I needed to spend some time with my equine friends. So while Drew was being a pain for Sara while she tried to trim his hooves, I hung out with the other horses.
I’m pretty for a brat.
I got burs out of them, which took a while for Dusty. His mane is sparse, but his thick tail was just about all bur. He munched hay and let me work on him. I brushed him, too, which he always likes.
I still manage to get burs in this little tuft.
Mostly I worked with Mabel, though. She’s been on a product called Gut-X for a while and it seems to have done the trick and helped her put on more weight. I’m pleased.
Looks like a horse.
She’d already been getting happier, and now she voluntarily comes up for attention. She let me fix up her tail and much of her mane, but mostly she wanted to be brushed softly and stroked. We spent a long time just being together.
Still has that face only a mother could love.
After I was done, she stood in her pen and yawned over and over. This kind of release is a very good sign in a horse. She’s feeling good, even though one hoof is cracked and her eye had been runny earlier (she got hay in there).
Mabel yawning
Today’s Bird
Today I saw a bird we all see often, but one I rarely see here at the ranch. It really surprised me, as it was sitting on top of the utility vehicle right next to me as I went through the gate from the house.
The pigeon never moved. Eventually it must have flown off, though. We see doves here (mourning, white-winged, Inca) but not often pigeons. Wonder where it came from?
It’s weird. Since Apache started his medicine, he’s been a lot calmer. I wonder if he has a buzz or something.
Drew, on the other hand, has been on a real tear of peskiness and mischief lately, like he’s Loki and Apache is Thor (Apache has a lot of hair, like Thor). I’ve been watching Drew running around and chasing his herd-mates around, but never had any photographic evidence until this morning, when I saw a lot going on in the horse pens as I was feeding the chickens.
It interrupted my nap.
Droodles had gotten ahold of one of the food buckets and was playing with it. He picked it up and rested it on the fence; he waggled his head and threw it up and down; he ran off with it, as if he wanted to hide it from me (which probably would have worked if I hadn’t seen it).
Chomp.This is funWheeLook, I’m collectedMaybe Suna won’t find it here.No, I better take it farther away.
He was really having a good time with that bucket. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted his absolute favorite toy, innocently grazing and minding her own business: Fiona. Off he flew to pester her.
I’ll get herZomHerding actionI kicked him.
He ran circles around her and tried to herd her into a corner. I’m not sure why he always wants to force her into a corner, because the result is always the same: she kicks him in the head. Sadly, I didn’t catch that part of the fun.
I’m outa here. She kicked me.
Drew let Fiona go, because his eyes alit on yet another toy. This is an old lead rope that actually is supposed to be a toy, which is why I don’t put it away. He picked that up and flopped it around vigorously until it hit Apache in the face, leading Apache to come over to me so I could get burs out of his tail.
See, Apache, isn’t this cool? No.
Drew then turned to the next object in his visual range, which is a large water trough made of the same recycled rubber as the food buckets. He spent a few minutes chomping away on that, which gave me some bur removal time.
This is too heavy to toss in the air, darn it.
But, no, not enough time. I was still de-burring when Drew sidled up beside me. I thought he wanted a treat (he knows treats exist now, because he gets them when I bridle him). But instead, he wanted to “help” me with the tail project. His idea of helping was to try to take a big chomp out of Apache’s tail. Granted, that would have gotten rid of some burs, but not how I wanted it to happen. After three attempted chomps, Apache walked away, and I had to laugh as I watched Drew trying to sneak up on him for another chomp.
Shh, I’m sneakingI’m totally innocent, SunaSoon as she leaves, I’m chomping.
I finally shooed him off and he ate some hay while I finished with the tail project. I’m sure he was at least a little tired after all that. He doesn’t know it’s lesson day, so he’s going to get even more exercise later, and not just the circles, squares, barrels, and sidepassing I make him do every other day or so. (Yesterday I even made him do something scary: go around the shed from the BACK. Oooh, that was different.)
Don’t scare me or my hair will look worse.
Daily Bird
Today’s bird is the mockingbird, because I got a nice photo of one today. I remember as a kid being deeply disappointed that the mockingbird was the state bird of Florida, because it was all gray and black and white. I wanted the blue jay, due to being able to use more crayons to color it (the state flag of Florida had that tiny Native American lady in the middle who was hard to color, by the way, and the dang flower was white, which equalled NO crayons).
This bird was really enjoying something on these branches.
Really, though, I’ve gotten so much pleasure out of mockingbirds in my life, that I’ve forgiven their boring colors. We had one that sat on the streetlight outside of our house in Brushy Creek and would sing for hours. There was also a big singer over by Sara’s horse pens back when Apache lived there. They can really come up with some doozies of songs, like backup beeps and cell phones.
The northern mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) is a mockingbird commonly found in North America. This bird is mainly a permanent resident, but northern birds may move south during harsh weather. This species has rarely been observed in Europe. This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae as Turdus polyglottos. The northern mockingbird is known for its mimicking ability, as reflected by the meaning of its scientific name, “many-tongued mimic”. The northern mockingbird has gray to brown upper feathers and a paler belly. Its tail and wings have white patches which are visible in flight.
The northern mockingbird is an omnivore, eating both insects and fruits. It is often found in open areas and forest edges but forages in grassy land. The northern mockingbird breeds in southeastern Canada, the United States, northern Mexico, the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands and the Greater Antilles. It is replaced farther south by its closest living relative, the tropical mockingbird. The Socorro mockingbird, an endangered species, is also closely related, contrary to previous opinion. The northern mockingbird is listed as of least concern according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The northern mockingbird is known for its intelligence. A 2009 study showed that the bird was able to recognize individual humans, particularly noting those who had previously been intruders or threats. Also birds recognize their breeding spots and return to areas in which they had greatest success in previous years. Urban birds are more likely to demonstrate this behavior.
The mockingbird is influential in United States culture, being the state bird of five states, appearing in book titles, songs and lullabies, and making other appearances in popular culture.
They are fun to watch when mating, and their babies are darned cute, so I’m glad we have them out here at the Hermits’ Rest to entertain us on the off chance that the meadowlarks, killdeer, crows, and white-crowned sparrows get quiet. (In other words, there’s lots to hear out here.)
Bonus snow goose photo, since you can actually tell they are geese in this one, taken today.
The Hermits' Rest 