February 12. 2014

Hearing the Birds

February 12, 2014

Those of you who are around my age and a little older will probably remember an old song that says:

 Let's all sing like the birdies sing,
Tweet, tweet tweet, tweet tweet.
Let's all sing like the birdies sing,
Sweet, sweet sweet, sweet sweet...

You may have encountered this song on a trip to The Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland.  In any case, not all birds have melodic voices.  Normally we think of the birds as singing or tweeting, but there are countless other unique bird songs and calls.
 
Unless you are a "birder", you have probably never heard of an Anhinga. They are large birds with a wingspan of nearly 4 feet.  They don't fall in the group of birds known for melodic sounds.  Actually most of my bird books say that they are fairly quiet.  The one in the above photo was not quiet!  Because of my hearing limitations I can't really describe the sound, but it was a call.  One of my books says while in flight they may make a whistling sound or something that comes across as "eek, eek, eek".  That would come close to what I heard, but I got the impression she (upper body brown - female) was calling the others to join her.  I don't do well with translations, she may have been telling them I was there and not to come for a while.

When I got home from work today, I decided to check for birds before unloading the car or coming into the house.  Often when I open the back door, one of the larger water birds will have been out back but will fly away as I step into the yard.  So I had the camera already turned on and the zoom already extended.  As I stepped into the yard one of my favorites, a Black-Crowned Night Heron flew up and landed on the bank straight ahead of me.  I quickly raised the camera, centered him and shot without having time to really focus well.  Here is the result.  Such a beautiful bird.

One photo is all I could get and he was gone.  I didn't see which way he had flown, so I was looking toward the end of the man-made lake we live beside.  The lake ends behind our house and we have a lot of bamboo and trees in that area where they can hide.  I kept hearing a bird but couldn't spot it.  I looked up in a tree where I have seen the night heron before and he wasn't there, but the Anhinga at the top of the page was. 

The Anhinga blends in well with the surroundings and is not easily spotted.  The first time I took my camera to a wildlife preserve to take bird photos, I was astounded when I saw the immature night herons (both yellow-crowned and black-crowned).  They blended in perfectly with the reeds at the water's edge.  God camouflaged the birds to allow them protection from predators, especially when they are young.  That is true of most of the adult birds, too, particularly the larger ones.  I can't explain the cardinal.  I often wonder why God made him bright red, other than to give us delight when we spot them on gray, dreary days.  Oops, sorry, I have gotten off track here.

The Anhinga allowed me to take several photos and then I went inside hoping that I had not scared her away.  Often Anhingas will roost in the tall eucalyptus trees out back.  No more came while I was out watching this one, but shortly after I came in, I saw several coming in for a landing in the trees.

All of that was the brightest spot in my day.  I am feeling much better and I got a lot of bookkeeping done while at the office today.  I had bills to pay, reports to send to the accountant, and a deposit to prepare.  I got it all done and really had a nice day, but I must say, the birds were a real bonus.

Voices don't sound like they used to, so I am sure what I hear from the birds may not sound like they really do.  But I can tell they are making noises.  Progress on my hearing continues.

Oh, a funny thing happened as I was looking up some information on the Anhinga.  I picked up a new book that a customer gave us for Christmas and I wondered if the Anhinga would be in it (this was just pictures not information).  I had to laugh when I looked down at the cover.

There right in front of me were the Anhingas.  I guess John J. Audubon also found them an interesting study.  Here they were on the cover.  How do you like those feet?