Amazing isn’t it? Last week’s ‘Tiny Moment’ included a reference to a Cary Grant/Alfred Hitchcock movie. This week’s ‘Tiny Moment’ does the same. What are the odds?

Actually, the odds are quite good. Last week my friend Marisol Glassport submitted a ‘Tiny Moment’ that cleverly referenced the crop dusting scene from the movie ‘North By Northwest’.

This week I am submitting a new ‘Tiny Moment’ that, after a bit of revery brought to mind the Cary Grant/Alfred Hitchcock collaboration, ‘To Catch a Thief’, wherein Grant’s character makes his living as a charming cat burglar, stealing jewels in most clever and clandestine way.

Yesterday, my wife Helen and I observed the fantastic and unique Purple-crowned Fairy hummingbird as it buzzed about some Hibiscus flowers (see below) just outside my front door. We noticed that the hummer approached each flower, not using the typical ‘front door’ method but instead seemed to focus on the back end of the flower; the ‘back door’ method if you will.

This is a technique well known to science as ‘Nectar Thievery’ and is not uncommon. Some birds, bees, moths or other insects obtain a nectar meal by poking a hole in base of the flower; bypassing the front of the flower and going straight to the source. Alas, for the flower, this method allows for no pollination of the reproductive organs…which is a really big deal if you’re a flower. (Remember hearing about the birds and bees?)

Anyway, I never knew the Purple-crowned Fairy did this. In nature sometimes it takes a thief.

Please remember to send us your ‘Tiny Moment’.

Send to:

alison.w.olivieri@gmail.com

(Alison Olivieri)

Or:

eltangaral@gmail.com

(Greg Homer)

From SVBC member Marisol Glassport from Winters, California.

This Tiny Moment was ‘tiny’ only in a temporal sense…the moment lasted less than a minute. But in scope the moment was VAST!

I was birding in rice fields near Davis, California. As I drove the Auto Tour Loop, suddenly over 200 White-Faced Ibises lifted off from the fields. ‘Odd,’ I thought. Then I saw what caused the lift-off…one of those very cool little single-seater airplanes buzzed by, maybe 50 feet overhead. The plane wasn’t crop-dusting; it was dropping rice for the next crop.

To quote a line from the great film ‘North By Northwest’…‘Some of them crop-duster fellers git rich, if’n they live long enough.’

FYI: The central valley of California grows about 85% of the world’s sushi rice!

*From SVBC Member Jo Davidson*

It was rainy this morning, so I sat inside watching the birds through the window. The seed feeder is in perfect view from my usual seat in the family room. Northern Cardinals, House Finches, House Sparrows, greedy European Starlings and even greedier Common Grackles were making short work of finishing off the seeds. A tiny Chipping Sparrow was also trying very hard to find a spot to grab a morsel or two. Just then I saw the squirrel guard (a slinky is highly efficient for the purpose) bouncing up and down, and the Chipping Sparrow stuck its head between the feeder and the circular perch that surrounds it, perhaps to relish the fact that the squirrel in question was having even less luck getting to a meal. I chuckled momentarily, and then gasped as I realized that the bird wasn’t moving any more. Its head was down and its tiny tail was upright and quivering. I quickly ran outside, and slowly approached the feeder to see for myself. Sure enough, the poor little thing was well and truly stuck! I carefully put two finders under that tiny little bird belly and gently pushed upward until the wings cleared their constraints. In a split second, all was well.

I never considered that bird feeders could be dangerous. To make sure that can’t happen again, I will shop for a seed feeder that either has far less room between the container and the perch or dowel perches. I hope you all will do the same.

From SVBC charter member, master bird-bander and generous supporter…Judy Richardson.

As I woke up, listening to the morning chorus, I heard a Yellow-headed Caracara calling. Wait a minute, I am in Fairfield, Connecticut; not San Vito, Costa Rica! What is this???

As I continued to wake, I realized what I was hearing really, was an unusual call from a Mourning Dove! Time to re-boot my internal computer!

This usually happens when I arrive in San Vito; this was a first for me in Connecticut!

From SVBC Charter Member and long-time patron of SVBC projects, Julie Girard-Woolley.

***

I thought you’d get a kick out of this…I was on the golf course with Dave this afternoon and a little bird was on the ground.  I got closer and realized it was a baby Baltimore Oriole.  Next thing I know it is hopping onto my golf bag and had perched itself on the handles of my cart.  Mommy was calling it, she had food in her mouth.  Poor little thing didn’t have enough energy or I don’t know what to get going.  It was my turn to play, so I had to advance my bag.  The little guy took a ride with me and never moved.  I then put my hand by him (or her) and it hopped on!  I gently brought it over to a tree and it got onto a branch.  It made my day!!!  I had a real birdie on the golf course.

Julie

This Tiny Moment comes to us from across the Atlantic Ocean; we thank UK resident and International Member Charles Jones.

***

Stepping out one recent morning with my little dog and trusty blackthorn walking stick, I noticed a louder-than-normal round of singing from the House Wrens that frequent a drainpipe out near our garbage can grouping.

At just the right moment, my dog became fascinated with a blade of grass…so I could actually look up in time to see a baby wren fledge from its drainpipe nest and careen onto the ground!

Luckily, a passing scent caught the dog’s attention because then two more fledglings bravely flew out. For a few moments it was sheer pandemonium as the fledglings tried to get their bearings, with the parents flying about to and fro…to and fro. Finally, the five of them gathered their wits and flew across the road to relative safety.

***

At the same time when those House Wrens were fledging in Cambridge, England and our sharp-eyed friend Charles Jones was viewing their activity, Michael and I watched a similar House Wren drama unfold in our very own San Vito garden…with a cup of English tea.

When I lived in the San Luis Valley in Colorado (before moving to Costa Rica) an annual Festival celebrated the arrival of the Sandhill Cranes on their annual migration. The Cranes soared into the valley for about 10 days…by the thousands. Truly remarkable.

My friend and I were headed to the festival when we spotted a large group of the Cranes in a field next to the road. We pulled in to the parking lot of a shabby, abandoned small white building. We got out of the car and went to sit on a log defining the parking lot to quietly observe.

A guy in what looked like a park service uniform pulled into that parking lot and asked us to leave.

“What? We are just watching the birds!”

“This is government property, you’re not permitted to be here”

“But we just want to see the birds.”

“Ladies, if you don’t move on I’ll have to arrest you for trespassing”.

My friend and I shook our heads incredulously but we left. We still joke about almost being arrested for bird watching.

(from SVBC member Roni Chernin)

I think we’ve all seen baby birds do the ‘feed me-feed me’ shake.  Young birds, just out of nest, are old enough to fly about but not quite old enough to feed themselves. And so, the babes are programed to still beg their parents for food like they did when still nestlings. They do this by striking a distinctive pose;

Fluffed up…Wings low and out to the side…Mouth WIDE open…Whole body shaking.

When the parents see this pose, they’re programmed to shove a meal into the offspring’s gaping mouth.

This morning I watched a young Lazuli Bunting do the ‘feed me-feed-me’ shake; only this baby was standing on a pile of millet seeds in my bird feeder!  The baby waited for one of its attentive parents to pick up one of those millet seeds and pop it into its mouth. The dutiful parent…probably doing the bird equivalent of an eye-roll…obliged the request and popped in a seed.

I suspect this behavior won’t be tolerated on for very long.

(from SVBC member Benjamin ‘Patch’ Patchett in Mt. Aukum, California)

Hey, SVBC members…send your Tiny Moments to us and we’ll post them! Send to:

eltangaral@gmail.com (Greg Homer)

or

alison.w.olivier@gmail,coim (Alison Olivieri)

This ‘Tiny Moment’ happened in California. It happened in California but the tiny moment involved one of our favorite San Vito birds. Here’s how it happened.

My wife Helen and I, recently returned from Costa Rica, were enjoying the outdoor charms of a nearby public park. From the backyard of a neighboring house came an oddly familiar sound;

‘Hey, that sounds like a White-throated Crake’ said Helen.

‘It sure does.’

After a bit of detective work the call of the White-throated Crake turned into the sound of an electric grass trimmer. Oops; but it was a very pleasant reminder of home.

Listen to the actual call of the White-throated Crake by clicking on the link below:

https://ebird.org/species/whtcra1

Let me know if you think the sound of the Crake is reminiscent of a grass trimmer.

(From Greg Homer)

The San Vito Bird Club sends out our congratulations and very best wishes to the town of San Vito on its 70th Anniversary. We encourage you to participate in an entire week’s worth of historical, cultural and dining-related activities, Feb. 21-28.

Attached below is the schedule of activities to commemorate and celebrate this historic milestone

(scroll to see all 3 pages)