My middle name must be 'Frog'. Honestly, all I've done lately is take out mistakes large and small, and re-stitch what was already done - correctly this time. After stitching the first 12 letters of the alphabet on Chessie's "Quaker Bee Sampler", I discovered I was off one horizontal thread. Argghh! (and other Pirate sounds of frustration!) So I've fixed H-K and for surcease stitched N-Z (correctly!). I've yet to repair A-G, but will do so. It is a sorry state of affairs when I'm forced to stitch a 'Bee over One' (upper right) to get over my funk.
This weekend saw the Gathering of the Turkey Vultures.
On Sunday morning a group of 25 or so circled overhead. They gather in a large group before they start their migration south.
We had a group of 8 alight on one of our trees - very Halloweenish!
Turkey Vultures are beautiful fliers - they can work the thermals and soar and glide with ease. They large birds with a wingspan 63–72", a length of 24–32", and weigh between 1.8-5.1 lbs. The Turkey Vulture, like most other vultures, has very few vocalization capabilities. Because it lacks a syrinx, it can only utter hisses and grunts. It usually hisses when it feels threatened (like when it is on the ground, and stupid Tom-Cat goes rushing toward it). Grunts are commonly heard from hungry young, and from adults in their courtship display. They raise two eggs per year and mate for life. The Turkey Vulture lowers its night-time body temperature by about 6 degrees Celsius to 34 °C (93 °F), becoming slightly hypothermic. The Turkey Vulture species receives special legal protections under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 in the United States flying south to Mexico, Central, and South America. Really they are pretty cool birds - I miss them in the Winter and look forward to their return in March.
I loved this little sparrow perched high atop an extremely long leader of a young Douglas Fir tree.
The Hairy Woodpeckers are back eating suet and peanuts. This is a female, but I've also seen a male at the feeders.
I'll leave with a photo of our sunset Wednesday evening.
2 comments:
It's no fun finding out that you are off by one thread. :(
Hope the rest of your project goes better!
It is amazing with all those vultures flying around, that a frog would be brave enough to visit you. Be careful, he must be quite self confident!!
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