14 January 2023
The sunrise was gorgeous and cold last Wednesday when a group of us decided to walk at Jennings in Butler County. We saw few birds but there were ice heaves, buttress roots on an elm, and the seeds of old man’s beard (Clematis drummondii).
When old man’s beard is in bloom it’s called virgin’s bower, transforming it from a young woman to an old man in a matter of months.
My friends who live north of the city have not seen many dark-eyed juncos at their feeders this winter, but juncos are definitely present at the Frick Park Environmental Education Center. Charity Kheshgi posted photos of our recent trip to Frick.
(bird photos by Charity Kheshgi embedded from Instagram, all other photos by Kate St. John)
Something I saw this week was from 2020: a piece about a parrot’s intelligence and the researcher from Harvard who trained him. You’ve probably seen it before but if not…
“This African Gray Parrot Is the First Animal To Ever Ask an Existential Question”
https://mymodernmet.com/alex-the-african-gray-parrot
Alex was quite a parrot! I read “Alex And Me” in 2009 and reviewed it here https://www.birdsoutsidemywindow.org/2009/02/20/higher-intelligence/
Ah. I figured you must have run into that before. I should have been reading here in 2009!
Kate, I loved “The Parrot Who Owns Me” too and now I have two rescued cockatiels because of that darn book! Thanks for the post, I’m going to read “Alex and Me” now. 🙂