Counting Crows (and other birds)

Pardon me, as one of my nerdy hobbies becomes today’s story.

I took a five-day hiatus from JSOD as part of a couple days vacation to prevent burnout. After a few weeks of no weekends (or only one-day weekends), I badly needed some me time. That included a four-day weekend, in which World Migratory Bird Day was sandwiched between two days of some time with my sons and my hubby, but mostly of rest and down time. God, I’m glad I did that.

And I’m extremely happy that I did the birding big day on Saturday. I was up before 5:00 am and birded all over the county with my buddy Bryce until almost 6:00 pm. Nearby county birding groups, as part of Cornel Lab’s Global Big Day, were having a bit of a friendly competition to see which county teams counted the most birds on May 11.

We started with two Snyder County teams that I knew of, but anyone entering their data on eBird counted toward the total, and it turned out a good number of birders were out in the County that day. Thanks to everyone, we officially counted a total of 135 species in Snyder County in one day. Out of the sixty seven counties in Pennsylvania, we landed solidly in the top ten at number eight! So much fun. Including some surprises like this adult and baby Barred Owl (in two different places):

Now, on a big day, every species counts, not just rarities like the owls or the wood warblers migrating through, but the robins in your yard, the cardinals, grackles, and starlings as well. Did you know there are two species of crows in Pennsylvania? Fish Crow and American Crow. Most of us can only tell the difference when we hear them call. The fish crow is more nasal in its sound, and often can be heard telling you no with a sort of two note “uh uh.”

So, to bring a long story to a quick close and a bad punch line, you could say that Saturday, I wasn’t here because I was literally out counting crows.

And so, of course, today’s song of the day has to be by them. Now, I know that Mr. Jones was out birding on Saturday. Maybe not in Snyder County, but statistically speaking, a small percentage of the nearly 60,000 people birding on Global Big Day just had to be named Jones. Right?

What Does the Fox Say?

While out birding sometime probably in May last year at one of my favorite wooded spots, I noticed movement on the hill in the woods ahead of me. There were four or five red fox kits chasing each other up and down a deer path halfway up the small ridge ahead of me. One or two scooted in and back out of what appeared to be a den there, and that’s when I noticed staring back at me, one of their parents. I was quite a distance away and had just crossed the stream below the hill, but she (I’ll say she, because I just sensed it was a protective mama) was staring at me staring at her through my binoculars.

I nodded my head as if to say, “sorry to bother you, mam,” and moved on. Though I looked for them later through the summer, I never saw them again. I’ve had quite a few good fox sightings in my life, but that was one of the coolest.

So, it was a broad theme this week, animals, either in the band’s name or in the title of the song, but what I found weird was that it was seriously difficult to find a women’s group named after an animal. There were the Pussycat Dolls, but I have them in mind for something else sometime soon. Kate Bush sings of going to sleep and dreaming of sheep and Tori Amos even has a song about oysters, but the pickings were slim for female related material this week. I guess men really are more like animals.

By the way, I apologize for this song if you haven’t heard it before, and if you have, I apologize even more profusely, but what a great finale for a week on animals, right? I had no idea where this song came from back in 2013 or 14, but suddenly everyone was singing in this annoying high pitch, “What does the FOX say?” At the time I couldn’t understand how this tune climbed the charts. It had to be a joke, right?

Well, yes, David. Yes, it was a joke, and that’s why it took off. I see that now that I’ve finally sat down and watched this goofy video and had a good giggle to myself. It was a busy week, I hope you have a lovely weekend ahead of you. Who knows what our next “accidental” theme will be on Jeff’s Song of the Day. Here’s the comedy duo Ylvis singing “The Fox.”

Surprised by Meadowlarks

My first Eastern Meadowlark of the year was this weekend, and I got treated to great views and songs at two different locations in the county. I was suffering from what I thought were spring allergies (no fever, negative 19 tests, all that), but it may have been a spring cold, because, now Brian has the sneezes and stuffy head and chest. Poor guy. I still tried to get out as many days as I could this last week because generally, the more I was up and moving around, the better I felt, but dang was it cold and windy this weekend.

Above Image by Johnny Gunn from Pixabay

The weekend also brought Northern Shovelers to my county list and the sighting of my nemesis bird this year, the snipe! Yes. It exists. I know it’s a joke, and my own brothers have played it on me. That old story where they leave you somewhere in the dark with a bag and a flashlight. They told me to just snap the bag with my fingers periodically and say, “Here, Snipe! Here, Snipe!” Meanwhile, they ran off to get into whatever trouble older brothers can get up to. Have I already told you this story? Probably.

The prank probably has its history in the fact that snipes really are difficult to find. But they are not out at night on the edge of a campground parking lot, that’s for sure. They like wet grassy fields, if a stream is soaking up a farm field with tufts of grasses all around, you’re in business. My friends Jessie and Bryce both found them at this particular field where, even with their help, the birds eluded me. Finally one showed up while I was watching the meadowlarks and I was overjoyed. I never would have seen the little bugger had he not lifted off from the grasses on one side of the road to land in the field on the other. There he/she completely disappeared. Check out their camo and that bill!

So, my friend Joel and I were looking for Meadowlark songs last night and I was surprised that there were so many. There’s Adam Young, the guy from Owl City, who released his latest album, Coco Moon, just one year ago. You probably know him best by his electronic magic in “Fireflies.” Coco Moon goes a more spiritual route than his previous albums and includes an old story about two enemies who meet in a field and show each other mercy because of the Meadowlarks singing. You can hear that song here.

Fleet Foxes, who we heard from earlier this year with “White Winter Hymnal,” has a haunting tune called “Meadowlarks.” I found a cool live performance, but the shaking of the cell phone video of the was disconcerting. They’ll be in Harrisburg in June, and now I’m thinking of maybe going.

But the one I’m featuring today is from a maybe obscure musical called The Baker’s Wife. Here it is sung by Lindsay Mendez who played Elphaba (“Gravity”) on Broadway. Her voice is just so amazing. Thanks for the suggestion, Joel! I hope you enjoy this Monday Musical feature of “Meadowlarks.”