Friday, September 11, 2020

Whippourwill

One of my favorite sounds of summer is the Whippoorwill at night. During the day, we hear the Bobwhite Quail. When the Whippoorwill is outside your window, it can be a problem for some.

This year was different, the sound of the whippoorwill was much further from the house. We have a pack of cats. So I guess I will never slip up on one sleeping. They are between the size of a Robin and a Crow with deeply camouflaged feathers. They are difficult to see in plain sight. In fact I have never seen one. We have had one quite active near our house (BC) before cats.

The whippoorwill is native to the southeastern United States and a member of the Nightjar family. Being insect eaters, they are not predatory birds like hawks or owls. Nightjar is made up of over 60 species. In the Western United States, a related species is the poorwill. The call of a poorwill is "poor will" which loses one syllable of the whippoorwill's call of "whip poor will". 

Eastern phoebe in GWC (12314)Now my home is quiet. Autumn has arrived. When I lived in Canada, I had a hard time adjusting to the lack of animal noise at night. The frogs sing loudly most nights.

I've got a bird's nest built on the side of my house. I had seen the handsome bird on a metal fence post. I now know it is an Eastern Phoebe which are flycatchers. My cats were aware of the nest. The babies were getting larger. The parents are quite agile. And they moved one evening, boom. But before that, both mother and father would eat the flies attracted to the cat food on my deck. The photo to the left is a phoebe that I got from wikimedia commons.

The guest cat, Gladys, brought her babies out about in May. I had a chair turned on the side on my deck. I was going to move it to the road to be hauled off. The babies crawled into the upholstery. They sounded like snakes hissing at me. Now they are thrilled to see me. They love their food. I've gotten the two female kittens spayed. I will get the two males neutered. I don't want one running the other one off.

I'm not made of money but I gots lots of cats and dogs. The cats are all under two years old and so they are quite youthful and beautiful. My dogs are mostly 8 and 9 years old. One is about three and three are around 16 years old. When my population of animals goes down, I plan to sell this house. It's not a perfect house but I love my property. It is just the upkeep and the difficulty finding people to help you. I don't mind paying someone what they are worth. The problem is people want to be paid well and do very little. I'm not an arguer or good at getting the most out of people.  Plus, the sort of person you want is a very valuable commodity. I know of two friends who had a big falling out when one stole the other one's maid.

My life is a bit of turmoil in that I am getting my brother's house ready to sell. There is a sadness in seeing his house go. We all had a lot of happy memories there. I remember a cousin of mine was a bit cavalier giving away her parents things when she cleaned out their apartment. I get it now. Experience is a cruel teacher.











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10 comments:

  1. How I wish that the lessons that experience teaches us were not so often painful ones. There are things we gave away/disposed of after my mother's death which I regret. The same goes for some of the things I kept and cannot bring myself (yet) to give away.
    I delight in early morning bird song and would miss it badly if I moved. Our remaining cat is old now (over 14) and is no threat to the birds. He doesn't share well, so he is the only resident. And flings himself at doors and windows (he is mostly an inside cat now) if he sees an interloper.

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    1. You often have to make decisions quickly. Due to so much going on at my home, I am having to delay some of the work at brother's home.

      Some of selling my brother's home is deja vue from my experience selling a home about twenty years ago and my father selling some property of his late brother.

      I have way too many animals. There is a feral colony of cats in the overgrown field that is my front yard. This is sad but true; coyotes will eventually eat them all. The two females that adopted me know a good thing. The one I got as a kitten in the pasture lives full time in the house. I had converted my garage to a room which I gather my cats during prime hunting hours to reduce the carnage.

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    2. Good luck. Some days doing the very best we can doesn't seem like enough. It is. It has to be.

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    3. That is what I need to hear and repeat to myself.

      One of the workmen in my home gave me a lot of unneeded and inexperienced advice. I'm one to listen and say little. But my thoughts are huge. I wrote a good bit down. It would be good to use for a character who is full of advice and no substance in a story I am writing. A piece of me felt like yanking a knot in his tail. The former teacher in me felt sympathy for him.

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  2. We don't have many animal sounds here at night. Mainly the occasional dog bark. We have lived where raccoons were in the city as well as coyotes also in the city. I just asked my hubby if he regretted getting rid of anything of his parents that at the time he didn't want. He said no. My mom didn't have much and I don't have much if anything of hers. I find people will advertise that they want to work but then they don't show up when they say they will.

    Betty

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    1. The older I get, the less I wish I owned. Some items have value so I feel like I need to make an effort to sell them. The year 2021 will be the year I sell things, I hope. It is easy to procrastinate.

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  3. Oh you have lots of sweet friends dear Ann :)

    I agree that it is quite painful to let place go where you grow up or spent most of your life, memories related to such place are priceless and something you find peace within .I love to see family of my brother growing in house where I spent most beautiful times of my life. My heart starves for moments to sit and memories past but place is crowded now

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    1. So true about family memories, they are sweet. You just can't go back. We are lucky to have them.

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  4. There are always many friends and you soon find out which they are when life becomes difficult. Never give up and keep smiling, Sorry I am behind with visits but the kitchen here has been working in overtime. So much in the garden. Take care, Diane

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