Since early spring I’ve become a favorite hang out for Brown-headed Cowbirds and even Red-winged Blackbirds. Apparently they often hang out together. The Cowbirds are certainly not the prettiest of birds but I really love their song. They’ve taken to scavenging around for corn and chicken scratch leftover from the chickens and the deer. The other day Petunia was in for her evening snack of corn/scratch and a Cowbird was there by the bowl. She nosed up to the Cowbird and followed her in a circle around the bowl. They did a couple laps that way, with Petunia pushing her nose up to the bird and the bird moving away a few inches, over and over. Really very comical.

Speaking of birds, I was scouting about the iPad applications and found a $5 app called iBird Yard and wowza! Very cool. I’ve not downloaded it yet but plan to the next time I have some highspeed access. Drawings, photos and bird song audio of North American birds with a variety searching modes based on bird color, shape, size, and location as well as a pretty nifty comparison mode for looking at similar birds. I’m going to have to look around for some other reference apps… butterflies, insects, edible mushrooms, edible plants, trees, etc. I’m thinking the birds apps will be most useful as they have the added dimension of audio.