Scarlett Letters

1) There's a big, handsome Steller's Jay on the neighbor's roof pecking at moss. Of which we have a lot in the Pacific Northwest.

2) Ezekiel woke me at 3:30 this morning. I fought him off, drowsed, was awakened again by him and Sophie playing tag on the bed, and ultimately got up because some nights sleep is a lost cause. I am tired.

3) Ezekiel's been about nothing but "Pay attention to me" today. I don't think he's getting quite the kind of attention he hoped for.

4) Last night's release party for L.A. Kornetsky's (a.k.a. suricattus) new novel "Collared" was great fun, and I'm sorry more people didn't show. The cake was to die for.

5) Sophie is sleeping more regularly with me again. I'm so glad.

This morning I was awakened by the sound of a Northwest Flicker hammering on wood somewhere west of my building. It's a staccato drumming, and if one didn't know better, one would think it was an artificial, manmade sound. It made me both happy and sad.

Let me start from the beginning.

A month or so back, maybe more, I began to hear that staccato hammering on the metal covering at the top of my chimney like a soprano jackhammer echoing down a pipe. I'd heard it before and didn't really think about it. Then I began to notice a Northwest Flicker hanging around on the neighbor's roof. They're handsome birds with their striped wings, spotted breasts and flashy red bibs, and I was delighted to see it. At the time I didn't make any connections between the hammering and the bird, though if I'd been really paying attention, I should have.

About a week, maybe a week and a half ago, I noticed that Sophie was spending more than the usual amount of time perched on the living room window sill. Finally, I got curious and looked out the window. There, perched at a hole on an exterior wall of my building was a flicker. Beneath him along the line where the roof met the wall, a flurry of insulation was gathered, clearly stuff the bird had pulled from the hole. It looked as though he'd pried off a vent cover and pecked the vent hole large enough so he could crawl inside.

I had a moment of "Wow! Look at that healthy, handsome fellow!" immediately followed by "F*ck, there's a bird nesting in our attic." I immediately went to work with the condo board to get someone out here to eradicate the squatter.

But while I was waiting for National Bird Control to come and evict our new housemate, I enjoyed getting up in the morning and visiting him. Each day I'd find him sitting just inside the hole, his head poking out surveying the neighborhood. If I didn't open the window, he'd sit there placidly. If I made any sudden movements, he'd fly away. Sometimes, later in the day, I'd find him perched at the edge of the hole, as in the picture.

Yesterday, National Bird came, rousted the flicker, and checked for eggs (there were none). They sprayed taste deterrent on the wood around the hole and all the vents along that area. They screened up all the vents, and then hung a scare-eye balloon to keep the bird from returning.

So this morning, when I woke to hear the hammering of a flicker off in the distance, I knew my outlaw neighbor had fled. While, as a homeowner, I'm glad he's gone, I'm sad he's gone as well, because I'd enjoyed seeing him each morning, enjoying his penthouse view. I'm grateful I had a week or so of his company even if he was an invader. Maybe it's remnant guilt from the trimming of the big tree. But I'm sure he'll find somewhere else to nest. I hope it's a less invasive, more reliable location.

I'm sitting inside with the balcony door open. Suddenly, a raucous noise just explodes outside: crows cawing like crazy. I run out onto the balcony and see the shadows of a whole flock on the other side of the building. I grab my camera and run downstairs and out the front door. There's a murder of crows mobbing the top of a tall fir tree in front of the neighbor's yard. I stepped out into the street and then across it, trying to see what's there. Crows don't mob like that unless there's something there to mob. One of my neighbors across the street invites me up onto his garage-top deck so I can get a better look. I see some sort of predatory bird up there, but can't tell for certain what it is. A hawk of some sort circles way above, its silhouette too dark to tell details.

Then suddenly the crows scatter like fireworks and out of the tree bursts this big, beautiful red-tailed hawk. The following shots are cropped down from what I took at the extreme end of my zoom. They're not bad.






Kinda cool.

Over the last week or so, twice I've heard knocking on the window pane in the living room upstairs. This morning it happened again. I had a suspicion about what might be happening, but today I confirmed it. I crept up the steps with my camera and saw a great big Steller's jay knocking on the window with his beak. (It was absolutely a Steller and not a woodpecker of any kind. That color, that crest, can't be mistaken.) I moved a little too quickly. He noticed me, gave me the gimlet eye, turned and flew into the enormous fir tree in the neighbor's yard. He squawked a few times to express his displeasure at being disturbed, and then went silent.

For the last 7 years or so, I've been aware of the family of Steller's jays that nest in that tree. Though they have been known to peer into the apartment from my balcony railing--peeping jays--they have never until this year been assertive enough to call on their neighbor in quite this way.

::glee::

Since I'm enjoying the OwlCam so much, I decided to do a little more searching to find other birdcams. Kodak's Rochester FalconCom is following a clutch of peregrine falcons nesting in a tower at the Kodak offcies, and baby falcons are hatching! So pleased to have discovered this. They're beautiful birds.

A couple of weeks back, jaylake posted a link to the Eastern Screech Owl NestCam, about which I was so excited that I've been following it every day since then. Well, one of Madame Owl's eggs has hatched and the first owlet has emerged. On a day like today, when there's been so much death (and my heart goes out to all those affected by the Virginia Tech shootings; it's yet another argument for taking guns out of the hands of the common citizenry), something like this helps keep hope alive.

Been so busy the last few days that I haven't really posted about what's been going on. Here's quick precis of what's been doing.

Thursday, I left work early and went over to Bellevue Square, a ritzy local mall. I had two goals in mind: one, to use a gift card I received to purchase a new watch band for an old watch that I'd really like to wear again and, two, to visit with my friend E, who works there. I found E quickly enough, about to go on her break. Lickety-split, off we went. She had in mind to go to the Bellevue Farmer's Market, which starts its weekend on Thursdays. It's a small market, but a good one. We had fresh tamales for dinner. I picked up a fresh-baked loaf of cioppino, some hand-made medium gouda, a bottle of delicious raspberry-apple cider and an enormous bunch of flowers for cheap. We ate our dinners in the fresh air and then headed back to the mall so she could get back to work. All this was accomplished before I went to workshop that evening: a lovely, serendipitous excurion.

Friday, I found myself with an enormous amount of energy. I got home from the office, changed into my work-out clothes and spent an hour in the gym working off a lot of that energy. It was a great work out, and when I was done, I came home, changed and headed out to E's for a perfume party she was having. She introduced me to the products of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab (a.k.a. BPAL), which I'd never before encountered. If you have even the slightest Goth or romantic tendencies, this is where you should, nay, must purchase your personal scents. This stuff is great. You've got to love a company that names one line of essential oils after H.P. Lovecraft characters and places, or the seven cardinal sins. I came home with a small bag of carefully chosen samples (Jester, The Apothecary and Snake Oil, for those in the know and curious) along with a number of potpourri tarts from skindazzles.com for house freshening. This site also offers bath bombs, skin creams and so forth. As you can imagine, this event of E's was all girls, though when her husband M came home he joined us in the livingroom, mainly chatting with me since we hadn't seen each other in forever (something that we've promised ourselves we're going to fix). In any case, it was a fine evening. And, yes, I suspect I'll be wearing scents a bit more as a result of all this.

Today, I got together with varina8 to spend the afternoon. The whole excursion grew out of her news that she'd fractured her wrist. I invited her out for consolatory cupcakes and tea. It grew into a full-blown day. Our first stop was at Third Place Books, where I traded in enough books to substantially reduce the price of a signed, first edition of Hillary Rodham Clinton's autobiography. (squeee!) Then we stopped for cupcakes at Cupcake Royale. We ended our visit by spending several hours at the Ballard Locks playing Scrabble in the shade, visiting the fish ladder where the salmon are jumpin', and watching belted kiingfishers scan the water for prey and bicker for territory. We also caught sight of a lone great blue heron.

Yep, it's been a delightful few days. Hope yours have been the same.

The Weather: As my Northwest compatriots on LJ all attest tonight, today's weather was freakishly schizo: Cool and grey this morning; thundering, lightning and raining this afternoon; hail from the skies; Lake Washington a maelstrom; the winds upwards of 50 knots and more, knocking down trees and powerlines; the evening overcast but calm, with an astonishing sunbreak about an hour before sunset. Now, things are back to foreboding, heavy overcast. I suspect things will be violently stormy tonight...unless they're not. Welcome to Seattle.

Goose Watch: Mama and Papa goose were nowhere to be seen for a couple of days. Today they were back, much to my—and apparently everyone else's—relief. I'm bringing my binocs back to work tomorrow to survey the situation and see if I can determine the state of the nest. I did see a couple of mallards paddling around in the same pond as the geese. It's looking downright social out there, for the avians anyway.

Politics and Babylon 5: If you have B5 on tape or disc, go back and watch the third-season episode called "Voices of Authority." The political officer would fit right into the Bush/Cheney administration in ways too scary to contemplate. The whole episode made me uncomfortable, far more so than it did when it was first aired. It's discomfittingly prescient. Watch it again, then tell your friends to do the same. When the PO labels someone unpatriotic, it gives me the willies.

Pre-trip: Must start cleaning the house and preparing the kitties for my absence. Must do another chunk of freelance job. (Hah! When?) Must read more of the assigned reading. (Hah! When?)

In short...busy busy busy....

Mama goose is in serious nesting mode now. Whenever I look out, she's hunkered down in exactly the same spot, often with her beak tucked into her wings, snoozing. Occasionally, she lifts up her head and looks around. Today at lunchtime, some guys were walking past on their way to the bus. Mama goose was away for just a moment, but she flew in down low over their heads and landed, then scolded them so loud I could hear her through the window: Bad humans!

It'll be at least another three weeks but I can't wait to see goslings!.

My office building is on the southern edge of the campus, only two lanes of traffic away from a wetland. Those who take the bus to work here have to get off at the stop on the other side of the wetland. They walk across it to get to the office, rather than walking the extra 3/10 of a mile around it. This wetland is visible from the windows in the lounges on the south side of the building.

Well, today there's been much hilarity around here provoked by a goose and his gander. Apparently this feathered couple and their newly laid eggs have taken up residence in the wetland, and the goose is challenging all comers. It's been hilarious to occasionally take a break, walk over to the lounge and watch as pedestrians start walking across the wetland, minding their own business and then suddenly get set upon by this fiercely protective goose, wings spread, honking mad. Watching them high-tail it out of the way is, frankly, hysterical.

Yes, I'm easily amused.