chases

I have been wondering whether the Crows might have chased the Kingbirds away but the reality seems to be just the opposite. This morning. not one but two Eastern Kingbirds came out of the area where I thought they were trying to nest with the aim of chasing away a couple of corvid marauders. The enemy having been successfully repelled, the Kingbirds returned, one vanishing into the nesting tree, the other taking up a vigil at the top of the oak tree next door. It seems as though it took only a few days for the nest to be constructed and the female may be already sitting on eggs. I cannot see the nest which seems to be buried in dense pine needles on a stout branch jutting out over the creek -- a classic Kingbird nesting spot.

A group of several Downy Woodpeckers was an unusual sight -- you usually see no more than two together and mostly only one at a time. This was, of course, a family group with one or two adults and two or three young 'uns. Two of the latter were constantly scrapping and chasing each other, a raw case of sibling rivalry in the natural world!

The Red Fox was back. The crows and jays put up a fearful racket as the fox was working the pond edge. My arrival on the scene chased the crows and the fox came up from the bank with a dead muskrat -- a hearty meal for a skinny fox. Ignoring my presence, he proceeded to devour his catch and, even when I called Juliette to come down from the house to be a witness, he preferred to ignore us. When he finished his foraging a bit later, he came trotting back up towards the house and disappeared into the woods.

Eric Salzman

P.S.: Labor/Naxos has reissued my "Civilization & Its Discontents" (with Michael Sahl) to some fantastic reviews. Also William Gibson has a major piece about "The Nude Paper Sermon" in the latest issue of 'Signal to Noise' ('The Nude Paper Sermon' and 'Wiretap' will be re-released shortly on Labor/Naxos as part of their on-going issues of my work). You can read these reviews, find links and get other information on my web site or the Labor site