Blue-headed Vireo (Vireo solitarius) ©WikiC
SMALL FIRE DEPARTMENT RESCUES BIRDS (Relocated)
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Small Fire Department Rescues Birds
Tag Archives: From The Past
The Rescue of the Canary Bird
Yellow Canary (Crithagra flaviventris) Male ©WikiC
THE RESCUE OF THE CANARY BIRD
She Watched the Little Bird.
“I am going to tell you a really true story,” said daddy, “something which happened to-day. I was walking along a rather poor part of the city when I saw a number of children gathered in a group in a little side yard of a tenement house. The children were screaming to one boy: ‘Oh, catch him! Don’t let the awful cat get him!'”
“Oh, was it a bird?” asked Jack eagerly.
“Yes,” replied daddy; “it was a bird, but not just the usual kind of bird that is seen around city streets, for only the sparrows like the noise of a city. Most birds like the woods and the country, where they can have homes in the trees and can sing all day long.
“But this was a tame yellow canary who had flown out of an open window to pick up some goodies he saw on the ground, and a cat was after him.”
“Did they get him from the cat?” asked Evelyn eagerly, for she was devoted to animals and perhaps especially to birds.
“Yes,” answered daddy; “the little boy succeeded in rescuing him, but the poor canary had been so frightened that his little heart was beating, oh, so fast, and the children were afraid he was not going to live.
“They all followed the little boy who had caught the canary just in time into the tenement house. The cat had knocked several feathers from the bird’s tail.
“Another child told me the canary belonged to a little girl who lived in the tenement. He asked me to follow, too, for he said that the little girl had trouble with her back and had to lie flat all the time. She loved visitors, for so much of the time she was lonely. Her mother was poor and out all day sewing, so the little girl’s only companion was the canary, who would sing for hours and hours. He seemed to know he must keep her cheered up.
“So along I went too. We climbed some stairs until we came to a dingy room where on a cot by the window lay a little girl about eight years old. She had big dark eyes, and when I saw her her cheeks were bright red from all the excitement.
“All her friends had gathered around, each giving her a special description of how the bird had been rescued. She was smiling with joy and watching the bird, who was now busily engaged nibbling at a little piece of apple which had been given him. Before long he began to sing, oh, so joyously, for he knew he was once more back in his happy home, where he would take good care to stay in the future.
“I told the little girl of my Jack and Evelyn, and she said she wanted to see you both. Shall we all go to see her and her little bird some day?”
“We’d love to!” cried Jack and Evelyn delightedly.
Lee’s Addition:
The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. (Psalms 18:2)
Another delightful story from Daddy’s book.
The Yellow Canary (Serinus flaviventris) is a small passerine bird in the finch family. It is a resident breeder in much of the western and central regions of southern Africa and has been introduced to Ascension and St Helena islands. They have been kept for pets for many years. They belong to the Fringillidae – Finches Family.
Its habitat is karoo and coastal or mountain valley scrub. It builds a compact cup nest in a scrub.
The Yellow Canary is typically 13 cm in length. The adult male color ranges from almost uniform yellow in the northwest of its range to streaked, olive backed birds in the southeast. The underparts, rump and tail sides are yellow. The female has grey-brown upperparts, black wings with yellow flight feathers, and a pale supercilium. The underparts are white with brown streaking. The juvenile resembles the female, but has heavier streaking.
The Yellow Canary is a common and gregarious seedeater. Its call is chissick or cheree, and the song is a warbled zee-zeree-chereeo.
Another Bird Tales
From
Daddy’s Bedtime Bird Stories – Gutenberg ebooks
By
Mary Graham Bonner
With four illustrations in color by
Florence Choate and Elizabeth Curtis
These stories first appeared in the American Press Association Service and the Western Newspaper Union.
Many of the sketches in this volume are the work of Rebecca McCann, creator of the “Cheerful Cherub,” etc.
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Daddy’s Bedtime Bird Stories by Mary Graham Bonner – 1917
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Links:
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Fringillidae – Finches Family
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Bird Tales – The Woodpeckers Bird Band
Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus) by Daves BirdingPix
The Woodpeckers Bird Band
The Woodpecker family were around on various trees drumming, drumming on the bark. Mr. Hairy Woodpecker, Mr. Downy Woodpecker, and Mr. Red-Headed Woodpecker were hard at work.
Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) by Raymond Barlow
“Let’s start a band,” suggested Mr. Hairy Woodpecker.
Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) ©USFWS
“What’s that you say?” asked Mr. Red-Headed Woodpecker, who had been so busy at work that he had not heard what Mr. Hairy Woodpecker had been suggesting. “A band,” repeated Mr. Hairy Woodpecker. “What sort of a band?” asked Mr. Red-Headed Woodpecker. “In the first place,” continued Mr. Hairy Woodpecker, “our bills are not only fine tools for the work we have to do getting the insects from the trees, and burrowing for our nests, but they would be splendid to use in beating the drums in a band.” “Where would we get the drums?” asked Mr. Red-Headed Woodpecker. “The trees, of course, you silly!” said Mr. Hairy Woodpecker. “Oh yes, yes,” agreed Mr. Red-Headed Woodpecker. And Mr. Downy Woodpecker said, “Of course, of course. The trees will be our drums.”
American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis) on Thistle by Fenton
“We’ll get the other birds,” said Mr. Hairy Woodpecker, “to help us. We need something in a band besides the drums. We will ask the goldfinches, the mocking-birds, the bobolinks, the phœbe and chickadee families, all of the warbler and vireo families, and the robins of course. Then I think we’ll ask the orioles, the whippoorwills, the thrush family, and the song sparrows.”
Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) by Daves BirdingPix
“Oh,” said Mr. Downy Woodpecker, “that will make a perfect band. We’d better get started right away.” And the woodpeckers began to practise. They made such a noise that the birds came from far and near to see what they were doing. Mr. Sapsucker, Mr. Crested Woodpecker, and Mr. Flicker Woodpecker had all joined in beating the drums too!
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) by Raymond Barlow
“Why are you making so much noise?” asked the birds as they flew around to the nearby trees to talk to the woodpeckers. “Oh,” said Mr. Hairy Woodpecker, “we were just going to ask you all to join our band. We will beat the drums.”
American Robin (Turdus migratorius) by Daves BirdingPix
“And just what do you want us to do?” asked Mr. Robin Redbreast, who was always eager to help. “You must all sing.”
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) by J Fenton
“But we all sing differently,” chirped a song sparrow. “We know different tunes and different songs.” “Oh,” said Mr. Hairy Woodpecker, “I never thought about that. But never mind, you can have little parts to sing alone, and other choruses where you will all sing together. I’m sure it will be a very fine band after we have practised.” And they began pounding the drums again. “Well,” said Mr. Robin Redbreast, “if the bird band isn’t to be the finest in the land, at least we’ll make a cheerful noise!”
Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) by J Fenton
* Another Bird Tale From
Daddy’s Bedtime Bird Stories – Gutenberg ebooks
By
Mary Graham Bonner
With four illustrations in color by Florence Choate and Elizabeth Curtis
These stories first appeared in the American Press Association Service and the Western Newspaper Union.
Many of the sketches in this volume are the work of Rebecca McCann, creator of the “Cheerful Cherub,” etc.
Daddy’s Bedtime Bird Stories by Mary Graham Bonner – 1917
Lee’s Addition:
Psalms 98:4-8 KJV (4) Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. (5) Sing unto the LORD with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm. (6) With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the LORD, the King. (7) Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. (8) Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together
Meet the whole band: (a few missed the photo session)
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Riddlers – The Woodpeckers
The Woodpeckers, by Fannie Hardy Eckstorm
A Project Gutenberg EBook
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THE WOODPECKERS
BY
FANNIE HARDY ECKSTORM
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
The Riverside Press, Cambridge
1901
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
The Riverside Press, Cambridge
1901
Title: The Woodpeckers
Author: Fannie Hardy Eckstorm
Release Date: January 25, 2011 [EBook #35062]
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WOODPECKERS ***
(This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org)
COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY FANNIE HARDY ECKSTORM
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
To
MY FATHER
MR. MANLY HARDY
A Lifelong Naturalist
THE WOODPECKERS
FOREWORD: THE RIDDLERS
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Long ago in Greece, the legend runs, a terrible monster called the Sphinx used to waylay travelers to ask them riddles: whoever could not answer these she killed, but the man who did answer them killed her and made an end of her riddling.
To-day there is no Sphinx to fear, yet the world is full of unguessed riddles. No thoughtful man can go far afield but some bird or flower or stone bars his way with a question demanding an answer; and though many men have been diligently spelling out the answers for many years, and we for the most part must study the answers they have proved, and must reply in their words, yet those shrewd old riddlers, the birds and flowers and bees, are always ready for a new victim, putting their heads together over some new enigma (mystery) to bar the road to knowledge till that, too, shall be answered; so that other men’s learning does not always suffice. So much of a man’s pleasure in life, so much of his power, depends on his ability to silence these persistent questioners, that this little book was written with the hope of making clearer the kind of questions Nature asks, and the way to get correct answers.
This is purposely a little book, dealing only with a single group of birds, treating particularly only some of the commoner species of that group, taking up only a few of the problems that present themselves to the naturalist for solution, and aiming rather to make the reader acquainted with the birds than learned about them.
The woodpeckers were selected in preference to any other family because they are patient under observation, easily identified, resident in all parts of the country both in summer and in winter, and because more than any other birds they leave behind them records of their work which may be studied after the birds have flown.
The book provides ample means for identifying every species and subspecies of woodpecker known in North America, though only five of the commonest and most interesting species have been selected for special study. At least three of these five should be found in almost every part of the country. The Californian woodpecker is never seen in the East, nor the red-headed in the far West, but the downy and the hairy are resident nearly everywhere, and some species of the flickers and sapsuckers, if not always the ones chosen for special notice, are visitors in most localities.
Look for the woodpeckers in orchards and along the edges of thickets, among tangles of wild grapes and in patches of low, wild berries, upon which they often feed, among dead trees and in the track of forest fires. Wherever there are boring larvæ, beetles, ants, grasshoppers, the fruit of poison-ivy, dogwood, june-berry, wild cherry or wild grapes, woodpeckers may be confidently looked for if there are any in the neighborhood.
Be patient, persistent, wide-awake, sure that you see what you think you see, careful to remember what you have seen, studious to compare your observations, and keen to hear the questions propounded you. If you do this seven years and a day, you will earn the name of Naturalist; and if you travel the road of the naturalist with curious patience, you may some day become as famous a riddle-reader as was that OEdipus, the king of Thebes, who slew the Sphinx.
Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) by Raymond Barlow
Lee’s Addition:
This is the beginning of a series from The Woodpeckers book. Our writer, Fannie Hardy Eckstorm, wrote this in 1901. There are 16 chapters, plus this Forward, which are about the Woodpecker Family here in America. All the chapters can be found on The Woodpeckers page.
Woodpeckers belong to the Picidae – Woodpeckers Family.
Here are the upcoming chapter titles:
| CHAP. | PAGE | |
| Foreword: the Riddlers | ||
| I. | How to know a Woodpecker | |
| II. | How the Woodpecker catches a Grub | |
| III. | How the Woodpecker courts his Mate | |
| IV. | How the Woodpecker makes a House | |
| V. | How a Flicker feeds her Young | |
| VI. | Friend Downy | |
| VII. | Persona non Grata. (Yellow-bellied Sapsucker) | |
| VIII. | El Carpintero. (Californian Woodpecker) | |
| IX. | A Red-headed Cousin. (Red-headed Woodpecker) | |
| X. | A Study of Acquired Habits | |
| XI. | The Woodpecker’s Tools: His Bill | |
| XII. | The Woodpecker’s Tools: His Foot | |
| XIII. | The Woodpecker’s Tools: His Tail | |
| XIV. | The Woodpecker’s Tools: His Tongue | |
| XV. | How each Woodpecker is fitted for his own Kind of Life | |
| XVI. | The Argument from Design |
APPENDIX
A. Key to the Woodpeckers of North America
B. Descriptions of the Woodpeckers of North America
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I trust you will enjoy reading about these fantastic birds and how the Lord has created them to be able to carry out their task.
See:
The Woodpeckers by Fannie Hardy Eckstorm
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Child’s Book of Water Birds ~ The Oyster Catcher
Birds Vol 2 #6 – The Volume II. July to December 1897 – Index
Yellow-Breasted Chat (Icteria virens) by USGS
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VOLUME II. JULY TO DECEMBER, 1897.
INDEX.
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How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! (Psalm 139:17 NKJV)
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Birds Illustrated by Color Photography – Revisited
The above article is an article in the monthly serial for October 1897 “designed to promote Knowledge of Bird-Live.” These include Color Photography, as they call them, today they are drawings. There are at least three Volumes that have been digitized by Project Gutenberg.
To see the whole series of – Birds Illustrated by Color Photography – Revisited
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Next Article – TBA
The Previous Article – The Yellow-breasted Chat
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Child’s Book of Water Birds ~ The Goose
Vol 2, #6 – More Bird Miscellany
American Robin (Turdus migratorius) in nest ready to eat ©WikiC
BIRD MISCELLANY.
Knowledge never learned of schools
Of the wild bee’s morning chase,
Of the wild-flowers’ time and place,
Flight of fowl and habitude
Of the tenants of the wood;
How the tortoise bears his shell;
How the woodchuck digs his cell;
And the ground-mole makes his well;
How the robin feeds her young;
How the oriole’s nest is hung.
—Whittier.
Mangrove Warbler (Dendroica petechia) (aka Yellow) by Anthony747
Consider the marvelous life of a bird and the manner of its whole existence…. Consider the powers of that little mind of which the inner light flashes from the round bright eye; the skill in building its home, in finding its food, in protecting its mate, in serving its offspring, in preserving its own existence, surrounded as it is on all sides by the most rapacious enemies….
When left alone it is such a lovely little life—cradled among the hawthorn buds, searching for aphidæ amongst apple blossoms, drinking dew from the cup of a lily; awake when the gray light breaks in the east, throned on the topmost branch of a tree, swinging with it in the sunshine, flying from it through the air; then the friendly quarrel with a neighbor over a worm or berry; the joy of bearing grass-seed to his mate where she sits low down amongst the docks and daisies; the triumph of singing the praise of sunshine or of moonlight; the merry, busy, useful days; the peaceful sleep, steeped in the scent of the closed flower, with head under one wing and the leaves forming a green roof above.
—Ouida.
Asian Openbill (Anastomus oscitans) on nest by Nikhil
THE BIRD’S STORY.
“I once lived in a little house,
And lived there very well;
I thought the world was small and round,
And made of pale blue shell.
I lived next in a little nest,
Nor needed any other;
I thought the world was made of straw,
And brooded by my mother.
One day I fluttered from the nest
To see what I could find.
I said: ‘The world is made of leaves,
I have been very blind.’
At length I flew beyond the tree,
Quite fit for grown-up labors;
I don’t know how the world is made,
And neither do my neighbors.”
Lee’s Addition:
By them the birds of the heavens have their home; They sing among the branches. (Psalm 104:12 NKJV)
These three miscellaneous articles give various lessons. The Bird Miscellany informs us that book learning only goes so far, then you need to go out and observe what is going on around you. Same way with bird watching. You can read all the books, but you won’t become a birdwatcher until you go watch birds.
The second segment talks of a peaceful bird just enjoying its life. Last, the Bird’s Story reminds us of growing up.
Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it. (Psalm 34:14 NKJV)
Better is a dry morsel with quietness, Than a house full of feasting with strife. (Proverbs 17:1 NKJV)
If you have an opinion, leave a comment. Always interesting to hear different points of view.
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Birds Illustrated by Color Photography – Revisited
The above article is an article in the monthly serial for October 1897 “designed to promote Knowledge of Bird-Live.” These include Color Photography, as they call them, today they are drawings. There are at least three Volumes that have been digitized by Project Gutenberg.
To see the whole series of – Birds Illustrated by Color Photography – Revisited
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(Information from Wikipedia and other internet sources, with editing)
Next Article – The Yellow-breasted Chat
The Previous Article – The Ring-necked Pheasant
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Birds of the Bible For Kids 