Vireotown

Red-eyed vireo

We have three species of vireos that nest on our farm here in southeastern Ohio: red-eyed, white-eyed, and yellow-throated. There are three others that we see each spring and fall, just passin' through: blue-headed (formerly solitary and I can't seem to remember to use the "new" name), warbling, and Philadelphia. If we really stretched our birding fantasy list to the extreme I suppose we could one day see a Bell's vireo here at Indigo Hill, but if we do, that sighting will get its very own blog post.

White-eyed vireo

All summer long we hear the red-eyeds singing almost constantly. Yellow-throateds seem to be more selective singers, but when they do sing, they do it a lot. Their hoarse-sounding question-and-answer song seems to come mostly from our oak woods.

White-eyeds sing a ton during courtship, then not at all during nesting it seems. I wonder if the tree-top-loving red-eyeds and yellow-throateds sing more regularly (or the white-eyeds less) due to their relative exposure to predators. A red-eyed vireo singing in the top of a tulip poplar is very hard to find. A white-eyed may be skulking in the shadows, but it's usually at eye level or below in a patch of brushy habitat. Does this make them more susceptible to predators?

Yellow-throated vireo

Now that fall migration has started, these vireos can still be heard singing, though with nowhere near the intensity of the earlier seasons. The other notable behavior of fall migration is the aggressiveness of the red-eyed vireos. They zip and swoop from tree to tree, often chasing other birds. I imagine these other birds thinking "What the heck? Leave me alone!" I'm sure this behavior has something to do with the fluctuation in hormone levels brought on by the end of the breeding season and the onset of fall migration.

The red-eyeds remind me of teenage boys who, when they find themselves just standing around doing, nothing get the sudden urge to punch a nearby shoulder. This punch often elicits another, and so on.

Our vireos' aggressiveness sometimes pays nice dividends, like this morning when a pair of (probably young) red-eyeds chased two warblers out of deep cover in our sycamore tree: one was an adult male black-throated blue (my favorite North American warbler) and the other was a yellow-throated warbler—both firsts for this fall.

Philadelphia vireo

Later in September we start sorting through the vireos more carefully, looking for a Philadelphia vireo. We see far more of them in fall than in spring migration. It's one of the many treats of autumn that makes the leaving of summer just a little easier to take here in Vireotown.

Read more »

Vireotown

Red-eyed vireo

We have three species of vireos that nest on our farm here in southeastern Ohio: red-eyed, white-eyed, and yellow-throated. There are three others that we see each spring and fall, just passin' through: blue-headed (formerly solitary and I can't seem to remember to use the "new" name), warbling, and Philadelphia. If we really stretched our birding fantasy list to the extreme I suppose we could one day see a Bell's vireo here at Indigo Hill, but if we do, that sighting will get its very own blog post.

White-eyed vireo

All summer long we hear the red-eyeds singing almost constantly. Yellow-throateds seem to be more selective singers, but when they do sing, they do it a lot. Their hoarse-sounding question-and-answer song seems to come mostly from our oak woods.

White-eyeds sing a ton during courtship, then not at all during nesting it seems. I wonder if the tree-top-loving red-eyeds and yellow-throateds sing more regularly (or the white-eyeds less) due to their relative exposure to predators. A red-eyed vireo singing in the top of a tulip poplar is very hard to find. A white-eyed may be skulking in the shadows, but it's usually at eye level or below in a patch of brushy habitat. Does this make them more susceptible to predators?

Yellow-throated vireo

Now that fall migration has started, these vireos can still be heard singing, though with nowhere near the intensity of the earlier seasons. The other notable behavior of fall migration is the aggressiveness of the red-eyed vireos. They zip and swoop from tree to tree, often chasing other birds. I imagine these other birds thinking "What the heck? Leave me alone!" I'm sure this behavior has something to do with the fluctuation in hormone levels brought on by the end of the breeding season and the onset of fall migration.

The red-eyeds remind me of teenage boys who, when they find themselves just standing around doing, nothing get the sudden urge to punch a nearby shoulder. This punch often elicits another, and so on.

Our vireos' aggressiveness sometimes pays nice dividends, like this morning when a pair of (probably young) red-eyeds chased two warblers out of deep cover in our sycamore tree: one was an adult male black-throated blue (my favorite North American warbler) and the other was a yellow-throated warbler—both firsts for this fall.

Philadelphia vireo

Later in September we start sorting through the vireos more carefully, looking for a Philadelphia vireo. We see far more of them in fall than in spring migration. It's one of the many treats of autumn that makes the leaving of summer just a little easier to take here in Vireotown.

Read more »

One Fall Day. But Only One.

Labor Day was a glorious day--no laboring.  The Chef had the day off (rarity) so we were footloose and fancy free.  Upon arising in the AM I noticed ominous clouds...and then rain.  Two hours later:  more rain.  "Fine by me", she says to herself, "I think I'll take a nap."

Next thing we knew it was humid and warm and iced tea time.  We emerged from the house.  We had lunch.  We roamed the streets. Cut to scene and it was swanky dinner date time (our much missed fave).  So much for the LBD (seen here) and silk bomber I had planned--more rain.  Being the seasonal embracer I never am (summer lover in the house) I dove head first into my fall clothing and pulled this one out.  

~Outfit details:  Zara-Blazer (similar), Vince-Silk Tank (similar), Martin+Osa (RIP)-Black Skinny Denim, 

Ash-Ono Boots (similar), Alexander Wang-Coco (Rocco), Anthro-Sunglasses~

I know what you're thinking:  she does not look very happy.  In fact I was quite happy, except for the on with the dress, off with the dress, on with the blazer, off with the blazer, where are those ding-dang pants again??, I think the boots are in here, maybe I do want the dress after all, did that rain stop?, I am getting sweaty and we're gonna be late, wait a second let me get a picture of this one! gymnastics routine.  You know the one, right? *shakes head*

Now here's the thing about Southern California: On Tuesday morning, just hours later, I awoke to flames of heat from the sun, my fall dreams dashed to the fitting room floor.  Ever since it's been bloody 90-113 degrees from morning until night.  Just when I was willing to accept fall, summer came out from behind the clouds and screamed, "PSYCH!!" -- right in my face.

Am I even making sense?  I ate a cream puff for dinner tonight.  And a Mr. Freeze.  Then an ice cream cupcake (it's the year of the birthday).  And 14 glasses of water.  Blame it on the heat stroke.  

Read more »

One Fall Day. But Only One.

Labor Day was a glorious day--no laboring.  The Chef had the day off (rarity) so we were footloose and fancy free.  Upon arising in the AM I noticed ominous clouds...and then rain.  Two hours later:  more rain.  "Fine by me", she says to herself, "I think I'll take a nap."

Next thing we knew it was humid and warm and iced tea time.  We emerged from the house.  We had lunch.  We roamed the streets. Cut to scene and it was swanky dinner date time (our much missed fave).  So much for the LBD (seen here) and silk bomber I had planned--more rain.  Being the seasonal embracer I never am (summer lover in the house) I dove head first into my fall clothing and pulled this one out.  

~Outfit details:  Zara-Blazer (similar), Vince-Silk Tank (similar), Martin+Osa (RIP)-Black Skinny Denim, 

Ash-Ono Boots (similar), Alexander Wang-Coco (Rocco), Anthro-Sunglasses~

I know what you're thinking:  she does not look very happy.  In fact I was quite happy, except for the on with the dress, off with the dress, on with the blazer, off with the blazer, where are those ding-dang pants again??, I think the boots are in here, maybe I do want the dress after all, did that rain stop?, I am getting sweaty and we're gonna be late, wait a second let me get a picture of this one! gymnastics routine.  You know the one, right? *shakes head*

Now here's the thing about Southern California: On Tuesday morning, just hours later, I awoke to flames of heat from the sun, my fall dreams dashed to the fitting room floor.  Ever since it's been bloody 90-113 degrees from morning until night.  Just when I was willing to accept fall, summer came out from behind the clouds and screamed, "PSYCH!!" -- right in my face.

Am I even making sense?  I ate a cream puff for dinner tonight.  And a Mr. Freeze.  Then an ice cream cupcake (it's the year of the birthday).  And 14 glasses of water.  Blame it on the heat stroke.  

Read more »

Out of the Dust

Just when you (and truth be told I) thought I might never come back to the blogosphere BAM! here I am.  Every once in awhile you have to let your life crash down on you and just stop everything to take it all in.  So that's what I did.  Whether you've been following me for a year or a day you know I keep it real.  If things aren't so hot, I'll say it.  Things were not so hot.  Okay now that that's been confirmed we can get on with it.

 *Heart on her sleeve here at the bird*

All that being said I'm trying to get back into the routine of things.  Just yesterday I took an outfit picture for the first time in weeks and felt like it was back to day one of the blog.  Weird, right?  Anyway, in the meantime here's a bit of what I've been up to.  Get your pillow in case you slip into a coma.

Early mornings at the beach where I laid down while others played volleyball.

Late days spent reading books and watching the sun set through breezy palms.  

Oh summer. 

sigh

My best friend came to town and we celebrated my birthday by eating *cough* a few of these.  

In the span of just a few days we toasted to a new year over cocktails 

and serious talks and not-so-serious talks and spa dates and 

new restaurants and relaxing hotels and every other wonderful best friend thing.

Including sunsets that are particularly amazing during late August in SoCal.

And more birthday surprises with my closest friends.

After he left it was back to me and early mornings at the beach.

You see the best things when not that many people are around!

Afternoons spent in deep discussion with the cat.  

Spontaneous mini road trips.

And just this past weekend kissing summer goodbye.

Except I woke up this morning to 93 miserable degrees.  In fact I had a dream in which I discovered the oven had been on the hottest temperature for 3 days explaining why the house was so hot.  You know you've got a twitter problem when IN THE DREAM I tweeted: "My name is Carrie and my oven has been on 500 for 3 days."  Only then I opened my eyes to the flaming sun beating down on my bed. No bueno.  Oh.  And I didn't actually tweet that.  Just in the dream.

I guess I really might be getting back to normal after all.  

Thanks for hanging in there with me.  Your notes and emails have been incredibly kind and thoughtful--I appreciate you so much.  

What's been going on with you guys?  Ben F's the next bloody Bachelor!  Did you see the announcement?  Jesus take the wheel...

Read more »

Out of the Dust

Just when you (and truth be told I) thought I might never come back to the blogosphere BAM! here I am.  Every once in awhile you have to let your life crash down on you and just stop everything to take it all in.  So that's what I did.  Whether you've been following me for a year or a day you know I keep it real.  If things aren't so hot, I'll say it.  Things were not so hot.  Okay now that that's been confirmed we can get on with it.

 *Heart on her sleeve here at the bird*

All that being said I'm trying to get back into the routine of things.  Just yesterday I took an outfit picture for the first time in weeks and felt like it was back to day one of the blog.  Weird, right?  Anyway, in the meantime here's a bit of what I've been up to.  Get your pillow in case you slip into a coma.

Early mornings at the beach where I laid down while others played volleyball.

Late days spent reading books and watching the sun set through breezy palms.  

Oh summer. 

sigh

My best friend came to town and we celebrated my birthday by eating *cough* a few of these.  

In the span of just a few days we toasted to a new year over cocktails 

and serious talks and not-so-serious talks and spa dates and 

new restaurants and relaxing hotels and every other wonderful best friend thing.

Including sunsets that are particularly amazing during late August in SoCal.

And more birthday surprises with my closest friends.

After he left it was back to me and early mornings at the beach.

You see the best things when not that many people are around!

Afternoons spent in deep discussion with the cat.  

Spontaneous mini road trips.

And just this past weekend kissing summer goodbye.

Except I woke up this morning to 93 miserable degrees.  In fact I had a dream in which I discovered the oven had been on the hottest temperature for 3 days explaining why the house was so hot.  You know you've got a twitter problem when IN THE DREAM I tweeted: "My name is Carrie and my oven has been on 500 for 3 days."  Only then I opened my eyes to the flaming sun beating down on my bed. No bueno.  Oh.  And I didn't actually tweet that.  Just in the dream.

I guess I really might be getting back to normal after all.  

Thanks for hanging in there with me.  Your notes and emails have been incredibly kind and thoughtful--I appreciate you so much.  

What's been going on with you guys?  Ben F's the next bloody Bachelor!  Did you see the announcement?  Jesus take the wheel...

Read more »

Read more »