I was wrong - how could that be?

Click to enlarge

Back on January 1, as part of my Happy New Year post, I mentioned an interesting bird that was hanging around our house. I was sure I had figured out that it was a Black-and-White Warbler. I crosschecked it in two bird books and on the Internet. I had compared it against similar birds - the Blackpool Warbler and the Black-throated Gray Warbler and was sure it wasn't either of those. At least I was right about that!

My wife put more pictures of the bird on her Facebook account and asked there about its identity and the answer came back that our mystery bird is a female Downy Woodpecker. I was thrown by the fact that it doesn't have a red spot on the rear of the head but that's because only the male Downy Woodpecker has the red spot.
I'm a little surprised that my bird books didn't include the Downy Woodpecker as similar birds to the Black-and-White Warbler but I guess there are limits to how many they can include. They probably figured no one would think a woodpecker was a warbler. I'll try not to make assumptions in the future but we all know how that will go. I'm just glad to know what to call our visitor. It's a little sad to not be able to announce that a bird that isn't normally in our area this time of year is still here. I'll have to wait for an Ivory-billed Woodpecker to show up!

Two comebacks

No, not sports comebacks. These are replies to someone who has said something critical of you.

1) What they say when they think you are staring at them:

"What are you looking at?"

    What your comeback should be

"Not much!"

2) What they say in response to your previous witty comeback

"Don't get smart with me."

    What your comeback should be

"Well, one of us needs to be smart about this."

25 years ago today

This is the anniversary of my marrying the most beautiful girl in the world. We'd known each other for years but only started dating the year before. I can remember having all the wrong ideas about what type of woman I would marry and what falling in love was all about. Then, the first time we went out on a date, I knew. Being with Cindy was completely different than being with anyone else. Everything seemed so effortless when I was with her. And she made me feel like I was always doing the right thing.

I was 42 years old and thought I would never find the right woman. I had given up and thought no woman would ever want to marry me. But God has a plan. We just need to acknowledge our need and that we aren't in control. In one way, I'm glad it took so long. In another way, though, I see how I was the problem - thinking I knew what I was doing and thinking I had it all figured out.

The last quarter century has flown by. I'm sure the next one will, too.

Happy New Year

Here we go - it's a new year. All the mistakes we made last year are forgotten (right?) and all the good things we did last year will continue (right?). I hope you will have a good and prosperous new year in 2019.

I'm starting off with a question - is this bird a Black-and-White Warbler? According to my identification books, it shouldn't be hanging around Cape Cod this time of year.I see it at the usual Internet sites here and here which seem to verify what I find in my book. But it does breed here in the summer so it's not unheard of.

There are similar birds but I pretty sure this isn't one of those. The Blackpool Warbler, from what I can see here and here, is not just black and white but contains some brown on its back and wings. But it does look like could be in this range at this time of year. The Black-throated Gray Warbler, seen here and here, is only found out west and, unsurprisingly, has a prominent black throat while the birds we are seeing here do not.

As usual, one of my New Year's Resolutions is to write more often in this blog. I always start out well in January and then drop off. But I did better in 2018 than I did in 2017 so maybe there is hope. Well, there is always hope!

[Update - to see the real identity of this bird, see my newer post here]