(plus some eclipse “stuff” for those not already burned out by all the hoopla).
There has been no grape harvest in my yard for several seasons and this flicker is at least partly to blame. I used to harvest lots of grapes from the vines growing on my east and north fences. I don’t know the variety but they’re sweet and seedless and I often used to munch on them while working in my garden. I’d serve them to guests and occasionally I had a bowl full of them on my kitchen table.
But no more – the birds have discovered them. I still don’t know who most of the culprits are because I seldom see anything but small songbirds lurking in the vines and it seems to me that they’re unlikely culprits. But about a year ago (9/1/16) I caught one of the bandits red-handed.
1/1600, f/5.6, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
It was this female Northern Flicker. She was perched on the fence and trying to reach the grapes left on the cluster we see at lower right. Notice that many of the grapes at the top of that cluster that were within her reach had already been purloined. For some reason she seemed reluctant to leave the security of her fence perch and actually hop onto the vine to reach the grapes so she…
1/1600, f/5.6, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
pulled off a pretty amazing leaning job and I’m still trying to figure out how she did it without toppling over. She never did even open her wings during the attempt and after holding this position for several seconds she eventually gave up and disappeared into the thicket of grape vines. I think my presence made her nervous.
I checked the condition of my grapes last night and at this point there’s every indication of a bountiful harvest. But because of our cool, wet spring they still have a couple of weeks to go before they’re large and sweet enough for them to appeal to me and by then they’ll be stripped clean. I’m sure of it. That’s exactly what’s happened in each of the last several years.
I’m happy to feed the birds but I wish they wouldn’t be so darned clandestine about their raids. I’d like to watch and photograph them during the feast.
Ron
PS – For those of you living in or traveling to the path of totality for today’s eclipse I wish you a spectacular experience and infinite amounts of luck with potential clouds and (especially) the madness of the crowds and traffic. Personally, I’d love to experience totality but even though I’m only about 250 miles away from that narrow path I’m not even slightly tempted to pay the price. Interstate 15 which runs through Salt Lake City is the second heaviest traveled freeway in the U. S. under normal conditions and is the route many thousands of folks south of us are using to get to and from the totality path in Idaho, Wyoming and Oregon so that narrow ribbon of pavement is expected to be transformed into a nightmarish parking lot for much of several days.
Anyone who really knows me knows I’d rather accidentally drop my 500mm lens over the edge of the Grand Canyon than go through that experience. No hyperbole there, folks – I’m not kidding (at least not very much…).
Here in Salt Lake City we’ll have 91% blockage of the sun at 11:33 AM and it’s expected to appear like sunset but from the wrong angle and the sky will look more like dusk than morning.
For me that will have to suffice.
Addendum: We just passed through maximum sun blockage. It definitely looks spooky out there, especially with clear skies this time of day!
Ron,
The trip to Idaho for the eclipse was very well worth it although I missed the blog for a couple of days. I hate crowds as well so we went up early on Friday to scope out a spot and then came home on Tuesday. Staying with my sister helped make the experience tolerable. With that planning we had acceptable traffic until coming home and hitting construction from Tremonton to Brigham City. The pictures of totality were spectacular and demonstrate another wonderful use for the optics besides bird photography. We were on Henry’s Fork and watched Great Blue Herons, robins, Red Tailed Hawks and Swallows mostly try to nest down for the night only to be awakened in 2 and a half minutes. I had to really control myself to not take off my solar filter and take pictures of the GBH’s but I had my task for the day. Pictures turned out great and the experience of totality was un-earthly, especially watching the birds (and a large moose that lumbered through).
Stephen
Ron,
I drove from Western Washington, to Walla Walla on the east side of the state on Saturday, birding along the way. This morning I got up at 4:00 and drove 120+ miles to the Baker City area. Lots of empty space in Eastern Oregon and there were no crowds. Totally worth it. Totality is a completely different thing. A partial eclipse is like holding hands. Totality is like … you get the idea. It was a beautiful sunny clear day. As totality approaches the temperature drops and it starts to look like twilight. At totality there is a beautiful ring of fire in the sky. A bat flew out. I see some real traffic backups on Oregon’s traffic site, Tripcheck.com, but never a slowdown here.
Thanks for that report, John. Sounds like things went great for you. I even noticed a cool-down here as maximum blockage approached.
Growing up we had lots of fruit trees. A fig was perhaps the most prolific. And we knew when they were ripe. Because the birds (most often the silver-eyes) were in them. The rotten little beasts hollowed out the fruits which then dropped to the ground where they rotted. Picking up the half eaten, rotten (and often mouldy) fruit was job for my youngest brother and me. To this day neither of us can face figs.
Mind you, I do applaude bird’s tastes in fruit. And am not in the slightest bit surprised that I have never heard of a crop of brussel sprouts being consumed…
On the crowd front? Bleah. No way, no how. With apologies to Monty Python I would sooner nail my head to a coffee table.
“I have never heard of a crop of brussel sprouts being consumed”
Excellent point, EC!
LOL EC! Another place I lived, in Houston, had two fig trees. I mostly gave up on harvesting them because of the same issue. Birds aren’t very considerate, are they? LOL!
And the Monty Python reference…just YAY! They were just brilliant, weren’t they? I think my favorite of all time was the parrot sketch. “He’s pining for the fjords.” HEHE!
Ron,
I am in smoky Sisters Oregon (33 seconds of darkness here), so eclipse stuff and fires are my life. Only can see 2 blocks this morning due to smoke. If needed I can hold on to your 500 for you for a while.
My question is the following:
I need to replace my canon 100-400 lens. It is needing servicing 2-3 times a year now-it is a 2008 model. Have you used the new version of the 100-400? If so, is the new version worth the price differences—about $800. Also I sort a recall that you had a canon body and lens calibrated in Salt Lake, is this a correct memory of mine? Canon no longer services the 40d, so I would need to find a place to calibrate my setup.
Have you used or been around the Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM Lens? I really only photo birds and wild nature, so maybe the prime 400 is a better choice for me.
I should be upgrading to the Mark ii at the end of the year, but need a lens before that time. Just trying to balance my wants, dollars and needs the best I can.
Thanks Jake
Jake, I’ve had the newer version of the 100-400 since it came out and I love it. And yes, it’s worth the price difference IMO.
Both Pixels Foto and Frame and Pictureline here in SLC will calibrate for you. I usually use Pixels.
I’ve never used the 400 prime but I understand it’s very sharp. For my needs I prefer having the flexibility of the zoom.
I’ll pile on to “grumpapalooza” here. 😉 I agree that the hype has sort of ruined the experience for me. I’ll be out in our yard with my two paper plates — if the marine layer clears in time, that is. Or not. I got to see Halley’s Comet from a mountain observatory through both a Dobsonian and a nice sized Schmidt-Cassegrain and had a decent eclipse as a birthday present when I was teaching in IL. I’m good. Now get off my lawn, ya young whippersnappers! 😉
I’ve been used to “sharing” fruit for years. When our apricot, peach, and nectarine trees were producing, various birds would do a taste test and we’d find almost all the fruit had been “biopsied.” Now, it’s just citrus and an obnoxious squirrel who peels the oranges and then samples to find the sweetest ones. We find the peels on the ground and partially eaten oranges still on the tree. The dog is useless in this endeavor (or maybe she tells the squirrel where the best ones are…)
The “grumpapalooza” squadron continues to grow! I hate to be a stick in the mud because I really think totality would be fascinating to experience but I won’t risk a heart attack to see it! 🙂
I succumbed — went outside with my paper plates. Hubby had the solar filter from his telescope. Neighbors had plates, glasses and welding masks. Pretty cool. Then I came back in and the living room carpet has a whole bunch of images from the light being filtered by the tree outside.
Thanks for starting my day off with a big smile. You make me realize how lucky I was at my first house where I had lots of fruit trees, and the birds never bothered them. As for the eclipse, we’ve volunteered to help out at Hueco Tanks, and we even made ourselves an observation box yesterday. However, the interpreter who is heading up this activity is famous for having cloudy skies whenever he schedules an astronomy night, plus we’ve had lots of rain lately with more expected, so who knows how much we’ll see. I’m with you about hating and staying out of traffic – that’s why I will never go back to Los Angeles again if I can help it. Wide open spaces are what I like these days.
“that’s why I will never go back to Los Angeles again if I can help it”
I have the same goal, Susan – though it’s my intention to avoid the entire southern half of that state.
I’m with you two! I’ll choose to bounce back into the real west at the border of California, although there IS northern California. Fewer humans there, but southern California, yeah, NO!
Hey! There are still some good people in SoCal! (ahem!) 😉
There are lots of good people there, Marty.
nope, just me — hahahahaha 😉
Sorry, Marty, I didn’t know… I know my sister still has some good friends there, but I have no further ties to the area (I grew up there), except for another sister with whom I have no relationship. I’m grateful to have no ties there (except for you, of course!). 😇
LOL Marty, indeed! It’s that there’s so many multitudes of idiots around you, I have to wonder why the migration urge hasn’t struck 😉
Stepping back in the Way Back Machine, I had cherry trees in the first big=girl house I rented back in 1969 or 1970. I really wanted to harvest enough cherries to make a couple of cherry pies or cherry crumbles or any number of things. I really love cherries! HA! Dozens of bird species had other ideas and literally swarmed over the cherry trees. I finally gave up on the concept of getting complete, untouched cherries, lowered my expectations, went with the flow and used cherries with chunks thieved out of them! I don’t mind sharing at all, but I really wanted them to SHARE! LOL! With my compromised expectations, I probably got two cherry pies a year, but the cherries were not perfect! I had the same issue with pecan trees when I lived in Fort Worth, but again lowered my expectations 😉
As for the eclipse, I’m staying here where we’ll get about 65% coverage, assuming the skies clear of the cloud bank over me! On the bright side, the clouds produced a spectacular sunrise, so yin and yang. I saw the last one, so I’m good.
It used to be that I had many virtues, but patience was NOT among them. Then Mariah happened and she mostly insisted on my patience so I learned. In the process of turning into an arthritic geezer, I learned more. HOWEVER, (big HOWEVER!) sitting in traffic remains a huge frustration, especially if I’m travelling with the birds in the back of the Jeep where exhaust fumes are a prevalent danger! I turn into the image of a Tasmanian Devil and will do just about anything to get off the highway and out of a traffic jam. Bearing in mind that I drive a Jeep and know how to use it, I will NOT willingly sit in traffic! So, choosing to put myself in huge crowds is just NOT an option for me. Humans are cute and all, but when they gather in herds…yeah, NO! There’s a REASON I chose rural Arizona! LOL!
“I turn into the image of a Tasmanian Devil and will do just about anything to get off the highway and out of a traffic jam”
Ha, that brings several amusing scenarios to my mind of you in that Jeep in a situation like that, Laura. And I’ll bet some of them have really happened!
Yes, they have happened! I get a little bat-poo-poo crazy when my critters are in danger. Pair that with traffic, and well, if you’re a passenger in my Jeep, hold on! We’re going for a ride! LOL! My traffic tolerance time limit is about 30 seconds 😉
Laura, your reference to a Tasmanian Devil took me back to a visit to a wildlife park outside of Melbourne, Australia last year. We got to watch a trainer feed the devil, and it spent a lot of time chewing on the trainer’s rubber galoshes. I’m guessing that those galoshes were of extra-thick rubber and that he was wearing at least two pairs of socks. A very tenacious creature, and a fun memory!
Love these Flickers! My local Flicker fledglings are clearing my garden of ants. They love them and it helps me out. I haven’t any grapes for them to purloin. But I have discovered that cardinals love infant cukes and have ruined my crops more than once!!
Joanne, I meant to mention in my post that flickers eat ants and other insects almost exclusively until fall when they switch to fruits and seeds.
When I was growing up my Dad planted grapes. We always got a few, but California Scrub-Jays and squirrels got a great many. I’m sure other birds took some as well, but we never them do it. Here in Eugene we will experience the eclipse at greater than 99%. It will be amazing, but I have experienced 100% before and the difference between 99 and 100% is very, very dramatic. It’s an experience unlike anything else. But, even though I only need to travel 40 miles north to see it again, I’ve no desire to fight those crowds and traffic and will be satisfied with what we see here and the memory from the 1979 eclipse. I hope you find a way to enjoy at least a few grapes.
Dan, they’re saying that our 91% blockage will still be about 1000 times brighter than it will be in the path of totality. That surprised me a little at first but when I thought about it it made sense.
A garden friend bought little voile bags to tie over her grapes.
I’ve considered doing that, Jo – at least with a few of them.
I’m with you about the eclipse–whatever natural curiosity I might have felt about the phenomenon has been totally destroyed by the hoopla-in-advance…I’d rather watch a flicker steal grapes-
which are sweet–unlike my sour grapes about EVERY piece of interesting news being ballyhooed to death ………
“I’d rather watch a flicker steal grapes”
I would too, Kris. It would be another story though if I could experience totality without the crowds and hassle but for me that price is just too steep.
For me it is enough just to be alive and present when this event happens, don’t need, want or care for all the hype!! From an old grouch!
Well said, Dick (from another old curmudgeon…).
The idea of dropping even accidentally a 500mm lens over the edge of the Grand Canyon speeds up my blood pressure. I hate crowds but not that much.
Fortunately from where I live we will only see 25% of the eclipse, so no madness is expected.
Too bad for the grapes but I like the little thieve…
I like that bandit too, Jorge. I haven’t seen her at the grapes lately but I hope to.
Great shots Ron. However, I think you have a graded Northern Flicker. Northern (Yellow-shafted) Flicker should have a tan face and gray crown. Northern (Red-shafted) Flicker have a gray face and brown crown. This (your) flicker has partial gray face and partial brown crown. Plus, it looks to me as tho the tail has a hint of red/pink shafts to the feathers even though the primaries show a yellow shaft.
Interesting, I feel the same way about our blueberries!! VBG!
Interesting observation about the flicker, Dick. I hadn’t noticed what you mention and I believe you may be right. Thanks for pointing it out!
P.S. Whatever we get here will have to do for the eclipse – not getting me out with the herds either!
Glad you captured one of your thieves! 🙂 We have buffalo berries and chokecherries in the vicinity and flocks of blackbirds and others will come through and strip them clean in short order some years leaving little for the waxwings that are around in the winter to clean up those and ornamental crab apples that haven’t fallen and the “darlin’ deer” haven’t claimed along with other “tidbits” from my flower garden…. Robins claimed the pie cherries much earlier……….. Deer remember year to year and bring the bambi’s in to learn. They’re short this year due to fire blight claiming some crab apple and a regular apple tree.
Judy, I suspect robins to be the primary culprits. We have lots of them in the area but I’ve yet to catch one of them in the act.