Sometimes the slow ones are the lucky ones.
[saveagrey]
by James Brush
Tag: phoebe
They only look blurry because… well, they’re greyhounds. And they’re fast.
This week, I’ve been teaching the old blog new tricks and we now have the capacity to let the pups tell their own story. Phoebe does most of the narration while Joey huffs and puffs bounces around in the background. Here’s Phoebe telling me about her day:
Since this is our first attempt at audio blogging, let me know if it doesn’t work.
[saveagrey]
can you call it fun
if no one ever gets hurt?
RED CUTS ON WHITE FUR
if no one ever gets hurt,
can you call it fun?
—
This is for my rough-and-tumble greyhound Phoebe. She’s always got a cut or a scrape or a bloody appendage. It’s all fun and games even when she gets hurt. We’re pretty sure she thinks that’s half the fun.
If you’re interested in the form of the poem, it’s a NaisaiKu and it was written for Week 3 of the NaisaiKu… Challenge.
[saveagrey]
A grey is mostly made of legs.
[saveagrey]
We hope it was tasty.
Whatever it was.
[saveagrey]
The hounds in action this week. It must be dinnertime.
You can tell who is hungrier, I’m sure.
[saveagrey]
MWAAAHAHAHAHAHA
Presenting the fearsome Capt. Adm. Jack-O-Lantern Joe…
And Phoebe, the (not really all that) Wicked Witch of the Backyard…
Beware all who dare come begging for treats at this door!
MWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
[saveagrey]
I saw this bird on my walk the other day. It looked like a flycatcher, and something told me it was an Eastern Phoebe, though I wasn’t certain.
According to my Sibley guide, the Eastern Phoebe is a 7-inch bird. I compare everything to the Northern Mockingbird to judge size since I see them all the time and they’re a handy 10-inches or so, thus half the size of a mockingbird is roughly 5 inches.
As I was watching the suspected phoebe, a mocker conveniently landed a few feet away, and I could clearly see that he was about 2-3 inches longer. After studying the picture I took and comparing it to other pictures online, I’m pretty sure that this is the Eastern Phoebe, which isn’t really all that exciting since they’re pretty common birds, but it’s nice to know what I’m looking at.
While searching around, I stumbled upon these bloggers who also found themselves confronted with the Eastern Phoebe and a bit of uncertainty: Nature Tales and Camera Trails, Birding Girl, and At the Water. Their pictures helped my with my ID, which I hope is right. I also discovered SE Texas Wildlife, which didn’t have a picture of the Eastern Phoebe, but still looks like a cool blog to explore.
Much easier for me to identify is the Western Spotted Couch Phoebe, caught here in her natural habitat:
I have no idea what Phoebe ate. Probably bird seed or a peanut. One of these days she’ll come in all innocent-eyed, curl up on the couch, and burp feathers or a squirrel tail.
[saveagrey]