Tuesday, April 19, 2005
The cactus wrens are reclaiming my yard from the curve-billed thrashers.
Ten years ago, when I bought this house, there was a breeding pair of cactus wrens in the big palm tree out front. They and their broods were saucy; when I was ripping out the burmuda grass back yard, they loved to bathe in the pools of dust that the procedure produced, and stood nearby scolding me whenever I worked in their bathing area. One year, when Mesa suffered a plague of grashoppers, they raised four fat chicks to adulthood, stuffing them with grasshoppers. One spring, however, I got a pair of curve-billed thrashers in the back yard, and that was that. They drive out cactus wrens - look like they outweigh them too. Although I enjoyed the thrashers, I've missed my wrens all these years. I'd heard thrashers were mountain-habitat birds driven down to the Valley by drought, and it seems that's true, because this spring the thrashers have vanished, and I've been hearing the distinctive racket of a wren.
This morning I had the back door open and heard a hell of a racket on the patio. There was a cactus wren on one of the chairs, telling off a toehe while the cats watched through the screen. Pleaseblossom's tail was poofed like a bottle brush! I'm hoping this guy sticks around and attracts a mate.
-----------------
Over the weekend I finished up the arrangement on You Need a Friend, then went back and did some more work on the Overture, adding parts for electric bass and Native American flute, and cleaning up the dynamic markings overall. I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. (Instant playback in Sibelius is a wonderful feature.) Also did a little tweaking to the piano part for A Mask and a Mirror, now that I've had time to practice it on an actual keyboard.
0 comments
Ten years ago, when I bought this house, there was a breeding pair of cactus wrens in the big palm tree out front. They and their broods were saucy; when I was ripping out the burmuda grass back yard, they loved to bathe in the pools of dust that the procedure produced, and stood nearby scolding me whenever I worked in their bathing area. One year, when Mesa suffered a plague of grashoppers, they raised four fat chicks to adulthood, stuffing them with grasshoppers. One spring, however, I got a pair of curve-billed thrashers in the back yard, and that was that. They drive out cactus wrens - look like they outweigh them too. Although I enjoyed the thrashers, I've missed my wrens all these years. I'd heard thrashers were mountain-habitat birds driven down to the Valley by drought, and it seems that's true, because this spring the thrashers have vanished, and I've been hearing the distinctive racket of a wren.
This morning I had the back door open and heard a hell of a racket on the patio. There was a cactus wren on one of the chairs, telling off a toehe while the cats watched through the screen. Pleaseblossom's tail was poofed like a bottle brush! I'm hoping this guy sticks around and attracts a mate.
-----------------
Over the weekend I finished up the arrangement on You Need a Friend, then went back and did some more work on the Overture, adding parts for electric bass and Native American flute, and cleaning up the dynamic markings overall. I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. (Instant playback in Sibelius is a wonderful feature.) Also did a little tweaking to the piano part for A Mask and a Mirror, now that I've had time to practice it on an actual keyboard.
0 comments
0 Comments:
