The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge. We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns.
We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below.
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July 2019
Pacific Northwest
Pine Siskins (Spinus pinus) are tiny busy finches with sharp little beaks. Their size belies their boldness and enterprise. If you’ve ever seen one displace a bird twice its size at a birdfeeder, by flapping and lunging vigorously, you know what I mean.
I saw a couple on the driveway gleaning minuscule seeds there one day.
Then one performed an acrobatic that would have been like me leaping onto a giant artichoke stem, wrestling it to the ground and turning it into dinner, all in a few seconds.
It looked up, leapt onto a dandelion stem, used its weight to bow it to the ground and stood on it while dispatching the individual seeds, flicking away the parachutes one after the next.
Keep in mind this bird weighs about half an ounce. Pretty impressive!
You can see how quick it turned that dandelion into a meal.
Pretty clever wouldn’t you say?
Pine Siskins come and go. Sometimes I won’t see them for most of the year, and then a flock comes through. This has been a moderately good year for them here.
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Mostly sunny this morning in the PNW islands. Daytime temp running around 70° these days, nighttime in the 50s. Saw meteors last night.
What’s the nature news in your neighborhood?
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