Sere 'n Geti

Many many years ago in a land far far away there lived a lonely spider. Sere was his name. He spent his days waiting and waiting. Waiting hungrily under the hot sun hoping for a dizzy fly to come by. 

Now, Sere was an intelligent spider and he tried many tricks and moved to many spots always hoping for a dizzy fly: tree tops and rock cracks, earth mounds and shrub leaves, but no flies came by and he grew hungrier and hungrier.

The land was arid and the sun was hot and Sere did not like to sit under the burning sun. But the land Sere had known his lifelong only knew sun and so Sere looked for shade wherever he could.

One day as he crouched and waited he started wondering if there was anything other than sun, perhaps in another land. Something that brought coolness like the night did. And the more he thought the more he grew convinced that there must be. Rain he called it. But as he named it he also realized that if this rain would always fall he, Sere the fly-spider, would be even hungrier because dizzy flies don't fly when it rains.

"Hmmm", he thought, "if I could eat grass and have long legs to jump from one leaf of grass to the other then I would be a happy jumpy spider."

That day when the sun disappeared behind the horizon and Sere fell asleep, rain began to fall and wet the land and the land began to change. Grass began to grow where there had been only dust. And Sere too began to change - his legs, his eyes, his body.

The morning came and as Sere woke up he smelt the wet earth and crawling hungrily from under the rocks he looked around - he was in the midst of a sea of green! He was hungry and began to eat when all of a sudden he realized that he, a fly-spider, was eating grass! He stopped chewing, a little leaf hanging from his  jaw, examined himself and spitting out the little leaf he cried "I have lost two legs!". Panic seized him and up he jumped! Higher and higher he rose and then faster and faster he fell. "Help" he screamed - but then nothing happened. He was safe on another leaf of grass, close to a grasshopper.

"I have lost two legs!" he screamed at the grasshopper.

"No you haven't", replied the grasshopper.

"But I should have eight legs!", cried Sere.

"You've been eating too much weed" replied the grasshopper, "spiders have eight legs and you're a grasshopper. Now let me be, I'm hungry." And with that the grasshopper jumped away.

A grasshopper? I'm a grasshopper? Sere looked again at himself and indeed he was a grasshopper. A grasshopper! "I need a new name" he thought, "Hmmm...Geti, yes! I will be Geti the grasshopper!"

And so it came to be that in the land of endless sun and endless rain, with each change of season, Sere the spider became Geti the grasshopper and the land came to be known as Sere 'n Geti.

Tanzania...

A week after first light

A week has passed since the hatchlings have "seen" first light (they actually hatch with closed eyes). I was away the whole week and upon my return I was delighted to discover that the chirping from the nesting box has significantly increased.  From the live-feed I can distinguish 4 or 5, which is not very many given that Blue Tits generally lay in the order of 10 eggs.

I love to just sit outside and watch as the busy parents fly in and out and to hear an outburst of high-pitched chirping every time. 

I love it so much that I sometime sneak up to the nesting box and tap gently on it to trigger those hungry music boxes.

Today, as I was looking at the live stream I was trying to determine whether I will be home when they leave the nest in approximately two weeks. I might be lucky. It truly is the best part of it all: to see the little ones leave the nest. 

And it is nice and amazing how it is all more or less pre-programmed. This in turn gives it all an irrefutable sense of certainty, equally justified and unjustified. The uninvolved observer. The bird's eye view.

Today I was told that at my age life is good. As the lovely person that was telling me is more than a few years older, I for a second wondered if those words spoken to me were triggered by the same “bird's eye view” and associated tranquillity. 

To have both, to master both youth and this irrefutably experience-given, though not necessarily legitimate, tranquillity while pushing beyond all experience-conceived boundaries…… to master youth of the mind knowing that it will never abandon you and thus achieve the tranquillity necessary to do exactly that which is necessary at the precise moment when it is needed…. 

...a challenge for all ages alike.

Life outside of the eggshells has begun...

The eggs have hatched!

This morning I peeked at the video and noticed the female leaving. Shortly afterwards the male came in with a tiny tiny worm in its beak.

How did I figure out it was the male? Because he behaved like all males when the eggs have just hatched and they have to interact with the hatchlings for the first time. It is really amazing and amusing. The behavioral change of the males over the first few days after hatching is truly fascinating.

Generally, early after hatching, the female spends most of the day warming the small hatchlings (they have no way of controlling their temperature and keeping warm), so when the male comes in, he gives her the food he has brought in for the hatchlings and she then proceeds to feed them.

So, when, for the first time the male comes in and there is no female, the male is taken aback and looks like he does not quite know what to do. After a few seconds of hesitation and puzzlement, he approaches the nest and feeds the hatchlings himself.

Gradually the male gets used to interacting with the hatchlings himself: calls to them to let them know that he is there with food and up pop the big heads with beaks wide open.

And after he has done this a couple of times he is then reluctant to give the food to the female and wants to feed the hatchlings himself. This is what I have observed in the last couple of years.

And it fascinates me every time.

Super Partes Interventionism

I’m still trying to figure out if “super partes interventionism” is an oxymoron or not.

Where does it come from? Well, I invented it. Not in absolute terms, but I just came up with it for myself.

I arrived home last night to find three cats in my garden. A gray one, an orange one, and the black one. The black one. He is one special fellow. To me he is anyway. It is a pleasure to be greeted by him. The instant he sees me, he stops all activity, and with his tail straight up in the air, he runs towards me meowing quite incessantly, to then throw himself at my feet belly in the air so that I may stoop down and pet him. And as I gently caress him, he closes his eyes and remains quite still, closes his paws and looks like he could fall asleep any instant. What fascinates me is that I don’t feed him.

I used to have a black cat when I was a child, and she was very much the same. She was at my grandmother’s place and whenever I used to visit and she heard my name being called, she would suddenly appear from out of nowhere and rush into the house so that child and cat could indulge in a captivated and silent exchange of affection.

Anyway, I obviously have a dilemma: cat love on the one side - bird protection on the other. And the two just don’t mix. Uhm.

The dilemma is not acute right this moment. The female Blue Tit is still brooding, so there is not much visible activity going on. Inside the box she sits there, turns the eyes at regular intervals, changes position. But it is all very silent. It all passes very much unobserved even for the most attentive of cat eyes.

The question is what happens when things start “living”.

I will need to find a solution. Protect the nest somehow from the outside.

Happiness in shades of blue....

Ok, so I did not post in, well.....absolutely ages and my last attempt was a teaser really, cos I never followed through. 

Yes, I've been busy – own choice of course. And it's been a fantastic year of wonderful new experiences. Not sure I could ever describe in words what it’s been like. It's been inspirational and adventurous, inebriating and challenging on so many levels….and I’ve loved every minute of it….the incredible highs and the few lows. Lows, which, however, I must say can only be called “low” because the highs have been so intoxicatingly high. Let me just say: I have been lucky in all possible ways, and so I have seized the day, the hour, the minute,… because, well who know how long things last….I am one immensly lucky happy bunny.

That is the best description I can provide for what has kept me away from birdies and the likes. 

But the birdies have not let me down, and again I have visitors this year. 

In the old wood-concrete box (better for so many reasons admittedly) it’s Blue Tits. The female is brooding. I have no idea how many eggs there are. It’s difficult to see as the nest is not a Blue Tit one, but rather one of Eurasian Tree Sparrows. The Eurasian Tree Sparrows probably gave up after they realised that the 4-legged-enemy-density has grown exponentially since last year. Yes, I am talking about cats. Unfortunately there is not much I can do.

I have not seen the male Blue Tit come to feed the female yet. Hopefully they will both survive the new unwanted (by me) perils of my garden. 

Even this aspect of life and its unstoppable drive fascinates me beyond description:
Two little tiny blue and yellow birdies, 12.5 grams at most, against a horde of feline well-fed, down right fat, predatorial-out-of-boredom killers. And yet, they come and breed, bring me joy, and life continues hopeful, full of energy, and chirpy - beautiful in its ferocious drive and in its complex simplicity.

My new nesting box remains untouched by birds. I guess I will have to start building wood-concrete nests if this trend continues….which is a real shame, as I am kind of optimising my design for ease of access, for camera replacements, etc. Oh well!

Instead, there is a little hornet’s nest in it. Last year the hornets were killed by some kind of bird. I hope this year brings better luck. I’d love to contribute to keeping the species going.

Please don't begrudge me if I never post again ;-)

I promise to do my best to share what is next to come. Life for our two little friends and the even more little ones to come will not be an easy one.

New Year - New Energy?

The year 2014 has begun. Obvious really. But will the year 2014 bring new life to my project? Last year I spent hours, days, months, desperately trying to complete a nesting box which I installed in spring. It was a beautiful project as I was kept busy with both the power supply aspects as well as the construction aspects of the nesting box. It was my first "tailor" made wooden nesting box. I even made a video about it:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTiWuhEVbcd_uZkz0o3AthQ

In 2013, for some reason I did not feel like posting. This year I might just indulge again if birds come to nest. But before I do that I have decided that I will build yet another nesting box. It will be a better version of the one I built in 2013. Better because, hopefully it will be easier to handle - open, close - should problems arise during the nesting season. At some point I would like to have a construction that allows quick inspection and repairs and a construction the birds are happy with. All the while having an independent power supply which does not bother the bird. So here is my current version:

Oh and btw. the images that are posted to the right are images from my bee box....yes I have bees now too!

http://derbien.blogspot.it/

2012: Will Bird History Repeat Itself?

Here we are again, a new year, a new spring, hopefully no new territorial fights.
I fear that bird history too has a tendency to repeat itself. Great Tits vs. Eurasian Tree Sparrows.

But let me go back in time in bird history....

I removed the Sparrows' nest not too long ago. The delay due to our very long holiday. Sparrows had obviously visted the nest and I decided, for fear of parasites, to remove it. And so I did. Sparrows visited the nest again. I cannot say for certain if it was the female or the male, but if the past few years of bird-watching have taught me something, then we could continue bird history on the assumption that it was the male Sparrow. I never saw the two birds together in the nesting box. But the male brought twigs inside the box and called insistingly to the female. This happened on Tuesday and ever since Sparrow visits and sightings have been reduced in number.
At the same time, Great Tits have been visiting the nest: the male jumping in, calling to the female and flying out once she has entered.

Some of you may recall: last year the Great Tit female had being building since about 4-5 days when Eurasian Tree Sparrows decided they wanted the nest. Sparrows are no match for the Great Tits and thus, after a quite violent fight, the Great Tits were forced to retreat. They did not give up the nest so easily, returning every day to check, but the Sparrows would not give way.

So will bird history repeat itself. I sincerily hope not. I enjoyed observing the dynamics of Sparrow nest-building, brooding, feeding, etc. but I would like to have a chance of re-observing these same phases with the Great Tits. The differences between the species is immense and fascinating.

I have only one other nesting box (NB-4) this year in my garden. The opening hole is 28mm in diameter. I had hoped for Blue Tits, but so far no sign of them. If no Blue Tits show any interest, and if bird history is to repeat itself, then I will change the front covering of NB-4 to one with a 32mm hole and thus hopefully have a fall-back nesting box for the Great Tits.

Here is the happy couple:



The male is quite diligent and has already fed the female while she was busy building the nest.

Side note: I am designing my very own self-sustaining nesting box (I will talk in more detail about it as I go), and am considering having a 30mm entrance hole. I wonder if that is small enough to allow Great Tits to enter but to stop Sparrows from entering.