Date: 8 April 2015.
Barn Swallows (Kindle critique)
Living on the water in a small boat allows me the
privilege of enjoying wildlife just outside my home. Laughing Gulls
are known for their noisy chatter and some seem to have found the
piling right by my forward hatch a perfect hang-out. Argh!

You do not know the definition of
LOUD until those critters take up their cackling. It's enough to
wake me up some mornings. Believe you me, I'm much nicer when I
gradually come to life.
Laughing gulls mock my desire
for sleep. I'm not a morning person. By nature, I'm a night
owl. They however seem to love dawn. I wonder if they could be the
roosters of the waterfront?!?
It's okay though. There's
caffeine in my galley and I'm ready for the world after an
infusion of brew.
Of late however, there's a new bird in town. For
such a tiny bit of feathers, these little swallows can make a
racket.
This fellow that took up residence
on my bow rail after a bit of rain:

I'm a firm believer that the
Kindle is one of the best inventions on the planet for me. Plus it's
is like Star Trek... imagine having five hundred books with you at
all times?!? Life does not get much better. But for identifying
birds sitting on my bow rail, a Kindle leaves a lot to be desired.
There
are times when a Kindle simply won't work, at least not for me. |
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Even though I'm a firm advocate
of owning and using a
Kindle,
when it comes to identifying birds you need a real book. Now a
friend who passed along the
Birds of North America
book to me said what I really needed was the
National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Birds of North America .
I've not personally ever seen that one, but respect her opinion.
As a boater you may be like me and wish to learn about the
wildlife seen out here. Having reference books aboard makes a big
difference in my happiness quotient.
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Side Note about the
Kindle: Aboard Seaweed I recharge
my
Kindle via a male cigarette lighter with a USB port. I've got a
few of the gizmos and use them regularly. They are faster than
plugging into the unused one on my computer.
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If yours has more than one USB port, one of those
two will usually be a higher powered outlet. I've marked mine
with red nail polish.
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As for my little mouthy friend, I found her on the swallows page.
She's a barn swallow. When the book says "Song, long and twittering"
I can attest to the accuracy of that without a doubt. I'd add the
word loud as well!

And of late I'm seeing the little
tweeters flying under the dock right behind my boat. I suspect
there's a nest hidden down there. Soon enough there will be more
swallows, and that is a wonderful thing.
Anything that east mosquitoes is a
good thing in my book. Except bats. Bats in the boat are not much fun
at all. For details on that fiasco, see the
Going Batty
article.
Life is good afloat. It's a bit noisy right now too,
but that's life on the waterfront.
Have you ever had barn swallows take up residence near
you?
What is your noisiest neighborhood bird?
COMMENTS:
Categories: Books,
Entertainment, Vignettes,
Wild Things
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