Red-bellied Woodpecker eating greenbrier berries along the Little Miami River...

Winging it across the Little Miami River in its distinctive undulating flight, the Red-bellied Woodpecker was recognizable before she announced herself with her loud, rolling call. She seemed to be flying with a particular destination in mind, and I soon found out why as she landed in a tangle of vines covered with plump blue berries where she immediately started devouring them in quick gulps. I’m not sure what species this berry is, but I assume it is some form of Smilax (Greenbrier) berry.

The female Red-bellied Woodpecker wasted no time plucking off one berry at a time and swallowing them whole.

She had such a taste for these berries she was not bothered at all when a loud group of cyclists whizzed past. She almost tolerated a couple of roller bladers too, but fled to the other side of the river in fright as they drew near.

On my way back, I found her once again in the tree, munching on the fat, plump berries.

Unfortunately, just as I went to photograph her on my return walk, I got the old "nothing" click because the card was full. Rats! Normally I have a back-up card, but Sunday was my first time out in the woods since the Swine, and I was a little fuzzy and forgot to bring extra cards. It will be interesting to go back in a few days and see how many of the berries remain (and maybe catch her lurking around looking for more).

p.s.
We had another new yard bird today!
I was in the kitchen working, when I heard the faintest sweet peep out the kitchen window. It was 47 degrees outside, but if I can stand it, I have that window open so I can hear the birds outside. I froze and listened, because it was a new “yard” sound. Soon it came again, and there was no mistaking it….a Golden-crowned Kinglet. The tiny little sprite hopped from branch to branch in the ornamental plum tree just outside my kitchen window. Magic… That’s three new yard birds in as many weeks, a Blackburnian Warbler, a Red-breasted Nuthatch…and now a Golden-crowned Kinglet. Yeah!!

How to make your own ceramic pottery bird feeder out of clay!

Almost every Thursday evening for the past ten years I've been going to the "It's Just Mud" Pottery Studio where I throw pots and bowls and hand-build cool things out of clay. Since I love birds, you can imagine a lot of my designs center around them. About a month ago, I designed this little bird feeder with chickadees in mind. Since it's so cute and easy to make, I thought I would photograph the process so you can make one too. ANYONE can do it--you don't need to be an artist or a potter. All you need to do is find a local pottery studio with a teacher who can supply you with the clay, the glazes...and a kiln! (If you're near Cincinnati, call Pam Ives at the "It's Just Mud" Pottery Studio for studio hours and class information, 513-887-2657. Pam is a master potter and wonderful teacher. You will have fun at her studio!)

Bird feeders can be functional works of art.

My cute little feeder is easy to make...give it try!

How to Make a Ceramic

Pottery Bird Feeder out of Clay

Step 1: Grab the clay!

Start with a nice-sized lump of clay. High fire or low fire, it doesn't matter. Your teacher can help you pick out the best clay.
Step 2: Create the shapes.

If you can roll out a meatball, you can make a bird feeder out of clay! The shapes are easy to form...a little ball for the head, a big ball for the body, and a roll for the tail.

Step 3: Score the clay.

When you attach one piece of clay to another, you must "score" the surface first. To score the surface, you just rough it up using a clay needle or pencil. Both surfaces need to be scored.

Step 4: Attach the tail.

After scoring, you dab water onto the score marks and then stick the two pieces together. Once they are stuck together, form the tail. You do that by using your finger to drag the clay from the end of the tail toward the ball. Use both hands at this time. One to support the tail from falling off and the other to drag the clay. The more clay you move from the tail to the ball, the more stable the tail becomes. In the photo above, Pam (my teacher) is our lovely model. You can see how she is dragging her finger from the tip of the tail toward the body. This is the hardest part. You have to move a good deal of clay!

Step 5: Score and attach the head.

If you notice, both the tail and the head are attached fairly high on the ball. This makes for a cuter bird, but it also makes it easier to attach the clay.

Step 6: Add a collar and smooth in the head.

Roll out a small noodle and wrap it around the top of the bird's head. It helps form the bird's neck. You use the same technique to attach the head as you did the tail...simply drag the clay from the head to the body with your finger.

Step 7: Add the bill.

Isn't this this cutest little bill? It's so easy to make. Form a small cone, score it, dab it with water...and squish it on! Voila a cute, cute bill.

Step 8: Check your form.

Here is what the bird feeder looks like head on. He's a nice fat bird, and that's what we want. That will leave plenty of room for seeds.

Step 9: Cut out a wing pattern.

You can use this photo as your pattern, or you can create your own. Once you cut it out, stick it on the clay.

Step 10: Trace the wing pattern.

Use the needle tool to trace the pattern on both sides of the bird.

Step 11: Hollow it out!

This is the fun part. Get the clay loop out and scoop, scoop, scoop! You will be surprised how much clay you have to remove. When you get about halfway through, move to the other side and scoop until you can see all the way through! You also should be scooping some of the clay from the top. Clay is very heavy and we want to get rid of some of that upper weight.

Step 12: Refine.

Once you're hollowed out, go back and scoop some more. Be careful you don't scoop through the bottom, though. This is a tricky stage. You want to be careful, but not too careful. This is a tiny feeder meant to attract chickadees, but you want to be able to get more than just a small handful of seed in there!

Step 13. Smooth out.

Take a wet sponge and smooth out all the hard lines. Scooping with the metal loop leaves a mess. You want to smooth everything out. You can also shape a little, making sure both sides look pretty close (but that really doesn't matter...).

Step 14: Stand back and admire!

Does your bird look like a bird? Is he nice and smooth and even? If you notice any imperfections you can fix them now.

Step 15: Stuff that bird!

Sounds like Thanksgiving doesn't it? But we're not stuffing this guy with breadcrumbs. Get out plastic (dry cleaning bags are great) and stuff the bird. Clay is pretty heavy and we've hollowed out the middle, disturbing the structural integrity of the form. The plastic will keep the head and tail from weighing down and closing up the hole before it dries.

Step 16: Wait...

It can take up to two weeks for the clay to completely dry, then your teacher will fire your piece. When it comes out, you can glaze it. Your teacher will then fire it again, and it will come out ready for use! Making ceramic pottery bird feeders is a very s-l-o-w process!

Yes...the chickadees love this feeder.

It's nice and small and just their size, but I can't

guarantee they will be the only creatures using it!!!

I hope you find a studio, get out and make this cute feeder. You will have so much fun. Just print out this post, take it with you, show your teacher, and go to town! It makes a great gift too. I've created lots of bird feeder designs over the years. I'll continue to post more "How to make ceramic pottery bird feeders..." over time. I have some really, really cool things for you to make!!! Have fun and get dirty (make sure you wear your old cloths to the studio!).

Happy Halloween!

My two nieces, Sarah and Alyssa, live in Munich, Germany. Halloween is a little new for them, so Matty thought they would like to see some of our Halloween decorations. Hallo Sarah and Alyssa! Here is how we decorate for Halloween...and of course, what would Halloween be without Bip, the Best Halloween Cat Ever!

Bip, our Cornish Rex Cat.

Boo!

Bip the Halloween Cat is such a ham for the camera...

That was inside, now for a little outside. These are our pumpkins from last year on Halloween Night! They look scary, but they are just hollowed out pumpkins with candles inside. So much fun to do! We are going to hollow out and cut our pumpkins this afternoon for tonight--Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

The new "hamster" ball feeder strikes again!

...today (in between coughing and sleeping) I looked out the window to see a Red-breasted Nuthatch take a seed from the feeder. At first I thought I was mistaken, but he returned about 30 seconds later. We've lived in our home for ten years, and we've never had a Red-breasted Nuthatch in our yard before--that feeder is good!

I never thought a Red-breasted Nuthatch would show up in our yard, so I was really happy when I saw him fly up to the feeder! Two new yard birds in less than two weeks...

He would fly to the hanging planter and check out the hamster ball....

...then pop up to the rod for another look...

...then he would nab a seed and be gone. He has to be one of the flightiest birds I've seen at the feeder. He would take his seed and fly to the half-dead willow tree to hatch it out.

These aren't the best photos, but as record shots, they work. Yesterday, I spotted our first Dark-eyed Junco for the year (Rick and I always have a contest...I won this year!!), and the day before, our first White-crowned Sparrow flew in too. Our winter visitors are arriving!

Red-bellied Woodpecker on our new round feeder ball...

This is the best new feeder ever! Within days of hanging it, the chickadees, titmice, nuthatches and woodpeckers had become regulars. The Blue Jays haven't been able to use it, which makes me think the Starlings might not be able to either. So far, none have shown up.

Such a beautiful bird...it's a lot of fun to watch him swoop in, hang upside down, and then "drop" and fly to the big Ash tree to eat or stash his food.

I've hung it from a rod off the deck, so the ball is about 10 feet from the living room window...perfect viewing. This is the only feeder that has ever lured the Red-bellied so close to the house (on a regular basis).

When I saw this in the store, I assumed the people who made hamster exercise balls were venturing out into bird feeders. It was so cute, I had to give it a try! Thanks, Mary for carrying such a cool feeder at your store!

I always love seeing that blush of red on his belly. From a distance, you can barely see it, up close it's like someone ran a paintbrush loaded with Merlot over those feathers!

If you're in Cincinnati, and you're looking for the "Hamster" feeder, head over to the Wild Bird Center of Mason in the Deerfield Towne Center. Mary will fix you up!

Click here for older Red-bellied Woodpecker posts if you like looking at red-bellies!

(The Wrath of the Swine comes and goes. I did a lot of sleeping today again. Thank goodness for Tylenol and Advil...)

Watching those antenna

I enjoyed the time I spent watching this grasshopper on an afternoon in August. He was very active, but most active were his antenna. They were constantly moving....down, middle, up. Antenna do so much, no wonder he never stopped moving them. Antenna can sense odor, humidity, vibration, wind velocity and direction (found on this site). We're not positive, but we think this guy looks a lot like a Red-legged Locust (Melanoplus femur-rubrum)--also know as a Red-legged Grasshopper.

Here they are down.....touching the flower head.

...then they started moving up.

...all the way up. It was fun to watch him eat (I think that's what he was doing). Can you see how his front leg is putting something in his mouth. He did this over and over. I assume he was grabbing part of the flower to eat. I don't know, though, and I didn't have the energy to research. I'll look into that later. He also would use his front leg to run over his antenna--like a kitty running his paw over his ear! It was very interesting to watch...

...now they are down! Does anyone know what those little red things are? He (or she) had them on both sides.

Thanks, Steve for letting me know the red things are mites. In Steve's own words: "There are several species of mites that can be found on grasshoppers. Some are actually parasites and others are just hitching a ride to a new location."

...back up!

The Beauty and Geometry of the Grasshopper

While studying a grasshopper in late August at VOA park, I was amazed at his (or her) beauty. I don't know much about grasshoppers, but I learned to appreciate their beauty and perfect geometry that afternoon.

As I was studying the herringbone pattern on this Red-legged Grasshopper's back leg, I couldn't help but feel a sense of geometry. Parallel lines in the segmented abdomen added to the geometric feel--even the wings when folded together formed a triangle.

...moving to the head, his or her compound eyes are made of hundreds of hexagonal facets, and the segmented antenna contain more parallel lines.

...even in the center of his face, three ocelli form a perfect triangle (the ocelli are simple eyes that detect light intensity and may help flying insects find sea level for flight stability). Perfectly made, the insect really opened my eyes to the symmetry and geometry that usually went unnoticed around me.

On The Grasshopper And Cricket

By John Keats

The poetry of earth is never dead:


When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,


And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run


From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead:


That is the grasshopper's -- he takes the lead


In summer luxury, -- he has never done


With his delights, for when tired out with fun,


He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed.


The poetry of earth is ceasing never:


On a lone winter evening, when the frost


Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills


The Cricket's song, in warmth increasing ever,


And seems to one in drowsiness half lost,


The Grasshopper's among some grassy hills.

December 30, 1816