{"id":112,"date":"2007-10-03T21:09:00","date_gmt":"2007-10-04T02:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/birdingnotes.sigridsanders.com\/?p=112"},"modified":"2007-10-03T21:09:00","modified_gmt":"2007-10-04T02:09:00","slug":"you-cant-always-get-what-you-want","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/birdingnotes.sigridsanders.com\/?p=112","title":{"rendered":"You Can’t Always Get What You Want . . ."},"content":{"rendered":"

A Katydid Caught in an Orb-web Spider\u2019s Grasp
<\/span>
Outside our kitchen window this morning, in the remnants of a web spun across the corner, a large orb-web spider held an even larger green katydid in her grasp. She seemed to be trying to chew away the silk in which it was entangled, to release it rather than to wrap it up. Most of the carefully constructed web had been demolished, maybe torn up by the katydid\u2019s wings. Later, I found the corpse of the katydid on the window ledge below, partly chewed up, but lovely green wings intact. No sign of the spider or her web.<\/p>\n

A Young Black Rat Snake Lost<\/span><\/p>\n

Also this morning \u2013 a deeply cloudy, warm, humid day \u2013 we found a small, slender gray snake with dark splotchy markings lying dead just outside our garage door. A discarded snakeskin lay in the pine needles under a nearby bush. Ants had formed a trail to a spot near the end of the snake\u2019s very thin tail. The head looked triangular, but the cloudy eyes appeared very round \u2013 not the vertical slits of a pit viper \u2013 and I could see no sign of rattles or a button on the tail. It was almost certainly a very young Black Rat Snake, which isn\u2019t surprising because several times we\u2019ve seen large Black Rat Snakes around the same area of our yard. We\u2019re happy to have them around because they\u2019re not venomous and they eat rodents and insects \u2013 on the other hand, they also eat small birds. It wasn\u2019t clear what had killed it, though it must have been vulnerable just after leaving its old skin.<\/p>\n

No Red-breasted Nuthatch \u2013 but an Eastern Wood Pewee and a Pileated Woodpecker
<\/span>
Meanwhile, around the feeders in the front yard, I was watching out for a Red-breasted Nuthatch because there\u2019ve been many reports of sightings this fall \u2013 including a call from my sister, Janet, in Charlotte, NC, this morning saying she had seen one in her birdbath. She described it perfectly \u2013 a small, quick bird with a bluish back, stubby tail and distinctive bright white stripe over the eye. So far, I haven\u2019t been so lucky. Around our bird baths and feeders were only the ubiquitous Titmice, Chickadees, Downy Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, and Carolina Wren, and a Mockingbird that seems to like the fruit, nut and seed mixture I\u2019ve put out recently. Three Mourning Doves pecked under the feeders. Our resident pair of Brown-headed Nuthatches stopped by for a while, and a pair of Brown Thrashers fed in the grass on the edge of the driveway. A Phoebe hunted from perches on our mailbox and in low branches. A Pine Warbler sang in the woods nearby.<\/p>\n

Then \u2013 like a small consolation prize for not seeing any Red-breasted Nuthatches \u2013 or maybe as a reminder to appreciate what\u2019s here instead of looking for something else \u2013 an Eastern Wood Pewee swooped in low and landed on the branch of a pecan tree. It flew from there all around the front yard, not staying long in any one spot, and was mostly quiet, but paused in another low branch close enough and long enough for me to see it well \u2013 and for it to sigh a brief, soft wee-oo<\/span>. <\/p>\n

A few minutes later I heard the bugling call of a Pileated Woodpecker, and then saw it as it flew across our yard \u2013 a large black bird with a rolling flight pattern, flying low, flashing white \u2013 to an oak at the corner of our property. I could just barely see its flaming red crest and imperious profile through the branches of the other trees, but it stayed around in the same general area for at least half an hour, frequently clucking or calling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Katydid Caught in an Orb-web Spider\u2019s GraspOutside our kitchen window this morning, in the remnants of a web spun across the corner, a large orb-web spider held an even larger green katydid in her grasp. She seemed to be trying to chew away the silk in which it was entangled, to release it rather […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/birdingnotes.sigridsanders.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/birdingnotes.sigridsanders.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/birdingnotes.sigridsanders.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/birdingnotes.sigridsanders.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/birdingnotes.sigridsanders.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/birdingnotes.sigridsanders.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/birdingnotes.sigridsanders.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/birdingnotes.sigridsanders.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/birdingnotes.sigridsanders.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}