Friday, February 22, 2008

Winter Greens and Bird Behavior

Today I found out that the Wyoming Farmer's Market has a few items available even in mid-winter. The market sells locally produced goods and food and they've arranged a pre-order and drop-off system for the off season. I ordered a beeswax candle, some soap and hand salve, as well as arugula and corn mache. I know I've had arugula in salads before, but I've never purchased it separately. I've never had corn mache to the best of my knowledge. I have a couple of days to learn about both of these greens before I bring them home.

Oh look, I found a lovely recipe for an arugula salad and I just happen to have most of the ingredients on hand. Perfect.

After placing my order for the farmer's market, I happened to witness some fascinating bird behavior, although I'm rather ashamed to say it was on America's Funniest Home Videos. I tried to find it on YouTube; no luck on the original but the following video shows the same actions. The Green Heron drops bits of bread in the water as bait to lure fish into striking range:



It's not the only bird that uses its brain to get at food. Crows have been witnessed placing hard-to-open nuts into roads; after the nuts are crushed by a passing car the crows help themselves to the freed nut meat. I've seen Grackles steal dry dog food from pet bowls and carry the nuggets to a bird bath, where they dunk them until they are soft enough for the bird to swallow. Bird brains indeed.

1 comment:

Jennifer said...

That bird is awesome! Hope you enjoyed Sweeney Todd yesterday. See you at work.