Peacock

While not a fan of made up terms, I do enjoy the peacocking phenomena. I probably did the exact opposite when I was young. Perhaps it could be called "skunking" though that is probably taken. I wore one pair of footwear (ratty tennis shoes), got my jeans at JC Penny, and wore whatever my mom happened to get me. Yes, DJ Jazzy Jeff and I had much in common. Then some kind girl in college took me under her wing and explained the nuances of clothing and the female species, though to this day I am still trying to understand why women notice other women's shoes. If only I had been told earlier they also can instantly tell much about a man by his shoes, I at least would have gotten some brown kicks from Pay Less or something. Well, guess she enjoyed having her own life size Ken doll cause we ended up tying the knot, except I don't remember tying no knot (double negative intended). Is that another fashion thing I missed out on. 

Parakeets

I went through three Parakeets as a kid, one that got eaten by a dog, another which died on while we were on a family vacation (yes, someone was watching it, and she felt bad). The reason these are such poor pets for children as they are annoying as hell if you keep them in your room, always chirping as soon as the sun comes out in the morning and generally making a mess. As for life lessons: changing that newspaper on the bottom of the cage breeds resentment, not responsibility. Plus, you hear one time that Parakeets can learn to speak, so you sit there for hours on end repeating words and get no results! What does that teach you? I shouldn't really blame the bird; probably the one thing that shouldn't be caged. The biggest drawback was that these you couldn't really play with them.

Fake Owl

The picture probably would have been better if I got an actual bird on this fake owl's head. Maybe it is there to keep rats away. Who come up with the scare crow anyhow? Somebody gets hired to stand in a field and scare away birds, gets lazy, and decides to build a poorly made replica of himself so he can go get decent employ. 

Baby Blue Jay

Good thing to land in a yard with a fence to be safe from all the cats. Bad thing to land in a yard with a fence and a curious dog. Poor little guy could only fly maybe two feet off the ground. His siblings were hopping up above on the trees, and mommy kept checking in on him on the ground, even bringing a snack. I eventually came up with the brilliant solution of moving him to the yard next door, removing the dog variable. Don't know what exactly came of him or how long it takes a Blue Jay to fly, but God Speed to you little buddy.

Bird's Nest

It may not look like much, and it is certainly not one of those fancy Montezuma Oropendola nests with cable and running water, however, this nest is a good example of nature at its finest. Talk about reclaimed furniture; how about a reclaimed house? Really I just needed something to juxtapose next to the Blue Jay and I couldn't get a picture of the mommy Blue Jay, nor a Robin who wouldn't let me get close enough. Bird photography is definitively not optimal with a phone camera. I could remake "The Big Year" with a camera phone and it would be better than that movie. I would call it "The Small Year" but that is just a bad joke. Jack Black: stay in your comfort zone. Boy, I hope they don't reuse these every year since I took it out of a bush.