Great Backyard Bird Count, 2024 edition

I've done some counting the last few days, dutifully completing checklists on the Cornell / eBird site. I was disappointed to realize, after having a stellar day during Thursday's rain/snow mix afternoon, that the count didn't officially begin until Friday, but I've borne up bravely as is my way. And the birds have been pretty obliging: flickers, towhees, golden-crowned sparrows, song sparrows, thumbprints, juncos, finches, chickadees, Steller's jays, robins, starlings, and singletons of yellow-rumped warbler, downy woodpecker, Anna's hummingbird, and ruby-crowned kinglet have all been putting in appearances.

Sadly, I find that either I'm less capable of holding a camera steady than I used to be or my camera seriously needs to be overhauled. Of course, shooting through at least one layer of plexiglass most of the time doesn't help any either. But, for posterity, a mess of out-of-focus and/or over-processed photos:

Yellow-rumped warbler (at a distance, through plexiglass)

Spotted towhee (ditto plexiglass)

Seriously "sharpened" ruby-crowned kinglet (ditto other disclaimers, too)

Classic birding shot

More successful though still blurry: Steller's jay

Spot the song sparrow; the flicker is incidental.

Ms Northern Flicker

Over-adjusted golden-crowned sparrow (*Such* a handsome fellow!)

Neighboring tree with FIVE flickers, five starlings and two or three robins

Mr Downy Woodpecker (at a distance, through plexiglass)

SO many thumbprints bushtits. The day before the count officially started.

House finches and goldfinch at the feeder. Stealth towhee.

And, if it will upload, a video notable for its soundtrack of birdsong and precipitation:

Sick Day Soup

 

View out the kitchen window, 1

Searching for dinner options last night, I leafed through Joshua McFadden's Six Seasons once more and was mighty tempted by a winter squash risotto, even though I knew we didn't have the proper rice--or a handful of other items the recipe called for. But I also sort of felt like I was coming down with something so we ended up with a simple pasta instead. During that search, however, I happened across a soup recipe for which we did have all the ingredients and thus, soup was made today. Eventually.

Recipe as it appears in Six Seasons

I like this cookbook, I truly do, but I keep thinking that it seriously needed a better editor or proofer. If you followed this recipe religiously, you'd be dumping whole potatoes and turnips into the cooking pot. I assumed that's not what Mr McFadden had in mind, however, so I chopped them up. It seems like he truly would use just water (six cups), but I opted to go with five cups of weak broth instead. I don't regret that decision.

Means of Production, Soup

The above photo is responsible for this post--and it's the light on the fresh herbs that is responsible for the photo; I so love the way the sunlight sneaks into the kitchen. 

I may have gone a bit heavy on the rosemary both because I had a lot of rosemary (I still used less than a sixth of what is shown above) and because the soup seemed likely to be a little blah otherwise--despite the use of broth. I don't regret the extra rosemary decision either.

Everything but the broth in the pot

There's a lot of cooking--on very low heat--of the vegetables before you add the liquid. I'm just not sure there's that much flavor to be extracted from potatoes and turnips, but I dutifully followed the instructions. It didn't hurt any, I'm sure, and it gave me a surface on which to place the herbs. I supplemented the fresh thyme with a bit of dried stuff too.

Finished soup

The actual final soup is a little more attractive than it appears in the photo above. We're thinking we'll truly finish it with pats of butter as suggested in the recipe. Accompanied by the baguette Scott kindly hiked up the hill to purchase earlier, we think it will be quite fine, though I'm doubtful it's a recipe that will be in heavy rotation around here.

View out window, now with Mr Anna's hummingbird cameo

Updated to include an actual final bowl of soup, post-butter addition. Does it look better? As predicted, it was quite fine, but I doubt we'll make it again any time soon:
 

Is soup "bowled" in the way (affected/restaurant) people talk about "plating"?