by CKR
Venus has made the transition to morning star, which means that you can see it just before the sun comes up and that it’s at its most crescenty. You can see the crescent with a good pair of binoculars. (Diagram from Sky & Telescope)
At the birdbath, the flickers are getting more willing to allow me to watch them, although they are quite alert to the presence of a camera. And there are six of them now. Every morning, they excavate the ice, usually two of them at a time, sometimes male, sometimes female. Do they take turns? Or are they the dominant ones? Subordinate?
In any case, the ice chips do fly. Some of them, along with the smaller birds, pick up chips from the ground, and they do seem to be swallowing them.
I’ve been inspired by their industriousness to be conscientious about bringing out a container of hot water to melt the ice (and flicker feces—birds are not as fastidious as humans). I wonder if they think a) that their hard work melts the ice; b) that they are making the human fix the ice; c) that the ice melts naturally but are a little surprised at the rate.
Progress in metrification: I bought a tube of Matrix/Biolage hair conditioner the other day, and it was 8.5 FL OZ/250 ml. The one before was 237 ml/8 FL OZ. I suspect the reason for the change is the economics of using a single size to market in multiple countries. The label is in three languages (English, French, Spanish).