1657, (4:57 PM for the time-challenged) and I was plugging away at work, pretty much lost in thought. Certainly had no idea of it being 3 minutes away from what many regard as quitting time, because in what I do, there really is no quitting time.
Gradually realized that I had been interrupted by a persistent buzzing from the front yard. Pacific
Wren! Since I've lived here in Oregon, I've associated this bird with cold weather -- a winter bird here on the banks of the Willamette River. Right now, it's in the low 60s (F) outside, and Pacific Wren was a bit of a surprise. But this whole fall period has been a bit of a surprise. Several species have appeared early. This is not my first PAWR (to use the bird-banding alpha code, which you can reference at the USGS Patuxent River Wildlife Research Center USGS Patuxent River Wildlife Research Center, and it's a very useful shorthand notation, particularly in field notes) of the year, but I think it might be the most benign conditions.
No photos to show you, which is a bit of a shame, as they're cute little buggers, as most wrens are. But it's an easy image search. Some of the results are even correctly identified! Or you can go to the Cornell Lab http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Pacific_Wren/id - an authoritative source. And apparently the sole US university with more ornithologists than Oregon State, which is just across across the river from me.
I have to get back to work, which one of the reasons I didn't even consider trying to get a photo. Yes they are way photogenic. But beyond that, they are interesting, beyond the cute imagery so beloved by the millions of Internet cat-video fans. Ann Nightingale put up a post back in 2011, writing from Victoria, B.C. It is, of course, filled with cute: that is pretty much unavoidable when the subject is PAWR. But it's also personable, informative, and interesting.
I wish I could do content like that. Sadly, all I can do is point to the people who can.
