Pileated woodpecker

One of my favorite birds to watch is the pileated woodpecker.  Usually if one is around the mate is close by.  They call to each other as they feed on the larvae in the dead lodge poll pine.   It is their calling and loud pecking on the wood that first draws my attention.  Then as I watch them they toss large pieces of wood five feet away.  Along with the beetle larvae, they eat insects, fruit, and nuts with carpenter ants being their favorite food.

In the spring, the pileated woodpecker builds a nest by chipping away at a dead tree.  The nest is about a foot or more deep and lined with wood chips holding about 3 to 5 eggs.  They do not reuse their nest but build a new one each year.  Other birds then make their nest in the pileated woodpecker's old nest. 

The pileated woodpeckers are large birds of about 15-18 inches in length.  They have a big red crest that reminds me of the cartoon character, Woody Woodpecker.  Besides in my yard, the pileated woodpeckers are located in Canada, eastern United States, and the northwest United States south to California. 

I chose their drumming rhythm to make into a percussion piece.  It is a body percussion piece including stomping, clapping, and patting.  The second section of the piece tells about the bird, "I'm a black bird with a bright red crest.  Drilling holes, finding ants, and beetle larvae too.  Drill my nest in an old dead tree."  Along with several common sixteenth note rhythms, accents and crescendos are also covered in this piece.  It is especially fun to play with three different surfaces such as pans or boxes.  This a just one of six pieces I composed for this book.

IT'S A BIRD, IT'S ME

 I did not place my song sparrow melody directly into an activity book.  I first composed a band piece, Symphony for the Birds.  It included three movements using the melodies of the chickadee and song sparrow and the rhythm of the ruffed grouse.   The second year of retirement I used my three already composed pieces and added three more and "voila" a children's activity book.


The activity book, IT'S A BIRD, IT'S ME, teaches the bird songs and rhythms by hearing the original bird song and singing a melody or saying a rhythm similar to the  bird's.  It has a few paragraphs about each bird and a description of the bird.  The description can be used to color the bird.  A coloring guide and vocabulary pages are also included.  A CD comes with the book with the actual bird song and the composed song sung by my Bird Ensemble.  The CD also includes just the piano accompaniment for possible performance.

This book would be great for an elementary teacher needing to teach music. It could also include a lesson in birds, following directions, and could easily be made into an informative performance. 

Birds, Music, and Gardening, how it all came together

As I had mentioned in an earlier post, I love to garden.  I am in my garden at sun up doing whatever needs to be done.  Usually I walk around the garden with coffee in hand and determine my fun for the day.  The birds are singing like crazy early in the morning and I love it.  As I hoe the peas the song sparrow sings a lyrical song to me and I sing back to him.  At first I just sing the melody but soon I am putting words to the melody, "Hey, hey lookie, lookie it's a bird it's me."  I'm jivin' now! 

Then the light bulb came on.  The teacher in me said, "What a great way to teach children about birds."   This is how it all started.   My love of music, gardening and birds all came together in IT'S A BIRD, IT'S ME, a book to help children identify birds through their song and appearance. 

Just imagine me among my peas singing away. 

Gardening, my third passion

Gardening or growing anything is my third passion.  I love to garden.  I can hardly wait until spring when I can play in the dirt.  I live in a small town up in the Rocky Mountains on the edge of the Bob Marshall wilderness.  The growing season is very short with only 43 frost free days (so the books say) but I usually get a frost every month and sometimes snow with it.  I am pretty limited in what I can grow and even the cold weather crops don't always make it.  I have been in tears many times when in August everything is froze and gone.  None the less I love my garden.  I love planning a new garden arrangement every year and even though my brother Mike does not understand it, I do not always plant in rows.  I ove getting the soil ready for planting, the planting, and yes even the weeding.  It is all so good!

I have been gardening every since I was a small girl.  My father was the gardener of the family except for the flowers and herbs which my mother cared for.  Dad gave me a small three by three piece of dirt to make a rock garden.  I would go to the woods and bring back wild flowers for my rock garden.  I always wanted to be like my dad and harvest the vegies and take them in for mom to can or freeze.  That is the only part of growing I do not like, the putting up part.  I love the produce in the freezer or on the shelves but I hate being inside on a beautiful summer day canning. As I have often said, "I want a wife."

So how does this all lead to my activity book?  I think I will reveal that in my next blog.  Check back for the rest of the story.

For the Birds

OK I have covered one of my passions, music.  Actually I have barely scraped the surface but on to the next passion, the birds.  Every since I was a small child I have been watching and listening to the birds.  On cold wintry snow days, my mom and I, probably with a sibling or two, would sit on the couch by the picture window and watch the chickadees, nuthatches, tufted titmouse, cardinals, and blue jays come to the bird feeders hanging in the maple trees.  She also had a few ears of corn for the squirrels.  It was always a busy place. 

I no longer live in Ohio and never see a red cardinal any more, but I am blessed with so many birds in my backyard.  I live in a creek bottom so along with the chickadees and nut hatches, I now see and hear the kingfishers, blue herons, mallard ducks, sandhill cranes, and my favorite, the common snipe.  I also see quite a few other migrating birds such as the ruby-crowned kinglet, Swainson thrush, western thrush, several warblers, and so many more.  Year around I have woodpeckers, including the pileated, stellarjays, grey jays, and ravens.  I love where I live and love all the birds around me.  I am a lucky lady. 

On to my next passion in my next post and how they have all come together in an activity book combining all three of my passions.