Feeling so guilty sitting here in my comfortable air-conditioned abode while outside my window this young robin tries to cool off with some open-mouth breathing. We do have a couple of birdbaths and lots of shade trees, but it’s still hot, hot, hot out there!
Our real-feel today was 108º!! Unprecedented! 🥵
Yikes! That’s amazing for New England! We’ve had a couple of those days down here. I’m learning the difference now between a heat advisory and an excessive heat warning, had one or the other for 5 out of the last 10 days…
Ugh, remember those blissful summer days of our youth? Gone (but not forgotten)!
I do remember! We never had air conditioning and only a few days each summer when a fan wasn’t enough to keep us comfortable…
Ahh, poor you and this poor young Robin. I hate seeing birds when they hyperventilate and mouth breathe from stress and/or the heat. I hope you catch a break soon Barbara. It’s disheartening to think this is the new norm for Summer weather.
The robin didn’t move for the longest time, except to turn its head a little. It must be learning that moving around only makes it hotter. Sadly, birds can and do die from heat exhaustion. We saw a Carolina wren the other day making good use of one of the birdbaths.
I feel badly for the birds in this hot weather. When I walk through the neighborhoods to/from Council Point Park in the hot weather, I like to see birds “running through the sprinkler” to cool off or using a street puddle for a bath. The Robins re very smart – a bath from the sprinkler, then they look for worms.
I remember a hot day a few summers ago when we watched a gray catbird taking a bath in the birdbath at Wilcox Park. It was so entertaining, but I think he was wishing for the water to be a little deeper. 🙂
When my garden still looked nice, I had two big birdbaths, a medium-sized one and a very small one. The big birds would go into the two smaller ones and sink down and just sit there, like you/I would soak in a bathtub. The poor little birds would be sitting around the larger baths, afraid to go in as they might drown.
I guess birds are like people, some hogging the good spots while others are left out. Being so short, I’m often stuck behind tall people who are blocking my view of a stage or a parade. Sometimes, though, one of them will notice my predicament and invite me to stand in front of them. 🙂
That’s true … poor birds in this heat have to hope the other birds don’t splash out all the water before they get a chance to have a “soak”. I like seeing Robins standing under a sprinkler, enjoying the water on their wings, then looking for worms. I am 5′ 9″ tall, so that wasn’t a problem for me – that is nice that someone was kind and let your petite self go in front. My parents were short – 5′ 2″ (mom) and 5′ 3″ (father). Many photos taken by others of the three of us invariably cut my head off in the photo.
I remember you writing about your head getting cut off in pictures in one of your posts! The average height of an American woman is 5′ 3 1/2″ — so you’re taller and I’m shorter (5′) than average, each with its own set of frustrations. 😉
I didn’t realize you were only 5 feet tall. Yes, multiple frustrations. A good friend of the family was 4′ 11″ and her husband was exactly a foot taller. She had to have some type of blocks installed on her brake and gas pedals to reach them (that’s what she said, although we never saw them).
Tim has a cousin who is 4’11” and being around her makes me feel tall, even though it’s just an inch. 😉
That’s funny – pictures of our family friend and her husband and/or if she stood next to me make me look like an Amazon!
Size and perception, it’s all relative, isn’t it? 🙂
Yes it is Barbara. 🙂
You’re doing what you can for your bird friends and that’s wonderful. Your photo is great, btw, even if the poor guy isn’t at his best.
Thanks, Ally. It’s not often a bird sticks around long enough for me to go get my camera. Too hot to move — that’s how I feel when I go out there.
Sending a wish for a cool breeze to everyone who feels too hot
Thank you, Leelah! I’m imagining a cool sea breeze arriving with your words…
That’s a very nice photograph of the Juvenile Robin, Barbara. Let you off the hook from feeling guilty sitting inside the air conditioning. It’s hot out there! But this free bird also doesn’t have to come up with money to pay the AC bill!
Our temperatures are similar to yours today. It started out at 82 with high reaching 94 and the humidity at 78 with dew point 76-78. My Mrs Cardinal began sitting in her nest on June 29, (my mother’s birth date) and she has been there 12 days steady! I read that the process is 14 days so I keep watching. I suppose I shall call her Claudia after my mother. She also sits with her mouth partially open, like your Junior the Robin!
Thank you, TD! Even if the robin doesn’t have to pay the AC bill he is still paying a heavy price for the climate change we caused. Sigh. Well, at least Claudia won’t have to work so hard to keep her eggs nice and warm. I hope you get to see her feeding her little ones soon! Today the temperature is ‘only’ supposed to get to 91°F and tomorrow we’re supposed to get some badly needed rain. Fingers crossed!
True on climate change. I went to bed thinking about: if only humans were never created what planet earth might be like today!
When I woke this morning, I went to check on Claudia from my window. And much to my surprise the Mr was there on the limb and Claudia was in the nest. I grab my iPhone and started video and photo sessions!! There’s at least one hatched up in the nest. The shell is on the ground. The pair took turns going to get food and feeding their precious one in the nest. I watched and video recorded them taking turns back and forth for at least an hour. Then Claudia resumed her sitting on the nest. Two hours later she is still sitting. How does she not squish her precious one? I wonder if there are more eggs to hatch?
Our temps today begins at 81 and by 2 o’clock the high will be (only) 89.
Fingers crossed for a cooling rain for you and hatchling Junior Robin. We are expecting scattered showers. Look at your barometer pressure. A drop in pressure means rain or snow is on the way. ☔️
That’s so exciting that you can watch the cardinal family up close every day! We did get 3 inches of rain on Friday and all the moss is bright green again. Today we’re under another heat advisory. The weather changes sure make life interesting. We used to have a barometer, but now I can find the pressure on my weather app, although it doesn’t have a precipitation indicator. 🙂
I use an iPhone that has a weather app on it. I look at it a lot. I added my address otherwise it is the airport location. So I double checked and mine has a Precipitation Map that I can tap to see where the precipitation is and movement. Then it also has a Daily Summary of Precipitation. Today’s says 0” in last 24h Next expected is .1 on Sat. This morning’s TV meteorologist said also said no rain is anticipated until the weekend. Are you sure that your weather app doesn’t show Precipitation Map and/or Summary? I admit I have played around on that weather app quite a bit to learn it! I even set the notification button “ON” to let me know when rain might be coming and for time duration. It’s mostly accurate to my surprise!
I don’t tolerate weather easily. And I seem to live my life around whatever is happening weather wise.
My refrigerator broke Saturday morning. Amazon is shipping a new mini fridge, but will not get here until July 22. So I will have a week figuring out how to keep food cold or frozen. I don’t own an ice chest either… so I’m debating how to deal with that in this heat!
Stay comfy!
I have an Android phone and the app does track and predict precipitation. The other app I visit is the Weather Channel’s Weather & Radar Map for my town. It’s interesting tracking the exact location of thunderstorms moving through our area in real time.
I hope you’re managing somehow without your refrigerator! It gets tiring having to eat non-perishables day after day…
The heat advisories are getting quite monotonous, aren’t they? I’m very much a summer girl but the oppressive humidity lately is keeping me inside lately too. I’m none too happy about it.
Growing up I remember enjoying summers a lot more than is possible now. Heat waves weren’t the constant feature that they have become in recent years. We were running around outside all the time!
I’m grateful for the AC as well, but ready to get back outside!
It’s amazing how we can get cabin fever in the summer! I hope you get a break in the heat soon!