Surprise!
This morning 4 crows brought me 4 cupcakes to celebrate Outside My Window‘s 4th birthday.
They say it’s a thank you gift from the Winter Crow Flock for my enthusiastic love of birds. I guess their elders have forgiven me for liking peregrines so much.
These four crows are juveniles (the pink around their bills is the hint) so they missed last year’s blog statistics and are insisting on an update. To appease them, here are some numbers:
- Number of posts since Outside My Window began: 1,273
- Total number of comments: 5,979 (wow!)
- Most prolific topic: Peregrine falcons (of course!), 310 entries
- Top viewed posts in the past year: Falcon or Hawk?, Sad News of Yellow’s death and Where Do Rabbits Go in the Winter?
- Most commented post in the past year (not including Facebook comments): Where Do Rabbits Go in the Winter? (who knew!)
- My two favorite photos this year: Close-up at Tarentum and Porcelain.
- I was most amazed to learn that a species of bird lays its egg on a bare branch and chipmunks fight.
Numbers aside, I enjoy writing and am grateful to you, my readers, for your comments, suggestions and contributions. A huge thank you goes to the many photographers who’ve contributed photos and videos to the site. Without you I’d just be a pile of words.
So a big thank you and round of applause from me to you for 4 wonderful years together.
Ooops! The crows are getting impatient.
“Blow out the candles! We want to eat!”
(party crows by Joan Guerin)
p.s. Do you have a favorite post? A suggestion for new topics? Leave a comment and let me know.
These crows are unfairly cuter than any of the ones that show up in the Burgh!
Happy birthday, birdblog! I’ve only been following for about a year, but I love it. Congrats on a successful blogging year.
Congratulations. Happy B’day. May you have many more. I have learned so much in the last few years as I read the blog early each morning. HAGD Kate. Enjoy.
I really enjoy reading your newest post when I sit down at my desk in the morning. I have learned so much from you. Thank you! PS, should you and WQED decide to have another event this spring I’ll be there again!
Happy birdday! As for suggestions, how about edible wildfoods and favorite reference books on birds or other nature topics? Keep up the good work. It is much appreciated. Thanks.
Cool! I’m lousy on edible foods but I have a lot of favorite reference books. 🙂
Come to think of it, I appreciate reading materials of any sort that involve nature, fiction or non-fiction. I am always looking for suggestions from folks regarding authors to investigate or specific titles to check out. Interesting reads that immediately come to mind for me are A Country Year by Sue Hubbell, Driving Over Lemons by Chris Stewart and The Unsettling of America by Wendell Berry.
Happy Birthday 4th birthday to the blog and may I wish you MANY more. Kate, you brighten our days and our minds. I thank you for all of the new knowledge, the smiles, the celebratory news of new bowing, courting and new eggs, sometimes the tearful news, but most of all for being so dedicated to sharing all your wonderful knowlege and news with us.
congratulations on 4 years! I look forward to reading your posts every morning. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and enthusiasm.
Happy birthday. The local ravens were doing an aerobatics show for you today. I’m glad to be a (very) small part of a fantastic blog.
Happy Birthday Kate! My time outside has become so much more interesting since I discovered your blog almost 2 years ago… so much to see that I never noticed before!!! Thanks to you and your wonderful photographers for helping to broaden my horizons!
Thank you for your work on this blog. Please know that it is appreciated! Over the past few years I have added many native plants to my yard and, as a result, many new bird species — at least one per year. I am always particularly interested in blog entries about our local native plant species.
Cheers…Keep it up…I do read at least 2-3 times a week and I’ve learned a lot from here. Birds are addictive and very nice creatures
I just had to let you know that I just finished watching the PBS Nature show ‘Jungle Eagle’ with the Harpy Eagles. Wow! It was fantastic and they are such a beautiful bird. Thanks for the heads up on the show.
Wow 4 years!!! I remember when you were trying to figure out a name for the blog…Keep up the wonderful work and helping us learn something new….or just REALLY LOOKING at something you have seen many times. I know I see something new every day out my window…..Congrats!!!
Happy 4th Birthday! You start my mornings off on the correct foot – kind of like that first cup of coffee – soothing. All is not right with the world until I read the day’s topic. Keep up the good work, I know it takes lots of time – but you know all of your readers appreciate it.
Thanks for providing the activation energy for me. I’ve always been interested in nature and science. I’m an unabashed nerd, but while finishing up my chemistry work, I don’t give myself much time to really delve into other areas. So consider that I have the fuel and the oxygen all set, but I need that spark to start the reaction, and the blog provides that! Probably good for my mental health to get out of the chem lab and walk around the parks too which I do more now with the intent of finding things you mention. I’ll have to give you a nod in the foreword to my thesis! Thanks again!
Congratulations, Kate. I also love this blog. Sometimes I read a whole week’s worth on Saturday, but whenever I read it, I enjoy all the variety of topics. I like the occasional head’s up about environmental issues too. But mostly I love the interesting facts on the flora and fauna, and weather and etc. And the photos of course.
>>>Michelle T
All birds are beautiful…And I’ve watched “Jungle Eagle”s too….
My sugesstions…if you haven’t watched yet:
“Magic In The Air” – about hummingbirds
“BBC – Life Of Birds” – something like 10 part documentary…
“Raptor Force” – PBS Documentary…Eagles, Hawks, Falcons, etc..
“American Eagle” – wonderfull documentary about bald eagles…
And best of all – Pittsburgh Peregrines webcams – I’ve watched an egg hatch,
Needless to say, who’ve watched, about, would agree :
Prodigal Son
http://www.birdsoutsidemywindow.org/2010/05/26/prodigal-son/
I think, it’s a very highlight of this blog – Prodigal Son
Missed reading about the blogs 4th Birthday until this morning. May I add my wishes. Do thoroughly enjoy all of your writings. May there be many more.
Congratulations, Kate, on your 4th birthday. Loved the graphic with the crows and cupcakes!!! As one of the photographers, I thank YOU for using our shots, and for faithfully producing such an informative site.