A-12
THE NEW MEXICAN Saturday, June 15, 2013
A male woodpecker feeds his chick, proof that some birds are great dads. COURTESY PHOTO
FOR THE BIRDS
Bird dads aren’t all bad By Anne Schmauss
For The New Mexican
H
ummingbird males make awful fathers. Mama hummingbird builds the nest by herself, tends the eggs alone and feeds the babies solo. Hummingbird females are the ultimate single mothers. Don’t be surprised to see fewer hummingbirds at your feeders for the next few weeks. There are several reasons for this dip in activity. Mama hummers are tied up raising their family so they aren’t very active at feeders. They feed their babies mostly live insects. Also, there is a lot more natural food — insects and flower nectar — than there was earlier in the spring. Hummingbirds prefer natural food but still like to visit your feeder for an extra boost. Be sure to change the sugar water in your feeder at least twice a week whether the birds are coming or not. Fresh nectar is the key to attracting more hummingbirds. Timing is important, too. Once babies leave the nest, or fledge, and the rufous hummers start to arrive in mid-July, your feeders will be bustling again. Male hummingbirds might be bad dads, but that doesn’t mean all birds are equally neglectful. Downy woodpeckers share daytime nest duties with Mama and take on the night shift by themselves. When baby downies fledge, Papa shows them where to eat. That’s why this time of year you’ll sometimes see a group of woodpeckers on your tree or at your suet feeder or seed
cylinder. Dad is showing his youngsters the ropes. Lesser goldfinch dads also take the babies out to eat. Watch for babies at your thistle feeder begging dad for food. Mourning dove dads have a big job, sometimes having as many as six clutches per year, the most of any bird in North America. Fathers help to incubate the eggs and keep the nestlings — the babies in the nest — safe and warm. They are committed providers, helping to feed their young, even as long as 30 days after the babies have fledged. Sort of the equivalent of helping your new college grad with the grocery bills in their new apartment. Chickadee and nuthatch fathers feed Mom while she’s sitting on the eggs and help to feed the babies once they have hatched. To protect the nest, white-breasted nuthatches will sometimes crush badsmelling beetles and sweep them in and around the nest to deter squirrels. Male pygmy nuthatches learn parenting skills early on. About a third of all breeding pairs have one to three male helpers, usually their own offspring or other relatives. They assist in feeding Mama, nestlings and fledglings — babies that have just left the nest.
Anne Schmauss is the co-owner of Wild Birds Unlimited in Santa Fe and she loves to hear your bird stories. She and her sisters are the authors of For the Birds: A Month by Month Guide to Attracting Birds to Your Backyard.
Black Sabbath stays rooted in new album By Chris Talbott
The Associated Press
Newsmakers Billy Ray Cyrus, wife of 19 years, getting divorce
Billy Ray Cyrus
LOS ANGELES — After 19 years of marriage, court records show Tish Finley Cyrus filed for divorce from country singer Billy Ray Cyrus Thursday in Los Angeles, citing irreconcilable differences. She’s seeking custody of their teenage child and spousal support. The two got married in December 1993 and have three children together, including actress-musician Miley Cyrus.
Downey Jr. calms little boy upset at Iron Man Tish Finley Cyrus
Robert Downey Jr.
SUNDERLAND, Mass. — Heather Denno took her 1½-year-old son, Jaxson, to watch filming for the movie The Judge, starring Robert Downey Jr., in her hometown of Sunderland this week. Downey, star of the Iron Man movies, spotted the little boy and went over to say hello. Heather Denno told Jaxson that Downey was Iron Man. Confused because of the lack of the trademark metallic red-and-gold suit, Jaxson burst into tears. Downey put a comforting hand on the boy and calmed him. The Associated Press
TV
top picks
1
6 p.m. LIFE Movie: Gone Missing A mom (Daphne Zuniga, pictured) immerses herself in the spring break scene in San Diego after her daughter and a friend (Brigette Davidovici, Gage Golightly) disappear during the festivities. Along the way she picks up some disturbing information that the girl was keeping from her in this new suspense tale.
2
7 p.m. on ABC Zero Hour Better burned off than never. The episodes of this canceled drama that didn’t make it to air will play out over the next few Saturdays so that its fans — and it does have them! — won’t be left hanging. A doubleheader tonight opens with Laila (Jacinda Barrett) persuading White Vincent (Michael Nyqvist) to let her tend his wounds in hopes of finding a way to escape in “Chain.”
3
7 p.m. TNT AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Mel Brooks The man behind such comedy classics as Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein and The Producers becomes the 41st recipient of the American Film Institute’s prestigious prize. Fellow filmmaker Martin Scorsese — a man definitely not known for comedy — presents the award to Brooks. 8 p.m. on CBS Blue Bloods Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) gets a taste of a different line of work when Erin (Bridget Moynahan) arranges for him to protect a key witness in one of her cases: a notorious photographer who was nearly killed in a hit-andrun. Jamie and Vinny (Will Estes, Sebastian Sozzi) take down a drug operation in “Greener Grass.”
4 5
9 p.m. HBO Movie: The Dark Knight Rises Director Christopher Nolan’s 2012 conclusion to his Batman trilogy is as stylistically stunning as expected, with returnee Christian Bale’s moody portrayal of Gotham City’s main protector getting a boost from Anne Hathaway’s presence as Selina Kyle — alias Catwoman. The main villain is the masked Bane (Tom Hardy). Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Gary Oldman also are back. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Marion Cotillard, also of Nolan’s Inception, join the cast.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Ozzy Osbourne and the members of Black Sabbath worked hard to create a dark aura around their band in the late 1960s, laying down a proto-metal blueprint for a legion of groups to follow. As the band’s original lineup attempted to reform over the last 10 years to record a longanticipated new album — the first with Osbourne singing since he was fired in 1979 — there was no need to manufacture that sense of doom. Time and again events conspired to interfere. On its latest attempt, things went more awry than usual. Drummer Bill Ward left the band over a contract dispute. Guitarist Tony Iommi was diagnosed with lymphoma. And Osbourne began to drink again. “Things always get messed up,” Osbourne said. “Like Bill had the heart attack on one [in the late 1990s]. When Tony got stricken by cancer, we went ‘This is … insane.’ ” Sabbath releases the Rick Rubin-produced 13 this week after more than two years of writing and recording and it’s expected to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. It’s meant to be a return to the band’s most powerful period — its defining first three albums Black Sabbath, Paranoid and Master of Reality released in 1970-71 — and mostly succeeds with the help of Rage Against the Machine drummer Brad Wilk. It was Rubin’s idea to return
to Sabbath’s roots, and bassist and principal lyricist Geezer Butler said the producer served as a fifth member of the band, keeping it focused — something the band had been unable to do in a previous attempt. Sabbath’s early period remains among the most influential series of recordings in rock ’n’ roll history. Blending a darker shade of the blues with horror movie and postapocalyptic imagery, Sabbath was unlike any other band. It belongs in a very small group of 1960s bands that serve as the wellspring for all that was to come in rock along with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and The Doors. The group’s sound was heavier than anything rock has yet produced, reliant on the complex, muscular and surprisingly funky interplay of Ward and Butler with Osbourne and Iommi layering weird vibes over the top. Their popularity would eventually do them in. The quality of their music declined due mostly to drug abuse. But the long-talked-about reunion album had always eluded them, and it seemed this time would be no different. Rubin said he saw none of these outside struggles in the studio, beyond the strengthened resolve to finish. When the band finally plugged in, Rubin was delighted to find they still had that Sabbath groove.