Recently in Birds Category

This morning for my ladies devotions group we looked at the life of Gerard Manley and several of his poems.  We had a wonderful discussion time and we all learned alot from sharing our thoughts of his wonderful work.  One of the poems we read and meditated on was "Spring"...

 Gerard Manley Hopkins 1844 - 1889

My joy for today - six pairs of glorious red cardinals (and a bonus visit of a rare white throated sparrow!) feasting on the fallen safflower seeds beneath the bird feeder!

How could anyone not smile at the sight of those lovely feathered friends?!

Seeing a favorite or rarely seen bird in our yard can make my day!  This morning I glanced out the kitchen window and saw an Eastern Phoebe - rarely seen in our yard!  Yesterday I saw a favorite (not seen regularly), the large sized Yellow Shafted Flicker.  Adding to these, I have been seeing alot of cardinals, hummingbirds, nuthatches, chickadees and goldfinches at the feeders - all of them lovely birds that, when seeing them, outweighs the sight of the huge number of "ordinary" visitors to our yard such as House Finches and sparrows!

The past few years the robins have apparently decided that Indianapolis is far enough south for them to hang around all winter.  I have seen huge flocks of the poor things - digging around in whatever bare ground they find, looking for worms.  Yesterday they paid a visit to our yard, up close to the front of the house where the snow has melted and they could have a hope of a meal.  It was interesting to see them scoot the leaves and mulch out of the way, then wait to see if a worm would be uncovered.  I am really not even sure that the earthworms are anywhere near to the top of the ground this time of year!

If they want to spend the winters here, they may have to take up "birdseed" eating.  There are plenty of us who keep the birdfeeders full all winter long, and as the sign in our backyard says "Every Birdy's Welcome"!!

Cardinals look just beautiful against our freshly fallen snow - today I saw 5 pairs of them in the back yard.  They aren't territorial in the wintertime so peace reigns at the bird feeders!  In the summer one normally sees just a pair at a time, occasionally two but no more.  Several winters ago we had 9 pairs at once - what a glorious sight!  I also saw a white throated sparrow, the likes of which I have only seen stopping by in summer before today.  What a treat to see these feathered friends, perhaps a reward for my shoveling the driveway today!

I checked the cardinal's nest today - mama wasn't there, so I could see 2 hatchlings, fresh from their eggshells!  One more brown speckled egg to go! 

After thinking I would see no interesting migrating birds this year, lo and behold today we had a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak stop and enjoy a meal of safflower seeds!  I was able to shoot some good photos of his visit and when he had flown to the upper branches of the maple tree, he serenaded us for quite some time with his most melodic songs!  Now if only he and his mate would take up summer residence here in our yard...

We just finished watching the movie "Up" ~ I thoroughly enjoyed it. Pixar/Disney turns out one great picture after another and this latest one is right "up" there!  Ed Asner supplies the voice of Mr. Fredericksen, an elderly gentleman who after his wife passes away, goes on the one great adventure the couple had always dreamed of.   Tagging along with him is a young Wilderness Scout named Russell and together they float Mr. F's house (using a gigantic bouquet of colorful balloons!) all the way to the wilds of South America.  Of course lots of adventure, danger and suspense follow - all the way to the kleenex needing ending!   To me, the message of this movie is that friendship has no age boundaries ~ and in this case the bond that develops between 8 year old Russell and the elderly Mr. Fredericksen  is quite heartwarming.