Snow Birds....

this morning they came...

as soon as it was light....

they flew in silently...

at least,

for a while...

and then,

the crowd started to gather....

and they all had things to say.

They talked about the traffic...

the weather...

the kids...

the accomodations..

the relatives...

you name it,

it was spoken of...

and then they "broke bread"...

and scurried around the brunch buffet...

"Enjoy" said I....

The local Bird Bar.....

Confession time.....

We love birds....

We love feeding the birds....

watching the birds...

listing the types of birds we've seen...

photographing the birds in our yard...

but we're not "birders"....not really.

It's just that we can't help ourselves.

They are so darned cute,

never mind that those 

Hussy Mourning doves eat their flippin' heads off....

then perch on a tree just above our cars and then proceed to .....

well, you know.

I'm trying to think of something to 

make them "mourn" just a bit less.

The Carolina Wren is our favorite.

She sings with such abandon,

or is that determination?

Anyway,

my sweetie lost his mother years ago,

and when a CW appears, 

he smiles, because he is pretty darn sure she has come back as

a Carolina Wren....smiles.

So,

when we were sitting out on the front porch a few afternoons ago,

and glanced a happy CW on our feeder,

I snuck inside to grab my camera.

Here is looks as though she is inside of the suet cage.... 

She even stopped talking when she noticed the focusing light...

So, in reality, she was merely on the opposite side of the cage, not in it... 

Any angle will dooo.....

Look at her tongue!

And that white eye liner!

Just one or two tail feathers out of place...

But her cap is finely preened...

Now she might be getting just a bit miffed that we are watching her eat... 

Who else is watching?

Make no difference, as long as I control the suet, she says...

Wonder if it is sweeter on this side?

Whoops! Did she fall off?

Later in the afternoon, the clouds rolled in, so I took up a position inside..

so that I might catch a shot of the speed racer, the chickadee....

Almost, but 

perhaps a finch will do...

no?

There she is!

Checkin up on us, maybe?

Don't know what type of bird this is....but do you see it there on the ground?

Perhaps, all you see is the eye...right in the center of the shot. 

Ms. Carolina Wren loves to peck around in the crouch of this Bradford Pear Tree,

see her on the right?

And how lucky was I?

to see both the Chickadee and the Woodpecker on the same tree?

This tree looks as though he has a bad attitude...maybe because he shot his eye out....

 One more look at the finch...

And of course, CW....

A Nuthatch...

And finally, my chickadee...

thank you for indulging me...

smiles.

The Hummingbird Shower....

I am a bird person...

I inherited this affliction...

My parents are bird people from way back.

(remember Mr. Peabody's "way-back machine"?)

I grew up in a household where bird feeders needed to be cleaned.

Where water was refreshed....

and squirrels chased.

Now 

squirrels are no longer chased

at my parents' house.

The have made peace with the squirrels,

the squirrels won.

Dad now goes to the one remaining 

actual hardware store

(picture wooden floors, barrels, ladders, high ceilings, 

creaky wooden screen doors)

for big bags of peanuts.

The squirrels even

have a name.

"Phred"

all squirrels in my parents yard

share this name.

Don't ask.

Dad has fashioned a very tall pole

that is attached to the deck outside of their

kitchen.

This pole holds the bird feeder.

There is a shallow container of water too.

It is refreshed regularly.

I am pretty sure

that my parents get more pleasure

 from the birds and 

squirrels,

than they did out of raising my 

brother and me.

But back to the hummingbird shower....

I have a shallow ceramic dish on my front porch

that I refill with fresh water

daily in the summer.

This is primarily for drinking,

but as I sit my my BAKW

and watch the birds at the feeder,

I sometimes have the 

pleasure to see 

someone take a joyous bath.

The fluttering and flapping 

always catch my eye,

and as I watch, 

I catch myself grinning.

The sheer ecstasy of it all.....

is evident.

It rarely takes more than 2-3 minutes

and then they are off to a 

branch to shake it all off....

Now,

I feed "hummers" too.

I make my own hummer food

and refill regularly.

But I have wondered......

how do they bathe?

Too small to take a chance on the dish..

and too shy to catch a shower in the 

yard sprinkler, like so many 

smaller birds.

So 

what is up 

with the 

Hummer cleanliness?

I found out today.

The morning has been 

very overcast.....

then it started with a rumble

a shower.....

We had been working on our 

downspouts, just a few nights ago,

so I hurried out to my bedroom balcony,
to check out their efficiency, 

leaned over and saw

a large cow bird in the 

water dish taking a bath.

As I watched.....

a hummer whizzed past,

and up into the tree directly in front of me.

As I watched,

he started to take his shower.....

turning his head this way and that,

fluttering his wings.... 

shaking his boo-tay.....

doing stretches and bends

that would make a 

yoga master envious....

He was bathing but in his own way.

In fact from time to time he would 

move to a more exposed branch

 to take advantage of the shower.

A "master showerer"

he was...

Now I know....

smiles.