When the ground looks like this, the birds come a-running to my feeders.
All right, not running. Flocking? Whatever, they love a free lunch.
I'd love to show you a "live" shot of feeding in progress, but my puny little camera phone can't do that. Besides, I don't think I could get any of the birds to sign a photo consent form. Anyway... I have two feeders. This one's in the back yard between the fir tree and the birch, and the other feeder hangs from a post on our front deck. It's great fun to see who comes to dine, from flickers to Steller's jays to juncos to black-capped chickadees. And starlings. And sometimes crows. Oh, and (I think) red-bellied sapsuckers, too.
Our neighborhood wetland used to be very large and varied, and salmon came to spawn. Then more development encroached, the wetland area decreased in size and scope, and I haven't seen a salmon in at least five years. The water levels had to be pretty high, though, and our little creek was often too little. There are owls and red-tailed hawks, and several coyotes, as well as many species of feathered things. Although I don't get to see everyone who lives at the wetland, it's wonderful to look out my windows and check out the birds. Rufus even knows what "birds" are and where to look for them. Blackie has never cared, even when the flickers peck so hard at the suet cake that it reverberates through the floor.
Watching the birds is something that calms me, takes me back to nature, and reminds me of that part of life that is less urgent but more important. Someone* once said,
"For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, as to what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor for your body, as to what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life's span?"
I need to be reminded. And, of course, that *Someone was Jesus.
2 comments:
I've fallen down on the job visiting my friends' sites, but I definitely picked a good time to catch up with this one! I love this post! It sounds like my home, but instead of missing the salmon, I miss the crappie--we used to fish for them, but one of the flooding rains flushed them out of our pond and through the culverts to the land of WhoKnowsWhere. And instead of stellar jays, we have cawing blue jays. And instead of dogs at the windows, I have cats. Oh, yes, do they ever love to watch the birds!!! Bug has been known to bust her noggin' on the glass trying to get to them.
But you're right. Nothing more calming than watching the birds.
Good post!
Merry Christmas, Sweet Katharine!
Thanks, Linda. No squirrels at your feeders? Yeah!
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