My mother loves wild birds. She's fascinated by them and has been for a long time. Her home features bird-themed items (even a clock that hourly sounds off with different bird tweets) and of course feeders throughout her yard.
We've got a feeder here that when stocked becomes a major bird attraction. At times I've broken out the binoculars for a closer look at these visitors. Some of them are remarkable.
The cardinals... the male is bright red, stunning. It's got to be difficult to be in nature and be that conspicuous. The female is greyish-brown with red highlights. There are two pairs who frequent our feeder.
M loves the Blue Jays. Outside of the crows, this is the biggest bird that we see on a regular basis. For our smallish feeder, he has to hover to get at the seed. In NoCal last year a bluebird was spotted. Very different. Smaller, and a deeper hue. The Jay has a very distinctive call; kind of a screech, actually. They seem to be the boss of the birds around here.
Downy Woodpeckers have been spotted. These are also very visually interesting creatures. The body is kind of a very light grey; the wings are black with white spots and there's a bright tuft of red fur atop the head.
These are just a few. This isn't a bird post, it's about the beauty of nature and the colors that exist. Today the sky is so blue, and cloudless.
I guess this is a "stop and smell the roses" (or rather, look at them) kind of post.
When you're a kid, everything is amazing. When did we get so jaded? Today I'm making a point to see the natural colors around me and appreciate them.
Adjacent to our home is a bit of wild brush and trees. There are some bright red winterberries within arm's reach of the house.
Of course I could now digress a bit and talk about the lovely white cigarette butts that the neighbor dumps on the ground. She did add a little color yesterday by throwing dead flowers over the deck rail onto the pile.
Yeah, let's not talk about that.
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