Winter Entertainers

Friday, February 22, 2019

Through these weeks of cold, snowy, sleeting, slippery weather, I’ve hauled bags of birdseed home for the wild little guys. Some of my bird feeders hang down by the barn and out of sight unless I happen to be working nearby. More feeders hang at the house immediately outside windows. It’s fun watching Juncos and Finches flit to and from feeders, and alternately looking upward, at Robins in flocks skittering among the high twisted limbs of junipers, gobbling the berries.

One of my favorite winter species is Townsend’s Solitaire. Their metallic-sounding calls announce their annual returns and the onset of this area’s cooler weather. Like Robins, the Solitaires feed on insects and juniper berries. Their unique warning calls draw an onlooker’s gaze upward to where a lone Solitaire perched atop a very tall tree guards its territory. Solitaires are thrushes and also produce lovely songs. In coldest weather, the birds fluff-up to stay warm by self-transforming into feathery balls.

Mostly, this winter has produced strings of days with ground-to-horizon and nearly non-stop grayness. Upon hearing a bird call, looking up and catching sight of a Solitaire almost resembles looking yonder at barely-visible horses.

Mostly yesterday it snowed, and the atmosphere stayed gray. After leading the horses to pasture, I filled bird feeders and took care of scant bits of housework. Later that morning, I settled beside a window in an easy chair. And with a book in my hands, a camera nearby, the cat nesting on my lap, and surrounded by dozing dogs, I watched for visiting birds.

Dear Readers, have fun and turn this day into a creative one. Diana