Saturday, May 19, 2012

I'm a 'Bird Watcher'





For the last few years of his life, my husband had birds.
He had two parakeets and two finches.

All but one passed before he got so sick...but the male finch
'hung' in there...actually about a year past the normal life
expectancy of finches.

Even as sick as he was, my husband insisted on being the one
to feed, water and clean the cage until he went
into the hospital for the last time.
(For one thing...I couldn't stick my hand in the cage...
the bird(s) always made me jump when they started fluttering around.)
He could stick his hand in and they'd just jump on it
like it was part of their environment.

Anyway...I always enjoyed watching the birds...
so I picked up a feeder
a few years ago and hung it in my back yard.

Since moving to this house, the feeder is actually close enough
to the back door, that I can sit there and watch them
without scaring them off.

Skittles doesn't chase them either...which is a good thing.
I get all kinds of birds coming to feed...and it's so cool to watch
them grab up a Multi-Grain Cheerio and carry it off
somewhere to eat it in peace.

Yes...the birds are CRAZY about the Multi-Grain Cheerios.

I'd always fed them bread crumbs...along with the wild bird seed...
which they gobble right up.

One day...as I was fixing to toss some stale cereal...I realized I
was low on bird seed and bread crumbs...
so I tossed some Kix cereal into the tray and they went wild!

But...the Multi-Grain Cheerios are by far their favorite!

This morning I tossed a handful in the tray and within five
minutes it looked like a scene from
Alfred Hitchcock's
'The Birds'.

They flew in from every direction...crowding their way onto the tray...at one
point I had seven of the little finch, wrens and sparrows
on the tray.

But they are quick.
They grab a piece of cereal and take off with it.

So...the best I could do...since I'm not exactly
'Speedy Gonzales'
with the camera...was to get one picture
with three birds...though the one
is obscured by the feeder tube.

Starting my day watching the birds feed...is something I wished I'd done
years ago.
It is so peaceful and relaxing...

Having my morning coffee with the birds is the best!!

2 comments:

Moon Art Design said...

Cool shots. That's funny because I just posted a drawing of a bird I did this week for my one a week project.
That's funny they are into Cheerios.

Kim Vanlandingham said...

I love watching our bird feeder! It's always cool when a new type of bird stops by.