It's Tuesday

Have the patio and little area around it cleanuped and ready for just sitting and enjoying for a while.  Watering brings the birds out pretty quickly.  Most of the visitors have been white-winged doves, two or three different kinds of sparrows and house finches.  It is fun seeing the interaction between the different types of birds.  Seems the pecking order exists for sure!

There has been this one female finch I have been attempting to capture in a clear photo.  She is not cooperative.  Here then there then out of sight among the lilies.  Hopping across the patio picking at whatever is there to snack.  She pauses.  I grab the camera and get her in focus.  Snap and check the photo.  Sure enough, she flew just as I snapped the camera.  Grrrr.  Next time she sits for an instant.  In focus, snap and check.  Hubby moved his foot between the bird and the camera.  To give the bird some credit, I am shooting through a double pane window so that may account for some of the blur.  My hands are not as steady as they could be.

I had purchased a block of food for finches.  Not the thistle type of food like the yellow finches love.  This block was full of little, round seeds about the size of mustard seeds.  I hung it first from the feeder rail where I would hang the thistle feeders.  No takers.  Lowered to about 18 inches above the ground.  Still no takers.  I rearranged the little fountain so the water trickles over a rock so the birds could drink there.  I hung the seed block from the side of the fountain.  The seed block was just off the patio about 1 inch .  Still no takers.  Fine!  I put it on the ground next to the gate and walked away in a grumpy mood.

You guessed it.  Immediately the female finch was all over it.  I grabbed the camera and started shooting.  Instantly it seemed she was hiding in the area on the opposite side of the block of seeds.  I now have about 200 blurry photos of what I believe to be a house finch.  There may be two pretty good shots of just her head peaking over the seeds.  I am about to decide she is really a drone sent by the senators I have been writing and calling.  You know, tantalizing me to keep me distracted from the issues. .  .  Or maybe she is just a bird visiting my feeders.  Thanks Obama.

And thank you for stopping by for a chat!

Peace,
Janice

sparrows

Feeding the birds at our apartment building after the whole rat visiting the feeder incidents was suspended last year.  Yep, not a fan of rats.  But a few weeks ago I decided to try it again to see how it goes.  I bought mealy worm cakes and suet.  The doves loved the mealy worms and the sparrows engorged on the suet.  The suet was gone in about 48 hours.  The mealy worms are still around the edges of the hanger feeder I bought in Door County last year.

Over the weekend I bought more suet and patio bird food.  PBF is waste free nuts and grains.  No shells, not husks makes for waste free.  I took the hanging feeder out to the oak tree outside our apartment.  Thinking Hoping this location keeps the rats away from us should the vermin decide to try to eat the food.  I really want it to be birds not rats.

Earlier today I sat in my easy chair enjoying the flurry of birds enjoying the food outside the patio door.  Nothing exotic, just sparrows.  About 15 or 20 flitting around the feeders.  Others feasting on bits that had fallen onto the patio.  They seemed happy though a couple were a little greedy trying to chase the others away.  That eventually stopped, too.

Wish we humans could move on that easily.  Birds and flowers do not worry.  Humans, well, we worry.  We worry about being 'on time' for appointments by showing up 30 minutes ahead of time.  We worry about how often to shampoo our hair (guilty as charged).  We worry about scaly skin, graying hair, cellulite, endangered species, how old the earth is, ad infinitum.  I worry about my husband when he is away more than an hour and a half without checking in.  As he is right now...

Think I'll put another cake of suet out for the non worrying sparrows.  Sweep the patio.  May send a text to Hubby.  Then it will be time for another cup of java as I wait for Hubby to check back to me.  Cause I am a wife not a sparrow.

PS:  He just walked in the door!  Now, can you find the gecko in this photo?  It visits my patio regularly.