Birds

Beside the tall bush, another Rose of Sharon, which has grown over the top of the backyard fence, there is a piece of wood, a slat nailed between the side and the back fence. One I learned about the hard way as I stooped over to weed and came up and whacked my head more than once. Anyway, I taped down the broken bird house . . . I say broken for it is lacking a roof which disappeared in moving it around, but it still works wonders for feeding the birds. I think they like the glass sides.


On the pine tree stump is another bird house, well made, but the birds do not like it as well. I cannot imagine why, maybe it is not as open, although it is wider and well built. It was gifted to my granddaughter who thought it should find its place in my back yard. There is another rickety old bird house that the birds ignore all together and a good wind will knock it over before winter is over.

Several times in the course of the week I walk outside with my bag filled with bird seed and fill the little houses. I love to watch the birds and I have been trying for weeks to get a picture for my blog. I wanted to be able to share the fun of bird watching. It is not to be as they are very smart creatures and no matter how softly I walk or how carefully I try to photograph their antics, I am outsmarted for the slightest noise sends them flying away to the wires above the fence where they line up and wait for me to go away so they can get back to the business of feeding their little fat bellies. I watch them fly down from the wires and each one takes a spot on the fence post. They line up and wait to see if it is safe to go to the bird house and feast. There I stand inside the glass doors, camera in hand, and all I have to do it press the button and they hear the click of the button and fly away.



It make me aware that they have great hearing, and always on the alert. I tried sitting out on my chair with a book so they would get used to a figure on the porch, but they sit on the wire and watch me, or fly up into the big tree in my neighbor's yard, or on his roof top and watch. As soon as I go away, they signal each other and make a bee line for the food and have a party. So I gather they are smarter than I am and there will be no photograph session. It's too bad as they are cute little budgie birds and there is one that is different, a thinner all yellow headed beauty, probably the Marilyn Munroe of the crowd, and possibly the one who warns them when I click the camera to try for a picture of them lined up on the fence top. I haven't seen the humming birds this year but I have seen that 'huge' snake with it's yellow stripes . . . huge is an overstatement as it is just a garden snake but I don't like snakes and am afraid of them so it looks pretty big and scary to me.


So today, a beautiful Sunday summer morning, grab a cup of coffee and go outside and check out your back yard, maybe you will be able to snap a picture or two of the birds in your yard. If so, send it on, I'll post it. Meanwhile, I wont give up and will keep trying to catch the birds off guard. . . good luck to me, that is not about to happen as they are really truly gifted in how to protect themselves from predators from sneaky cats to those big persons walking around with shiny cameras in their hands. I thought it was only we humans that didn't like getting our pictures taken. Make your Sunday a day of rest, you probably could use one. Hugs to all.