The bird finally gathered its courage since we weren't moving away any time soon and descended to the railing to grab some seeds keeping a wary eye on us.
There is something very beautiful about these little bits of sunlight that grace my property every day. This particular bird is one that has decided not to go elsewhere for its daily intake of seed, and visits mostly with a family of house finches. It's fabulous when I get the male house finch and the male goldfinch together... the red and the yellow so startling against green leaves or against blue sky. And both have glorious songs, long and evolved trills and whistles with many ascending and descending notes - lovely to hear.
It always amazes me how accustomed to human companionship or habits the birds can become. They seem to watch for me to put the seeds out in the morning - all of them, goldfinches, house finches, chickadees, grackles, blue jays, woodpeckers... even now when there is tons of other food around for them, there they are for a quick meal or snack as soon as the feeder is placed on its perch.
My next project is to try to figure out when the birds go to bathe and see if I can catch a photo of one or more at the edge of the pond, drinking or bathing.
I watched a robin the other day giving itself a bath for the longest time. He must have taken ten minutes to duck his head, throw his head covered with water up and back and flutter his feathers. He jumped in and out of the water a few times, squatting down when he was in the water to lower his belly into it. It was a fascinating experience since I've never really taken the time to watch the whole activity from beginning to the bird flying away. Usually it's much quicker or the bird is startled and leaves. The entire performance quite absorbed me and left me smiling for the rest of the day. I felt privileged to have watched it.
Hope something makes you smile all day long today.
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