Friday January 14, 2011

We’ve had a dusting of snow several times in the past few weeks.

Snow always brightens the brownish, winter landscape

A dark-eyed junco looks for something to eat near one of my dad’s shoes – his last work shoes – that have been in our flowerbed since his death in 1997.

Each winter I wonder how birds stay warm.

There is just nothing to them but fluff.

I know in my head how they stay warm but it still doesn’t make sense to me.

I’m glad they come to our feeders because I find them so interesting.

I thought the birds seemed a bid edgy on this particular day – then I noticed the sharp-shinned hawk in a nearby tree. (I first thought it was a red-tail, but my birder friend Pearl suggested that it might be a sharp-shinned, and upon closer observation, I agree with her. The tail is the give away.)

He looked innocent enough

How can he consider eating my little birds? They were safe for a few more minutes, because he flew away when I went outside.