God's Happy Thoughts

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap...I opened my eyes and smiled.  There he is again - my little buddy. I love him, he always makes me smile. Ok, so I probably shouldn't like that he wakes me up in the morning pecking the side of my house, and I probably shouldn't like that he is most likely making a hole in my house somewhere...probably shouldn't, but I do.

I got out of bed and went to the window to pull open the shade. I wanted to see what I could see. Even the sound of raising the blind was enough to scare him from the side of the house, to the highest branches of the Mountain Ash. He sat there facing me. It was like he was a child saying, "Morning, Mama! Am I in trouble?"

"No, son; you are not in trouble...this time. I'm just glad you are here." 

Yeah, yeah, I know. That might be a little extreme. Ok, a whole lot extreme. I really don't think of Mr. Flicker as my son, but I do kinda love him. :-)

A bit later, I walked out the door to run some errands. I was greeted with the Meadowlark's morning call. Ahhhhh...."Mornin', to you too, my friend."

Let's see...so far this spring, I have seen* Mr. Flicker, my yearly killdeers, robins, Black-capped Chickadees, finches, and the bad boys of the neighborhood - the starlings. I've heard the meadowlarks, though I have yet to see one, and I have heard the geese fly overhead. A week or so ago, I took a drive across the prairie, just after the rains. There was flooding in several places - little lakes, really. And there were hundreds and hundreds of Canada Geese swimming on the temporary ponds of the pastures. It was so beautiful! But of course, I didn't have my camera.

I haven't seen my favorite birds yet, the Mountain Blue Birds** and second to that the Western Blue Birds. I checked my notes, and last year they arrived on March 11th. It is possible they are here and I just haven't seen them yet.  There are birds beginning to nest in one of the blue bird boxes, but I haven't been able to identify them just yet. Whenever I have seen them the sun has been in the wrong place making it difficult to see their color. I can tell, however, by the way they fly that they are not swallows. Swallows typically get that box, but maybe the blue birds beat them to it this year.

So begins my bird watching for the season. I'm thankful the spring days are here. As I sat here typing a little sparrow sat on the rail of my deck. He was soon joined by another. This one had a rose hip in her mouth. She sat it carefully on the rail. They both just sat there a moment before they flew away together.  I hope I didn't scare them. The rose hip is still sitting there where the little bird left it. Curious; I wonder if she will be back for it.

As I look out the various windows at this moment, the yard is completely devoid of any bird activity.

I will watch like this every morning. I will keep records and I will probably report on this blog. I have said it before, and I really believe it, the birds are God's happy thoughts.

As I finish up my post for today, I found that some time in between my checking the windows, and then finding a photo and posting this blog, the rose hips disappeared.

When thou seest an eagle, thou seest a portion of genius; lift up thy head!

William Blake (1757 - 1827)

 


*   Add to my list the Dark-eyed Junco - March 13, 2014
** The Mountains are Home - March 13, 2014