Saturday is for the Birds!

Saturday was Bob's first day back at work. It was rainy and overcast most of the day. I was blessed in the morning when I heard the racket from a pileated woodpecker who occasionally visits our yard. I was unable to get his photo, but I found this one for your enjoyment.

The day was filled with traffic at the feeder on our deck. The Blue Jay was quickly sent away by the Red Bellied woodpecker. If you look closely at this photo below you can see a smear of reddish hue on its belly, hence its name.



I was delighted to see the chickadees, sparrows and the usual population of cardinals. My biggest surprise of the day came with the landing of a male Rose Breasted Grosbeak. It sat on the feeder for a very long time, not feeding, but looking at me and seeming to enjoy being in our yard. I took it's photo, but all I got was it's back. When Bob got home from work he was blessed to see it, too. He managed to get this photo of it's forward view. Do you know the female looks almost like a large sparrow with a large beak?
I thought the day was delightful, but the Lord of Creation was not finished yet! Bob went to sleep fairly early. His weekend to work involves 12+ hour days. I was reading in bed when there was a noise in the yard. Just as I was thinking "Cat fight?" the Great Horned Owl made its call. This bird was frequenting the yard about 9:20 some evenings before we went on vacation. Bob has actually been awakened by the Owl. Here it was 9:26 PM and the familiar call was made. I thought, "Sorry, Owl, Bob is asleep already," and I went back to reading my book. 9:44 PM it was back and this time it called TEN times before the night quiet returned. What a day full of birds!
This morning in church a friend remarked, "I forgot how tied I am to the earth and the geographic changes as we traveled." I realized, that I, too, have ties to the earth. The birds usually get first place, but they often lose out to the flowers.
Fill a feeder and wait for the fun to begin!