Bird Watching

I'm not a 'birder'.  I don't read magazines and books about birds, I don't try to learn the songs of different birds, and I don't go on expeditions to try to see specific birds.  However, I do have several bird feeders and I love to see the bright flashes of color when an unexpected bird drops in for a visit.

Through this long winter, I've become accustomed to the gray feathers of the mourning doves and the barely colored house finches that have continued to visit my feeders.  Today, though, the temperatures were a bit warmer and I saw some fun visitors.

First, there were three woodpeckers in one of the trees in my front yard.  They were pecking away at bugs, but I was able to clearly see them and identify them as Downy Woodpeckers.  As I watched them frantically pecking for bugs, I saw a flash of red and a different species of woodpecker.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see it clearly enough or long enough to tell whether it was a Red-Headed Woodpecker of a Red-Bellied Woodpecker.  Either way, it was fun to watch them and it motivated me to go out and clean up my feeders and refill them.  I'm afraid I had let it go a bit long.

Then, as we were sitting down to dinner, I looked through the back yard into the evergreen trees that grow on the other side of our fence.  Tucked into the branches was a big fat Northern Cardinal.  I had just put out some cracked corn and sunflower seeds so I'm hoping he'll stick around for a while.

The Mourning Doves have been coming up on the porch and hiding out behind the wagon that I have (filled with branches) as a winter display.  I suppose it's a bit warmer and safer hiding behind the wagon.  It's probably a nice refuge for them, but I wish they'd quit pooping all over my porch!