Duke

This morning, as Duke and I walked, a particularly noisy finch hailed us from the highway oak. The vigorous chirp had me looking for a cardinal. 

My mind said, “You need to get the birdfeeders fixed up.” 

Two years ago during a drought, I had finches and cardinals all year.  The adults:  cardinals, yellow bellied woodpeckers and downy woodpeckers brought their juveniles to the tree.  I watched a father cardinal feed his young the sunflower seeds that had gotten kicked to the ground.

But, this spring, with twice the usual rainfall, must have brought lots of native chow because they all left and abandoned food in the feeders.  Only the hummingbirds were home.

I’ve seen  juncos, doves and jays hanging around.  And a titmouse…even titmice?  But, the beautiful cardinals are few. There is a bit of milo that grew along the sidewalk from seeds they missed last winter.   The brush honeysuckle is heavy with berries as is the viburnum. I’ve thought I had some time. 

 Today, after some potato soup for MY lunch, I even left the birds to their own designs and took a little nap! After all, it is nearly a holiday and I pushed hard last night and early this morning to finish that project for Vanetworking.com.  I could squeeze in a doze while listening to the New World Symphony on npr.   Forgive me, BigCountry99, but I needed to rest!

While getting my brains back in order, I heard a soft banging on the window.  NO JOKE!  No one is around, but me, the dogs, the birds and the very fat cats.  The dog is confined to the deck, the horses and chickens are in their pens…that leaves the very fat cats and the birds!   A closer look showed me some toe tips along the bottom of the screen.   I thought at first that Phoebe, the kitten had discovered another access to me and because she isn’t very fat yet, had hauled herself up.  Shortly, she would be tearing holes in my screen!  

But, no Phoebe!  Instead, a wren had come for Thanksgiving and the bright eyes clearly stated that I had better get the bird seed out or ELSE!!!   Working on another website will have to wait a while.  It is warmer outside than inside today and truly, I didn’t mind slipping out to fill those glaringly empty feeders.  There will be some very full birds for Thanksgiving!  All the feeders are hanging so that they aren’t even tempting to very fat cats, trust me!

I had thought I had seen my Thanksgiving birds at Antioch Park in Kansas City when Hannah visited with the geese on the stepping stones.

Hannah and Geese on the Stepping Stones at Antioch Park

Flags Fly in Antioch Park