birdland

Welcome back to Birdland. I don't remember such a proliferation of birdies as this spring has brought. The little sparrows are nesting in the hedge, starlings in the cherry tree, crows a few houses up the street (thank goodness, the noisy things), and the robins seem to be next door.

Meanwhile, "back at the ranch", the orange crested warbler

is still going at it

staring at himself in a window of the cabin

knowing there's an intruder there 

"Yes, I'm certain! There you are!"

He continues to scrabble at the window

(my shots of that useless on this sunless day, at this distance)

the wind made it a good drying day despite the low sunlight

The little warbler takes a rest in the honeysuckle

then on a pipe leftover from the shed deconstruction

Meanwhile the pheasant is out in the field

and a starling surveys his world from the cabin roof

he hops to the crest of the roof

and begins to sing

the song of his people, all the while fluttering his wings like a wind up toy

and the gurgling

One day we listened to him do a dozen or more different musical phrases,

a private concert while we picnicked on our side porch

hopping over to meet a newcomer, such social creatures

On a sunnier day I ran for the camera just in time to get a rare shot of the female pheasant

It's the male I usually see

and I do mean usually as they are out every day,

finding this spot in the field where the old hay lays easy pickings for a hungry pheasant

starlings are picking loose grass in our yard for nests I suppose

the yard is lush, the little apple tree in the foreground with more blossoms than in years past

yesterday, another lucky sighting of the female, though you can see how ghost-like she appears

blending with the old hay

the male is magnificent. Can you see his feather "ears"?

It's tempting to apologize for these blurry shots

blown up from images much smaller than this

I'm just grateful to have this new view opened up

(see the warbler in the right hand window?)

On Monday, Victoria Day, here in Canada, I painted the garage doors of the cabin.

This shot taken from my studio window where...

I put the finishing touches on my robin girl

(paint pens, coloured pencils and fountain pen)

How could I not finally draw a bird after all this influence as if the Universe isn't trying to tell me something!

Gratitude. It is heightened for me with loss. That's ironic in this western world where we have so much. But it is loss that puts a fine point on our overview. It becomes our duty; yes, we are obliged to remember the abundance in which we live, and in gratitude ...

clarify