Birds Spotted, 1/24/10

As I sit at my desk grappling with ideas, I often turn my gaze to our front window in search of inspiration.  Aside from breathtaking landscapes, we also have a bird feeder that usually gets a fair amount of action.

With the weather warming up and the sun showing its elusive face for the first time in weeks, it's been something of a banner bird day here at McBone outpost #1211.  Unlike in my last few bird-related posts, these birds were all very much alive.

Birds spotted

House finch
House sparrow
Goldfinch
Chickadee
Tufted titmouse
White breasted nuthatch
Robin
Northern flicker
Downy woodpecker
Junco
Mourning dove
Cardinal
Carolina wren
Red bellied woodpecker (pictured below)














Of course as any avian enthusiast knows, the joy of attracting birds brings with it the concomitant aggravation of an undesirable rodent class of mammals.

Rodent mammals spotted

Squirrel
Chipmunk

The sucky thing is that the rodents are bigger, smarter and more aggressive than the birds.  Occasionally a hawk will swoop in and snatch one up in its razor sharp talons, but at human devised deterrents they just laugh and feast and frolic in mockery of my rage.

nwb