Pleasant Porch

After a bit of neglect in which we let bird feeders get down to nothing and the bird bath go dry, bird seed supply dwindle, we finally got into the feed store and DH got out in the yard and cleaned and topped up everything. One of the reasons was that we were becoming alarmed at the number of pigeons we were attracting; also alarmed when we noticed some Mississippi Kites hovering nearby watching and sometimes chasing and probably catching some of the smaller birds. Thankfully not within my range of vision!

Our plan worked, but the result was that we missed out seeing our smaller birds feeding too, and that was the whole point of having the feeders. One large hopper with a ring all around it for perching, two thinner tubes with six individual perches each and what we nicknamed the 'Deli', a cedar box with plexiglass sides and narrow perches on two sides, all suspended from a wrought iron pole with four arching hooks. Plenty of room, plenty of food.

It took a couple of days for them to catch on that food was back, but we have been rewarded big time with the return of families of cardinals and black capped chickadees and titmice and finches and sparrows and blackbirds, thrashers have even come into the yard, and, yes, doves and pigeons have returned. We also filled two hummingbird feeders and have enjoyed watching them feed, and enjoy the little noises they make.

Two days ago I was alerted by splishing and splashing sounds that someone was in the bird bath. When I went to my window I was surprised to see two or three little blue feathered birds with rusty bibs and bright white bottoms enjoying their bath. Rushing for Sibley's guide to Birds I discovered that I had finally seen Eastern Bluebirds. They are beautifully colored and fun to watch. I have been waiting for them to come back, but, alas, not yet.

However, when I went out to the porch to get a closer look at them, stupidly sans camera, I got another surprise. A red bellied woodpecker came down to the bath and gently sipped some water while I watched, and then got in to enjoy his own bath! I called out gently for my husband to come enjoy the fruit of his labor but by the time he got to the back porch 'Woody' was gone. He is one that has his home in some one of the big trees around here, so hopefully he will return one of these days. In the meantime we enjoy sitting out on our screened in porch in the shade of the trees whose leaves have yet to totally abandon them, enjoying my mother-in-law's plants and watching out for any other new (perhaps migrating) birdlife that wish to join the year round visitors to our yard.