With the Swan and Goose count cancelled because of weather conditions I had decided to do a bit of birding from the window, alas my better half had other ideas and I was given the task of cleaning the house. I flitted here and there like a Bushtit at a suet feeder and it was not long before I got a tea break, so I positioned myself by the window to watch all the goings on at the feeder. Varied Thrush were in good numbers with 6 recorded at one time, 2 American Robins had found a bare patch on the lawn to dig for worms, sadly they took a big dislike to each other and spent most of the time battling. Funny with the adverse conditions many of my Oregon Junco’s did not turn up for their elevensies also awol were 2 White-crowned Sparrows and my wintering White-throated Sparrow, could it be that someone else was feeding them better food than me?
At this point the wife decided she needed a fix at Walmart and took off, leaving me to fend for myself, well that’s all I needed to discard my feather duster and put the cleaner away. I thought I now I would get to work on my penny collection having sadly neglected all my copper through the Christmas period, as I held a bright 1999 up to the sunlight a Anna’s Hummingbird appeared at the window and hovered there checking out the date, as I twisted and turned the coin the hummer would twist and turn the same way, memories of Chubby Checker came to mind. It must have been the bright reddish color that had attracted the bird as it was mesmerized by the coin.
At this point I decided to turn around the other way just in case the bird hit the window and would you believe it a Bewick’s Wren turned up and worked the windows looking for spiders, well I think it was, as I don’t think it was interested in numismatics. That’s coin collecting for all you out there that don’t know.
Anyways many species came and went and I found myself gazing up at the sky and there coming like a bullet was the local Merlin hell bent on swiping one of the local European Starlings.
Many other species came and went and the House Finch’s worked on their tan as about a dozen of them sat on top of the plum tree, a male and female Purple Finch visited the sunflower silo and then one of the American Robins took great offense at having sunflower seeds dropped on his head and attacked driving off the pair.
I once again gazed off up into the skies, I think Iwas having some withdrawal symptoms as I yearned for a Trumpeter Swan to fly over, it was getting bad as I would have been happy to even get a Canada Goose to pass the house. All I got for looking up was a pain in the neck and one lonely adult Glaucous-winged Gull heading into Quamichan Lake.
With my attention going back to the amassed coinage on the table I wondered how many pennies it would take to escape this white wonderland and head off to somewhere warm. This thought of getting warm led me into a false sense of security as I had failed to notice that “she who must be obeyed” had just arrived back home and it was time for another tea break.
I miss my friends and laughter of the Swan and Goose count and we can only hope that next Wednesday sees the weather improve and get back to some positive work as this housework thing is for the birds.
Keep looking
Derrick