A Whir of Wings

As you probably well know by now, Himself and I feed the birds.  We get a lot of visitors for "the morning buffet".  And with this extreme cold weather they are extra eager for their rations.

When Himself is putting out the feed, the birds will buzz him before he is finished.  So I decided to try a little experiment with them.  We brought the feeder back inside for about 20 minutes.  Oh they were upset with us!  

Then we came back out with a comfy chair and the feeder.  I was in several layers of clothing (it was about 10* F at that time).

And I sat...

For a few minutes all I heard was the whirring of wings and a LOT of chirping.  I figured out that they didn't like seeing my eyes, so I kept them just barely open...looking through my lashes (which is why I look so 'frowny'... 30 minutes of squinting is tiring!!).

And then a girl cardinal couldn't stand it any more...

Do you think she could lean any farther away?

Let's try it from this angle...

A little bit closer...

OK...chow time!

Seeing her eating, a chickadee got brave.  Which Lady Cardinal did not like!

After his LadyBird ate and survived the 'brave' male cardinal came in for a long lunch.

Seeing him there, a titmouse got brave in flew in for some munchies.

Rough landing.

Checking out my thumb.

This chickadee was waiting for someone to leave.  While he sat, he sang me a sweet little song.

When he landed I could barely feel his weight.  SO tiny!

The junco (AKA snowbird) never did get the nerve to land on the feeder.  He waited for seeds to be knocked down by others.

It was so incredible to sit there and listen.  Just listen.  With the snow and ice, there are no traffic sounds.  I could here the chirps and wings of the birds, the shrill call of a hawk, trees rubbing together... even the cracking of the icy snow as it melted a bit.

Tomorrow I'm going to get Himself out there to experience it!