My friend Sarah, who grew up in Portland, Oregon but has lived in central WI for the past 16 or so years, still gets a bit intimidated by the wildlife that lives near our place. She is especially freaked out by birds, especially Sandhill cranes, which make some interesting, loud vocalizations pretty much all spring and summer long. I remind her that they really are just communicating to one another and it has nothing to do with her, but the sound and its close proximity just sends shivers up her spine. So, today I thought about Sarah when I was notified subtly by Chance that something was wrong outside and looked out to see this visitor to the only bird feeder that I am keeping stocked this winter. He (I'm sure I saw little nubbins on his head where his rack used to connect) just calmly hung around, nibbling up as many black oil sunflower seeds as possible. He got rattled by a few close flying chickadees who probably did not appreciate him horning in on their food source (if you are groaning, that was a good pun!), but he stayed about 25 minutes. I know there are far too many of his kind around, and I have not appreciated their presence in two particular vehicular introductions in the past year or so, but today I am feeling kind of attached to him. Maybe by feeding the birds we are making his winter just a bit better, too.
Plus I love the thought of sharing these photos with the family hunters who saw not a single deer this year on their annual trek to the woods. Maybe they should leave a trail of bird seed next November...
1 comment:
I do appreciate wildlife, but prefer a window between us! 16 years has not improved my fondness a bit - AND, the cranes are SCARY!
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