Outside

It was bicycling time at the wildlife refuge today. Birds have been migrating and every weekend it's going to be a new show. Sandhill cranes reported the last couple of weeks, with white pelicans before that, and I wanted to see what was around today in the swamps. This is not the quick and easy bike ride, since it takes time to get there and back plus hours and hours of riding in gravel and mud, with stretches where wheels might sink to their hubs, but the payoff is good for the day-long investment.

OK, yes, it's also time for a light post after a few heavy ones.

I'm not an expert birder, but I can recognize some, enjoy all, and even take a picture if I'm quick. My buddy and me made like birddogs today and flushed out birds. Saw Coots, Mallards, Red Winged Blackbirds, Wrens, Woodpeckers, Robins, Killdeer, Gulls, Blue Jays, Hawks, Blue Herons, Egrets, and many I did not recognize. It was a beautiful day to spend in the company of birds.

-© 2009 by Willy

Shelter

Thankfully, I now live in a nice, comfortable house with plenty of space in and out. Not the Windsor Castle, mind you, but a darned good place for an engineer, brought on as an evolution to a long developing career. It keeps the rain out and gives me a place to sleep.

I was watching the back yard this morning and noticed a wren building a nest in one of the birdhouses. The wrens' loud song wakes me early on weekends, so I knew that they were around. The male wren is a hard worker, developing many nests.

I used to wonder how birds survive storms, but my observation is that they don't. Last spring, after a nasty storm, my bird feeders went weeks without needing refill. And this happens repeatedly.

If their instinct lets them, a birdhouse is the Windsor Castle to a bird. I have several birdhouses, but not all birds use them, and many die in storms.

I remember several times in my life when I had no home. Times were when I made like the wren and built my nest from scratch. They were bad times, long gone. Life is sooo good now!

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- © 2008 by Willy