birds | Change Is Hard

February 9, 2026
by dawnkinster 29 Comments

Cold birds

It’s been cold here. Really cold. Mornings are often close to 0F if not below. (-17C)

My backyard birds need extra food to survive, and they’re eating about 40 pounds of oiler seeds a week. Not to mention the big bag of peanuts in the shell, and the 10 pounds of shelled peanuts and the 20 pound of niger seed.

I don’t think they travel far from my yard. When I’m out there filling the 6 feeders and one suet cage they chirp and flutter in nearby shrubs and trees. Maybe they’re discussing the menu. Probably more likely they’re wondering why I’m so slow.

*Waiting impatiently for his favorite feeder to be filled.*

Before I’m even back in the house they’re already swooping down to see what fresh treats I’ve left them. Sometimes I stand against the house, under the eves, and wait to see who shows up. I’ sure they know I’m there, but they can’t wait to grab a snack. If it’s not to windy and cold I’ll stand there awhile, enjoying the sound of their wings and their gentle chirping to each other.

*A titmouse on alert, looking for the biggest peanut to snag.*

During the winter months, when they’re so hungry and not busy raising a family, they seem to all get along. I have 5 pair of cardinals that will eat side by side on the railing where I spread seed in the worst weather, so that everyone can eat at the same time and no one has to wait.

In the spring and summer the cardinals will chase each other out of what they seem to feel is their own territory. You won’t find them eating together when they’re setting up households and struggling under new parent responsibilities.

The titmouse is the bravest of the birds. They’re usually the first to arrive when the feeders are newly filled. They’ll even come hop around the shrub nearest me as I pour seed on the railing. They are not afraid and they pick the biggest peanuts in shells every time. The peanuts are almost as big as their heads. They are very proud to get the prize seed before the big bluejays show up.

*A puffed up shy junco waiting for the lady to go inside.*

The chickadees are right behind the titmice, making a lot of noise to announce their arrival. They like a particular feeder and often flit back and forth between the shelter of the shrubs and the safe, caged, feeder.

*A fat little goldfinch getting frustrated at the wait for lunch.*

And I have a band of 7 bluejays that send a scout first who will announce when it’s safe. Then the rest of them swoop in, scaring, for a moment, the little birds. But soon they and the littles are all eating together.

*Mourning doves taking an apres meal nap in the empty, heated, birdbath.*

But if, suddenly, all the birds disappear it’s important to look around. Because sometimes the reason they’ve all hidden is this guy.

*Standing on one foot while warming the other on a cold morning.*

I’ve seen him attack a huge thorny barberry bush where the little birds like to hide, trying to get lunch. So far I haven’t seen him suceed at that. The little birds fly out and he’s tangled up in the thorns.

On the day I shot his image last week, it was close to zero out. He was, at first, standing on one foot and keeping the other warm up under his feathers. But he eventually put two feet firmly on the feeder hook and surveyed the yard for quite awhile before he flew off into the woods to look for an easier meal.

So there you go, some of my cold birds, most puffed up to conserve heat. This week it might get up into the 40s (4 C)…for one day anyway. I expect the birds will be sunbathing in relief.

January 29, 2026
by dawnkinster 27 Comments

Winter goldfinch and books

In January, 2014 I was trying to read The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. All I can remember about the book without looking at my notes is that there is a young boy who somehow is in possession of something important and it all revolves around a piece of art.

*Winter goldfinches turn green with lingering hints of yellow, the hope for summer’s return.*

But looking back at Goodreads, reading my ‘review’ (I honestly never think of my notes as any kind of review) I remember more.

*The stink-eye from the bird in the middle says he doesn’t appreciate being photographed.*

A thirteen year old boy and his mother are visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art when a bomb explodes, killing his mother. In the chaos someone directs the boy to steal an important piece of art, titled The Goldfinch.

*Something startles them and they fly for safety.*

The story goes on from there, on and on for about 800 pages. My review noted the often beautiful writing but the hopelessness of wading through so many pages of it. I was determined, it says in my review, not to let the book beat me.

And now, after all that, I don’t even remember how it ended.

*This little dark-eyed junco takes the opportunity to grab a quick lunch.*

Today, more than 10 years later, I’m reading Fredrik Backman’s My Friends. Mr. Backman also wrote A Man called Ove which I loved and remember almost every bit of.

*The sun comes out and everybody settles in for a friendly meal.*

I expected to have a similar warm and tearfully emotional experience with this book, but so far I am not having those feelings…and I am struggling to finish it. I’m half way through and I’m determined not to let the book beat me.

The book seems to be two stories, one the story of eighteen year old Louisa who has aged out of the foster system and run away, and the story of four friends, one of whom grew up to be a famous artist, and their story of a summer decades ago, depicted in a very famous, very expensive painting.

*Some fuzzy girl in the house barks at her birds.*

Now one of those four friends has run into Louisa on her flight from her old life. He might be running away too. He has with him the ashes of the artist and the painting itself. It happens to be Louisa’s favorite painting, one she came to town to see.

That’s as much as I know at this point. Louisa and the artist’s friend are on a train going somewhere. The friend said the artist wanted Louisa to have the million dollar painting. (The artist and Louisa met briefly in an alley where she was spray painting a mural on the back of a building. He said she was his kind of person.)

It has occurred to me that young people and famous pieces of art might be a theme.

*They ‘hide’ in the top of the nearby beech tree until they think it’s safe.*

Which reminds me of another book, written by a friend of mine, Karen Mulvahill. Her book, The Lost Woman is the story of Nicole who’s parents were each rounded up by the Nazis during WWII. Nicole’s father owned an art gallery and Nicole worked there as a young woman. After it was taken over by members of the Nazi party she managed to get hired to work there again.

*And then they’re right back to eating.*

She did that so that she could protect as much art as possible. But at what cost? At the beginning of the story she is an old woman, hiring a man named Robert to find and return some of the art that was stolen.

The book, beautifully written, is the story of Robert and Nicole and how they came to be in the places they find themselves.

*It begins to snow again and the goldfinch makes peace with the cardinal who also wants lunch.*

So here you have three books and three sets of young people absorbed in art. Three different stories threaded together with images of my winter goldfinches who, of course, have their own stories to tell.

Wordless Wednesday

January 28, 2026 by dawnkinster 24 Comments

January 18, 2026
by dawnkinster 34 Comments

Catching up

I have a new laptop. Can you tell? I can, there’s a different feel, things are in different places, and I have to figure everything out.

For example, I can’t find the cursor to put it where I want it to do any editing. Getting the images in is hard too. I can cut and paste previously typed stuff, but I can’t delete anything. So odds are you’re going to see the same sentence repeated because as I was inserting photos they were going in the wrong locations and I was trying to move text around them.

*I’ll just ignore all that going on over there.*

AND I have this backlog of photos to show you! Of course they’re mostly birds, shot in my own backyard because sometimes I look out there and I can’t not take their pictures. They are soooo cute. And beautiful too.

*Hey lady! This is supposed to have water in it!*

I have so many images of the same birds eating out of the same feeders. But each time I’m hopeful of getting that shot. You know the one. The one that makes you gasp or smile or both.

*Hurry up and eat before some big bird comes along.*

Sometimes I think I’m the only one feeding the birds in my neighborhood. They sit out there in the trees and shrubs and seem to wait. I’m hardly ever back in the house when they’re chowing down on the newly filled feeders. It’s cold right now and I’m filling six feeders 2x a day.

Does that make them spoiled?

So now I have all these images that I’m just now getting processed and you just need to see them. I have virtually nothing interesting to say to accompany the pictures.

*No bird in this image…just beautiful frosty ice.*

The birds have been so hungry they are getting used to me standing in the window with that big black lens pointed at them. I think they’ve decided the risk of me is worth it. Or maybe they recognize me from all my trips outside to fill their feeders.

*Just leave all the peanuts in the shell to me and I’ll leave you guys alone.*

I guess I could tell you that all of these were taken from across a room and through a window. Thank goodness we paid some nice gentlemen to wash the windows this fall.

*There are five of us cardinal couples at the feeders daily.*

Whenever I’ve tried to do the windows I end up with a streaky mess. The guys that come here twice a year do a beautiful job and I don’t think they’re very expensive given all the windows we have. We try to get them scheduled in the fall before the weather would make window cleaning really miserable.

We were pretty late this year but we made it. In addition winter started a little early. Does that mean it will end early this spring?

Probably not. The winter this year seems more like winters I remember as a kid. Cold and snowy. We’ve had snow on the ground most of the time since Thanksgiving.

*Eating upside down is good for your digestion. Really.*

Anyway I think I’ve rambled enough to show you some of the images I got last month. I have a whole other set of images from the ice storm. That was pretty amazing.

*Hi, I’m a titmouse and I fly really fast. And I eat a lot. Cause I’m such a crazy little bird.*

I’d like to get all these photos from 2025 processed and filed away. Cause there are even more on my camera waiting to be downloaded from 2026!

Stay tuned.

I’m just going to publish this and see what it looks like. I can’t get to the preview either, and I can’t delete some stuff, though I was able to delete a few sentences and then I lost that ability again. It’s going to make me crazy if this is the way things work!

But I’m glad to just get some photos out there. I’ll try to see if I can edit it tomorrow. Maybe the laptop (or WordPress) just needs a good night of sleep.

UPDATE: Apparently WordPress just needed a nap. The editing today went just fine. I’m not going to reread this post, I’m sure it reads somewhat clunky as I was working so hard last night just to insert an image or a paragraph. But I feel better that I can at least delete repetition. Hope you enjoy the birds!

January 6, 2026
by dawnkinster 24 Comments

What’s new in the new year?

I have a bunch more bird pictures to edit. There are probably some good ones in there but I’m just not motivated. And if I don’t hurry up and get them done I’m pretty sure I’ll never do it. That would be bad because I have this rule that I can’t go out on a photo hunt if I haven’t even processed the ones I’ve already taken.

Silly rule.

Meanwhile, Penny and I have started back to school. It’s been almost a month since we’ve been in a class. I was concerned that she’d forgotten everything I’ve learned (she says she hasn’t learned anything other than how to manipulate me) and that I would have a wild child on my hands.

Turns out she was very happy to go do some Rally with me last Saturday morning at a scheduled fun match.

She got to see other dogs and do some fun stuff (her favorite thing is to fly over the jumps) and get treats and she especially likes it when people come by and tell her she’s beautiful.

I guess mom and dad don’t do that enough.

She did four runs on Saturday, 2 of them off leash. We’re still working on specific stuff, especially the no treats in the ring thing, but we both had fun. It felt good to get out together.

Monday night we started back at our regular Rally class. Two runs, both off leash, and she was a very good girl. She mostly focused on me instead of what was going on in the ring next to us, or within our own class members at the gate or coming or going out the back door.

And there was that jump she REALLY wanted to take, and we had to heel right past it. SO HARD!! But she did it both times. I was proud of her.

Today she did the cutest thing. I realized during school that I hadn’t worked with her in our basement at all during the weeks long holiday and that we could have been even better in class if I had spent that time with her. So this afternoon while I was out in the kitchen and noticed her treats, I asked her if she wanted to work.

She immediately grinned and ran to the top of the basement stairs, looking over her shoulder at me. We haven’t worked down there in over a month but she knew exactly what she wanted to do. So down the stairs we bounced and we worked on heeling and figure 8s and waiting and sitting and staying and coming and some other stuff. She’s very focused until she figures out mom doesn’t carry any treats.

The hardest thing for her was when we were heeling back toward the jackpot treats sitting up on a cabinet. I hadn’t intended to jackpot her then, we just happened to be going that way, and she broke heel to run to the jackpot and I said “no, come here” and she reluctantly did. And then we turned around and heeled away from the jackpot! OH NO!!!! But she stuck with me and at the other end of the room I released her and we both went back to get her jackpot.

*Yesterday’s walk at Katie’s park – with SUN!*

That was really hard for her. I told her she was a good girl. I should probably tell her she’s beautiful while I’m at it too.

December 24, 2025
by dawnkinster 26 Comments

Junco smiles

There are some little birds around here that only visit me in the winter. They spend their summers further north and when I see them hanging out here for the first time each fall I usually feel a slight twinge of sadness.

Their arrival at my feeders are one of the first signs that fall is slipping into winter.

For whatever reason this year there seem to be a lot more than usual, and I’ve been enjoying them hopping around looking adorable.

*Hopping down to the ground, their preferred feeding space.*

They are such poofy, round little birds. The males are dark grey and the females are a bit more grey brown. But honestly it’s pretty hard for me to tell them apart. I think all these images are males. And you can tell they are juncos by the pinkish beaks they all sport.

*Matching his (or her) winter background.*

This year instead of resenting their arrival I’ve been enjoying their antics. I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing them too, even if only in this post.

*A little snow early in the season doesn’t bother them at all.*

Merry Christmas everyone. May you all have a peaceful holiday.

November 27, 2025
by dawnkinster 14 Comments

Happy Thanksgiving

This morning as I’ve been fixing the big dinner I’ve been watching my birds out the window and my Penny-girl napping inside and feeling grateful that I’m in my warm house looking out at a windy cold yard. It’s 32F here (0 C) and it feels, because of the wind, like 19F (-7.22C).

I know the birds watch me as I fill the feeders every morning. Every day, before I’m back in the house they’re usually fluttering around picking at their favorite spot. This morning I somehow missed the goldfinch feeder and as I was walking to the shower later I noticed a big bunch of them all huddled around the very bottom of their feeder.

That’s all the seed there was left, just a bit at the very bottom.

I thought about going out and filling it after my shower. But they were hungry now. So I ran out without a coat and hurridely filled their feeder with thistle. Then I went inside to watch. No finches. I waited some more. One finch dropped down onto the beech tree, contemplated the feeder swaying in the wind.

“Come on little guy,” I murmered, “it’s right there for you, all fresh and nice.” He waivered and clung to his branch. “Come on sweetie, I whispered.” He tentatively flew to the top of the hook and looked around. Then he hopped down to the feeder and began to greedly eat. Suddenly finches came from all over, and swarmed the feeder.

I smiled.

Happy Thanksgiving little ones. Happy Thanksgiving.

And happy Thanksgiving to all of you. We hope you have a wonderful, warm and belly-filling day. Penny added that last bit about the belly. She has her priorities.

*Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! from you gal Penny.*

Wordless Wednesday – diving into the holidays

November 26, 2025 by dawnkinster 25 Comments

November 9, 2025
by dawnkinster 29 Comments

You know you’re from Michigan if…

This weekend, I guess that means yesterday, I was busy taking pictures of my backyard birds as they bounced around in the beech tree near our feeders.

*This is a very polular location. You have to wait in line to get the best stuff.*

I loved the colors, the tree still hanging onto her leaves even though we are well into November now.

*Sometimes the little bird feeder is especially busy and the wait is long.*

It wasn’t warm outside, not like it had been through most of October, but it was still a nice, if slightly dreary, day.

*I was shooting the goldfinch, but look who dropped in below.* *(White-striped sparrow)*

I spent some of the day on Saturday painting Christmas cards to be sent to folks in nursing homes. Nothing too complicated, just simple cards painted in the hope they made someone smile.

The goal was to get 10 painted over the weekend and mailed on Monday. Christmas comes so early when you have to get your stuff off to folks who have to do their thing to get the cards to seniors in a timely manner.

*Folded, I’ll write a little note inside each of them and then send them off to the card coordinator on Monday.*

I haven’t felt very Christmas-y this fall. I procrastinated on painting the cards until it was almost too late. I thought maybe I’d skip the whole Christmas card thing this time.

*People ignore us little brown birds all the time too.*

I haven’t put the lights up outside either. I usually put lights on one tree, the smallest of the spruce trees we planted so many years ago, at the corner of our lot.

*This chunky little woodpecker had a hard time fitting through the feeder cage.*

I use the smallest tree so that I can get lights clear up to the top if I stand on a ladder and use a long pole. It’s a lot of work and I don’t know if I’m up to it anymore.

*But eventually he got his lunch. Might want to consider a smaller portion than usual though.*

Still, the neighbors tell me how much they enjoy that tree when it’s lit on our dark winter nights. I enjoy it too. Somehow it makes the winter go by a little faster, or at least be a little brighter. So maybe I’ll get the lights up the next nice day we have around here.

Probably not today though. This morning I woke to our first snow of the season. Penny is not at all sure she was good with this new development.

*Hey lady! I’d like a berry special please. Pronto!*

But I am happy to see the trees and shrubs begin to be covered by this new white blanket. Pen and I might even go out and play in it when I finish this post.

*The cardinal was unflappable by the robin’s flight.*

Some of the birds are not as happy as I am to see the change in weather. But the snow makes me think that maybe I can put the lights up. Maybe I can paint a few cards for the season. Maybe I can get into the Christmas mood.

*A festive red and green image in my own back yard.*

Maybe I can.

You know you’re in Michigan when one day you’re working in the garden and the next you’re laughing over bird antics in the snow.

*You can do it lady, I have faith in you.*

Happy holidays, everybody. They are upon us.

October 17, 2025
by dawnkinster 27 Comments

OH NO!

I’ve been junco’d! I say that every year.

When I see the first junco my heart drops but it also fills. Which seems a thought at odds with itself, doesn’t it?

Dark eyed juncos are only here for the winter months. And they are the first harbingers of winter, so my heart drops. But they are also adorable little round birds, and they will hop around under the feeders all winter, delighting us with their antics. So my heart fills that they’ve chosen my yard again.

No matter that the red winged blackbirds, the sign of spring and summer, are still here eating me out of house and black oiler seed before their trips south. No matter that we had temps approaching 75 degrees F yesterday (23.33 C) and will most likely again today.

Winter is on the way. Proof, a junco arrived today. Time to get out the winter coats, find the snow shovel, and check the antifreeze in the cars.

Welcome Mr. (or Ms.) Junco. I’m glad to see you again, but did you have to arrive so early?

PS: The pictures aren’t in focus. I was a long way away, and this little one popped up on the driveway, almost blending in with the asphalt. Still, I can’t fool myself into thinking it’s a sparrow. Can you?

Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Tag Archives: birds