birds | Change Is Hard

Sunday afternoon I went to a park without Katie. Don’t tell her, she’ll never forgive me. I needed some time to myself and I wanted to walk on some nature trails where they don’t allow dogs.

At this park there is a heron rookery, and the herons were all paired up on their nests high in the oak trees out in the middle of a shallow lake. (Click on the pictures to see more detail.)

There’s a boardwalk built through the lily pads and cattails where you can sit and watch the herons, and later in the season the egrets on their nests. The most exciting time is when the youngsters begin to explore and test their wings.

But right now it looks like the nests are all occupied by pairs of herons, I don’t know if there are eggs in the nests yet, but certainly there are a number of pairs getting ready to be parents.

As I was watching from the boardwalk there arose a screeching to the left – sandhill cranes make such distinctive sounds. A pair of them flew right toward us on the boardwalk, then across in front of us and on into the marsh to the right. This is where I got the hugely cropped photo that’s currently my blog header. In the photo below you can see the legs of the bird as he/she descends into the cattails. It was so cool!

THEN…on the way home I saw a pair of sandhill cranes feeding in a field near the road. I turned around and went back. They accommodated me and posed for quite awhile.

Aren’t they beautiful!

I had a great day on my own. Katie had a great day with her Dad.

Win win.

🙂

March 23, 2014
by dawnkinster 22 Comments

Was going to

Was going to blog about any number of things today. Had them all lined up. But I have to tell you a couple of things not related to any of that.

Even though my yard looks like this today, which doesn’t seem all that spring-like…

1. I SAW a pair of sandhill cranes flying over Katie’s park when I was driving to Ann Arbor to go to the symphony yesterday evening! Their flight is so distinctive. I got to watch them for quite awhile, and I smiled every second of it.

2. This morning there was a red winged blackbird on my feeder, more proof they are really here. Now this sort of makes me smile, and sort of makes me not smile. They are such pigs. They eat so much food they can eat me out of house and birdseed over a weekend. But I know they’re hungry, just like all the rest of the birds, so for now I’m opting to smile. Because they are truly signs that spring is not only on it’s way, it’s already here.

3. I was just giving Katie a little shoulder massage while looking out the window and I saw a bird in my little redbud tree. Then it flew to the ground and back up again. I ran for the camera, but by the time I got back it had moved to the top of a small spruce hidden behind some bare branches of a shrub. But you can tell it’s a bluebird!! There were actually two males be bopping around the yard. I couldn’t get a good photo of either of them, the light was bad, so you’ll have to settle for this one.

I’m so happy I could sing….and I was…singing along with a clip of Jimmy Fallon’s show, but that’s another blog.

Happy happy dance.

March 22, 2014
by dawnkinster 14 Comments

Spring? Are you sure?

Pretty

This is not my garden. Did you think maybe? I can only hope. First of all chipmunks have long since eaten all my crocus bulbs. And second, my garden still looks like this right now:

Not pretty

This is, instead, a lovely handwritten note sent by a friend through snail mail, to surprise me on the first day of spring. And it did indeed surprise me. But more importantly it made me smile. A lot. The whole effect, the beautiful flowers and the getting something in the mail, made my day and I want to say thank you. Thank you very much. You know who you are.

In our part of the world it doesn’t look much like spring, though we got rain last night instead of more snow, so there is hope. And a professor friend of mine posted on Facebook yesterday that the sandhill cranes were back. She lives an hour south of me, so I expected I’d hear them soon. They have such a distinctive cry you can’t confuse it with anything else. And do you know what? This very morning as Katie and I were out front slogging along in the soggy yard looking for the perfect spot there arose from the treetops across the street such a screeching that we both jumped. The sound bounced off the houses and careened around spruce trees. I never saw them, but it was evident they were right there! I laughed out loud and Katie looked at me in question. Did you hear that girl!? Did you here THAT! And what happened next just added proof to the pudding.

A red winged blackbird sang. And sang again so there was no mistake. Sometime last night, while we were lying awake listening to the rain on the roof the real spring arrived in my very own neighborhood.

Katie and I took the camera out back to see if we happened to have anything popping up from the ground. All we found was this:

Faint hope

Do you see? Let me get closer:

Proof

It’s not much, but in combination with my birds, well, I can finally let my shoulders fall back from up around my ears where they were shivering. I can take a deep breath and taste the warm muggy days to come. I can look out over my snow covered yard and envision the pear tree and redbud blooming. Someday there will be daffodils after all. I had so little faith.

Katie says all today means to her is that there is less snow on the deck and more sticks that need breaking up into sheltie sized pieces. She thinks that’s good enough for now.

Sticks Mama!

I think she’s a smart dog.

I know I am smart.

December 11, 2013
by dawnkinster 17 Comments

Baby it’s COLD outside

I suppose this could be a Wordless Wednesday photo. But it needs some explanation so words will accompany it, thereby rendering it ineligible for an official Wordless Wednesday post.

As most of you are aware it’s cold here. Not as cold as ‘up north’ or ‘out west’ but plenty cold. So we weren’t surprised to see Mr. Cardinal hunkered down in the middle of a privet shrub just outside our breakfast window. What was surprising was how puffed up he could make himself in order to stay warm.

And how long he sat there letting me photograph him. I think he was asleep. Still, I moved slowly and didn’t get too close to the window. Luckily my camera with the long lens was sitting right next to me. Even Katie cooperated and didn’t bark.

He sat there for a long time, and then when we made a bit too much noise he flew off looking for a little peace. Or some supper.

I’m so lucky to have beautiful birds visiting us regularly. So I thought I’d share him with you!

Enjoy!

December 8, 2013
by dawnkinster 22 Comments

Mama’s mitten

Me and Mama’s mitten

Katie here again.

So maybe my Mama does love me. We went out to fill the bird feeders this morning and she let me go along. I got to break up sticks on my deck while she filled the feeders. It’s an important job. The stick breaking.

So anyway, then she decided to drag some chairs off the deck to the basement and she let me stay outside. But after she left with the first one I got sort of anxious and wanted to come in. So she let me in even though I was dragging my leash and it got stuck in the door and she was trying to get the other chair in at the same time.

And of course when she went outside to fill the birdbaths I wanted to go with her even though I was still dragging my leash and it got stuck in the door on our way out and she almost spilled the water all over herself. (Mama is sort of clumsy if you ask me.)

And then when she was done with that she wanted me to come in with her because it’s like 12 degrees outside (that’s -11.11 C!!) and I hadn’t finished with my job breaking up all the sticks so I wouldn’t come and she had to come get me.

She can’t get it from me!

And all this time she didn’t yell at me at all! And you know what? When we got inside she tossed me her mitten because she knows how much I love to play chase when I’ve stolen something, like her mitten or her glove or her sock or ….well just about anything I can steal from her.

So we played a rousing round of chase the sheltie-with-the-mitten game. And she laughed and took off her big coat and her hat and her sweatshirt and her scarf and put them all away.

And then I asked to go outside because I forgot to pee while we were out there. And Mama just sighed.

Cause she loves me after all. Yes she does.

Messed my fur up.

November 4, 2013
by dawnkinster 22 Comments

When is here good enough?

Home

You know I suffer from wanderlust. I’m a lot like Katie that way; give me a place to go and I’m ready. If I had my way there would be somewhere new to visit every weekend; errands, housework and the yard responsibilities would melt away. Some people, particularly someone I’m married to, probably think I’ve already abandoned all household responsibility. He would be close to correct.

The road calls me constantly and it’s hard when I’m out not to just keep going. So I found it refreshing Sunday afternoon to feel content and happy just standing on our deck watching the birds swoop in and out of our freshly filled feeders.

My brave little titmice were first to zoom in, even before I retreated from filling the feeder.