On a 14-degree morning, the lake was very, very frozen here at the Lullwater Bridge.
One patch of open water held a cluster of unlucky ducks and a chilly swan.
As I crunched along to the lake, I was alone except for an older guy in a shabby parka, who was toting a scruffy shopping bag. He registered on my Possible Pest Meter (bag, scruffy, alone) but not on my Danger Meter (older, slow-moving); we passed one another wordlessly in opposite directions before the Boat House.
Then as I rounded the Boat House corner, I saw what he'd been doing with the contents of the bag: The ground was laden with a feast for birds, and not your dumb chunks of old bread, either. This looked like quality chow, and the hunger-crazed birds were oblivious to my presence, cavorting outside this urban Audubon Center like starlets at an Oscar after-party. I offered many mental apologies to the Bird Bag Man, who catered this...
BLURRY BIRD EXTRAVAGANZA!
Okay, keep in mind, these guys were all within the same 2 square yards in the same 5 minutes this morning, so close that even I could snap them with my trusty crap zoom lens.
Are you a Song Sparrow? Well, are ya, punk? [No, according to two helpful commenters, he's a White-Throated Sparrow.]
Yikes! Is that actually a visible red(dish) belly patch (down near the legs) on the preposterously-named Red-Bellied Woodpecker? (Yes, there is also a Red-Headed Woodpecker, but how about naming this species something more intuitive, like Red-Capped Woodpecker, or maybe Other Kind of Red-Headed Woodpecker?)
It's a sin to kill a Mockingbird because their dying words would be, "Kiss my ass!" (sung in 20 languages).
Blue Jay casts a beady eye on the competition.
A dove couple got in on the action.
I love his (her?) expression, it's, like, "OMG! Yummies!"
And of course, we can't have sparkling snow without these guys. Sparrow looks dubious. Just 'cause they're red and crested, they walk in like they own the joint!
Hands frozen and brain totally bird-buzzed, I headed back under the Cleft Ridge Span. That bundled-up human turned out to be a charming English lady, and I warmed my hands petting her English Bull Terrier (a "Spuds Mckenzie" dog) and doe-eyed Rottweiler mix. Altogether, not bad for a morning when I'd wished to stay warm in bed.
The sparrow is a White Throated Sparrow.
Posted by: Kathy Toomey | February 08, 2009 at 04:14 PM