Makin' New Friends in the Neighborhood

Even though I have never considered myself a "Bird Watcher," I've always been interested in birds. Every time I'm outside and I hear one singing, I find myself trying to locate the source of the song. Many times I have thought, "If I had a hobby, and wasn't afraid of being 'lame,' I'd totally watch birds for fun!"

Turns out, there are tons and tons of birds all around our neighborhood. Sparrows, Blue Jays, Cardinals, Finches, Doves, and a lot more that I don't recognize (specifically a dark colored bird with a deep blue head). I've been going crazy ever since Spring hit, watching them frolic around in our back yard. You should have seen them all feasting on the worms after the recent (constant) rains! That's when I knew they were hungry, and decided that I needed to help them out!

I bought a $2 bird feeder from Dollar General and a big bag of Wild Bird Seed Mix. I was so excited to see if the birds would like me as much as I liked them, and I filled the plastic container to the brim with seed and hung the feeder as soon as we got home from the store, Sunday afternoon. The small period of time before my routine Sunday afternoon nap, was spent gawking out the back door searching for wondering birds. I mean, why weren't they waiting on the fence for me to put the feeder out? They surely knew I cared about them! Brad assured me that it would take them a little while to discover the new food, and to be patient. (Hence the nap...)

We were out of the house all Sunday evening, and were gone to work all day Monday. I couldn't wait to get home, yesterday, to see if the birds had found their new restaurant. As soon as I got in the door, I looked toward the tree in the back yard. To my surprise, the seed was half gone!! I believe that means that the birds did like us!

I didn't get a chance to continue watching them yesterday evening, though, because I had a dinner date with some of my girlfriends, and the stop at the house was only a quick one to change out of my work clothes. By the time I got home last night, it was way past dark, and I had missed all of the fowl activities. I was determined to not miss it two days in a row.

The weather has been so nice lately (post rain!), that Brad and I have been sleeping with the windows open to let the cool breeze in. I woke up this morning to the wonderful sound of birds chirping and singing praises to their Creator! I jumped out of bed, grabbed my camera, and took a million pictures from our bedroom window of the morning bird crew enjoying their breakfast! They were quick, and lively, and very hungry. I couldn't believe how much pleasure I got out of watching them flutter from limb to limb and swoop down at the feeder before zooming to the fence for a rest. There were even some larger birds (pigeons or some sort of gray dove) that would fly up to the feeder, peck around until a fair amount fell to the ground, and then hop back to the earth and dance around in their search for the little seeds amidst the blades of grass.

It's impossible to watch nature this closely (literally, in my own back yard), especially as the sun is rising, and not be completely overwhelmed with a sense of awe for the creation that God has blessed us with!

I wonder what other kinds of birds come out at other times during the day. I know that you can buy specific feeders that are for specific types of food that attract specific types of birds. Maybe I'll invest in some varieties that will bring brightly colored song birds to our little world on the cul-de-sac. I'm definitely wanting to get a bird bath for our new friends, as well. After all, everybody should wash up before a meal!

But for now, I'll just have to wait and see if any hummingbirds find the sweet red nectar that is hanging from the other side of the tree...