it's true

i should have seen this coming. i've always been a nature lover, and i love looking at all the plants and animals, and snapping shots where i can with my camera. many of my recent post have included bird shots, including one completely devoted to waterfowl. i have a growing stack of reference books for flora and fauna of BC, but i have more than one bird book, and i seem to be referencing them constantly of late. finally this morning, i spent far longer than i should have staring out the window at my suet feeder and birdhouse, watching all the birds who have come to visit. and then i knew: i've officially become a bird watcher.



i put up this suet feeder at the beginning of the week, but hadn't noticed much action on it. this morning though, as i sat here in front of the computer, i heard a flurry of cheeps and whistles outside and looked up to see a growing mob of juncos darting through the two fruit trees. a large group of them descended on the feeder.



soon some larger birds began to move in, including a couple of larger northern flickers (does anyone else have my problem, in that i keep spelling "flicker", "flickr"? too much time over there, i suppose). i love to watch these guys swoop in, a flurry of bright red-orange and white on the undersides of their wings and tails.



of course there was my friend the varied thrush, plus a few of his friends. there was a quick siting of a stellar's jay, although i'm glad that one didn't stay too long as they disrupt all the other birds and generally make a noisy nuisance of themselves, despite their pretty plumage.



and the chickadees flitted about throughout the whole mess, barely stopping to get their picture snapped, moving from tree, to feeder, to birdhouse and back again.

i went out for a forest walk this afternoon, and walking along the road to the trailhead i heard a distinct "thunk, thunk" above. there clinging to a douglas fir trunk was pileated woodpecker, working steadily on the thick bark. i watched him for a few minutes with a smile. in the woods, i felt like my ears and eyes perked even more than usual at the rustles and whistles, signalling the winter wrens and other larger birds moving through the brush. yup, i can't help it, i've totally gone to the birds.

hope your new year started off with some sunshine as ours did. a chilly day outside again, but felt like a nice fresh start.