Fall Turns to Winter

(NOTE: This post was started on November 26--when the weather was much nicer!)

The whole bird watching experience has fallen off the radar of late, and I often am reminded of how much I enjoyed watching the birds this past summer. While walking our dog, Gracie yesterday, Anne and I happened upon a shrub full of birds (see pic to the right) and I commented that it would be nice to have more birds in our backyard.

While shopping this afternoon, we stopped at the The Bird House to get some more seed for our Yankee cylinder feeders: one which we fill with nyjer and a second one that contains a general deluxe mix. One commendable feature of this particular bird-centric specialty store is that rather than purchasing new (plastic) bags of seed each time, we can return our plastic milk container each time for a new re-filled one. This may be common practice (I would hope), but as a nascient "birder" I appreciate the opportunity to not waste.

In addition to purchasing our traditional seeds, we also bought a suet feeder on the recommendation of the salesperson who had over heard Anne and I discussing what type of foood we might give the birds during winter. The feeder we purchased was a basic model--the trick now will be finding someplec to hang the feeder where it will be visible. There are not many low hanging branches, so I suspect some time on a ladder for the proper placement of the feeder is in immediate my future.

As I look out the window this morning, nearly a week after our purchase of the suet feeder, the cool rain only serves to reinforce the fact that days like the one that re-ignited my birding interest (as illustrated in Gracie's pic below), are likely far beind us.


Despite the poor weather conditions, today does feel like a day for climbing the ladder and opening the suet feeder for business... or not!