Come Back, Little Birds!

Getting out of my car this morning, I couldn't help but notice the busy chatter of birds... a sound which has been missing of late due to the Winter, but has returned recently along with warmer temperatures. (Unfortunately, "shovelble snow" is forecast for Wednesday.) It was with this sound in my head that I set about refilling the two feeders (one with seed the other with suet) in hopes of welcoming the return of our aviary neighbors to our backyard.

As I was looking through some of the pictures from this summer (like the one above by my son, Jack), I realized, or reaffirmed, how much I had miss the birds. I know I've posted about seeing some birds flitting here and there, but so much of the past few summers seems to have been spent looking at birds, and I miss the quiet joy I would get from watching them.

My fascination with birds has continued to blossom since first spending some time "birdwatching" and counting two summers ago. Prior (and since) then, I had previously taken the time to take some walks with my wife and kids at some area parks at which birding is popular, you know the type of place where one can go with thistle in hand, and have small birds land in their hands to eat the seed, as pictured above. Following this "garden-oument" of sorts last summer, I became more dedicated to observing the birds in my backyard, eventually following, for a series of summer-long posts, a family of American Robins who were living in a nest on our house.

Now, here I am in the dead of winter and my backyard, as previously "reported", is an "aviary ghost town", deserted accept for the occasional crow flyover--or worse yet, party in my neighbor's tree. But, I haven't lost the desire to see and capture in my notebook and camera, regional birds at work and play! So, while the activity has been nonexistent in my backyard, after checking the national Great Backyard Bird Count, sponsored by the Cornell School of Ornithology, I realized that my own anecdotal observation-- that there was a lot happening, just not in my very small neck of the urban woods--was accurate. Given this, I am now looking to explore my community more deeply... this time with the intent of photographing and noting the behaviors of, local birds.

Wish me luck!