… Finch.
Red Alert!
These guys are having a hard time getting onto the feeders today.
Often they fly backwards, and navigate on to the surface… amazing aeronauts, really.
Bout with a plow.
"WHAT THE… !?!"
They always manage to get something.
A ground feeder… sparrow.
Ahhhhh….Peaceful. I didn’t know you had a tractor. Wow! [I don’t. But someone clears the snow.]
As far as Windswept House>/i>, I’m actually starting that today after having finished Vatican. You had mentioned it months ago, and I’m just now getting around to it. It should make for some nice bedtime reading.
I know, “Take it with a grain of salt”. I will.
fantastic pictures Father.
I had a little nuthatch like the one in your last picture at my woodpecker/bluejay hulled peanut feeder this morning. We had 8 inches of snow here at the 2500 foot level by yesterday morning. The temp was 18 degrees – a record low – must be that climate change, huh? It was 22 degrees this morning. I haven’t been out the back door to go down the icy steps to my birdfeeder stations. I threw some peanuts out onto the snow. It looks like there is enough for now in the feeders, which are being overwhelmed. The towhees, finches, chickadees, white crowned sparrows and juncos are all puffed up. Alert! Couldn’t believe it. There were three big northern flickers hanging off snowy, icy eaves on various roofs this a.m. It looked like they were searching for insects in the gutters? They tear up bark along sidewalks in the summer with their long, skinny beaks, looking for ants. Never saw this behavior before.
Love your wintry pictures, the 2nd is my favorite. The birds haven’t survived all these millions of years by accident. They are pretty sharp. The ‘Feed Us’ sign is a great touch, just ask Mr. Nuthatch.
Very funny, Fr Z. Fascinating book. There are lists of real people online that bear remarkable likenesses to the characters of that book. Maybe it’s just a game.
Malachi Martin said that 80% of the characters in Windswept House were real and 80% of the facts true, and I’ve heard people more knowledgeable than me say these percentages are about right. The problem is to figure out which 80%.
Great pictures Father. I get the House Finches all the time at my feeder. Did you notice how they resemble the beautiful Gaudet Sunday rose vestments you posted?
I see some of you caught the reference.
To the book or the rosaceae-vested finches, Fr.?
Not rosacea yet,… give it a few days.
Oh dear, accourding to my birds at the birdfeeder, I’m into the requim mass.
I caught the ‘Gaudete’ reference too!
Great pictures as always!
Thank you so much for the exquisite photos of our feathered friends. We had to cut back this year and not buy seed, which is a great sacrifice for the family and the three cats, who have, ergo, lost their daytime live reality television “on the birds”. Thanks for the beautiful pictures, which I save in my folder and look at again.