Healing up to the sound winter birds
Last week I chronicled my crash into the back porch post, hitting said post about two and a half inches below my bottom rib on the right side.
I’m in my second week of dealing with the results of the crash and I finally arranged to get an x-ray, as there has been no improvement in the pain and motion department.
Luckily, there is no detectable bone damage other than bruising. It has laid me low for some time and I sure would like to have the pain back off. It would please me if preparing for any significant locomotion of my body became less like trying to organize the Normandy invasion.
The view of our lake is bleak and empty and it doesn’t seem to have any life on its surface. The sun has been absent and the weather is just not that interesting. The winter birds have been sampling my wares at the hanging feeder, but the birds are quite committed to Dave Graham’s Emporium, which is really a Krebs amongst feeders for the winter birds. I just keep a tube feeder filled with mixed birdseeds and sunflower seeds.
When Sue and I traveled east along the north edge of Montana, we saw hundreds of acres of sunflowers alongside the highway. I guess it is a case of planting enough so that there will be a lot of seeds left after the local birds have had their fill. Eventually the seeds are harvested and shipped to market where they end up headed for my birdfeeder and wherever else sunflower seeds go.
Mr. Gray Squirrel just ambled by and checked whether any birds had spilled a few seeds on the ground for his fancy. The squirrels have abandoned attacking the hanging feeder, as it yields no seed for their efforts. On a couple of occasions they have chewed the nylon line that holds the feeder up. There is some fallout after the feeder crashes, but it doesn’t yield enough to make the effort worthwhile.
The weather today is so dull that the bird activity is at a low ebb. There’s not much action on the lake or at the feeders. Early morning, just after first light, usually yields the best feeder action. The suet cage has had some attention, but there is a lot more to eat. A sunny day seems to stimulate feeding activity. I enjoy feeding these birds, but I am just a casual practitioner. I know that some birders present lots of varieties of feed in various devices for our feathered friends. I like to keep their tummies happy and keep them entertaining me at my window.
When I looked out a while ago, some kind of woodpecker was pounding away on the suet and enjoying himself. After about five minutes he’d had enough and headed off into the cedar hedge. I remember my dad planning the cedars when they were about five or six feet tall. They’ve reached 30 to 40 feet in height now and provide lots of cover for songbirds and woodpeckers of all types.
The birds provide something to look at while I’m lying low, waiting for my side to cure a bit. Once in a while I can find a feature on a visiting bird that I can identify. It is fun to watch an individual bird contend with the winter. Sometimes they make it through to May, sometimes they don’t show up again. I very seldom find a recognizable dead bird on the ground near the feeders. Maybe they die someplace else or some scavenger makes off with the body.
