Happy Thanksgiving!

We, especially Mason, want to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving. Before you gorge yourself on turkey and mashed potatoes, take a few moments to reflect upon the things that you're truly thankful for. This season, above all, is about freedom, family, friends, and foundations. Enjoy your time with loved ones today and tell them, out loud, how thankful you are that they're a part of your life.

Butter-butts

Winter tends to be a little slow around my back yard. Pigeons and Mourning Doves tend to dominate the landscape as well as the feeders. I feel silly paying top dollar for black oil sunflower seeds just to have them devoured in 20 minutes by a flock of unruly pigeons, but I do it nonetheless.

Last year I had one single Yellow-rumped Warbler that would stop by occasionally and visit my suet feeder. I assumed it was just one individual bird because I never saw more than one at a time. Who knows, maybe Butter-butts just have really good buffet-line manners and they were taking turns.

Anyway, this year word seems to have gotten around to the rest of the warblers that I serve a mean breakfast, because by 8:00 a.m. these days I have no less that 7 or 8 of them flitting about and generally just annoying the larger birds.

They're joined occasionally by a House Finch and a few American Goldfinches.


The Bluebirds are still hanging around too. That box is one that I made and gave to our neighbors. The birds check it out regularly, hopefully they'll nest there next Spring.