For the Birds

Okie doke! Cue the Hallelujah Chorus!! I finally "shot" the Elusive Cardinal. After many days of attempts! (Clicking on photos will make them bigger)

Mrs. Cardinal was on the feeder next to The Big C., but unfortunately she fled once she saw the photographer. That's okay...."I'll get you, my pretty!"  The cardinal has always been my most favorite bird. I grew up in Virginia where the cardinal is the state bird. So striking these birds, don't you think.

Just as I finished capturing the Big C. on film, an enormous beautiful Blue Jay landed on top of the shepherd's hook. Typically, I reacted too physically before I could snap him too, and off he flew. I will get him too.

The yard is a flurry of activity in more ways than one. Firstly, it is frickin' snowing!! Big, wet heavy flakes. Grr. But secondly, the feeders are crowded.

Bird watching is more than a hobby for me. I consider it part of my Wiccan Path. Since I was a child, I loved the wild birds, watching them at the feeders, in the yard, in the trees. Since I have been a practicing Wiccan, though, I see divinity in all living things (both animate and inanimate). Feeding the birds, paying attention to them is one of the ways I feel I honor the Goddess and the God. All of nature is touched by divinity. Providing shelter, food and security for these backyard birds is one small way of forging a connection with nature, and thus with divinity.  Once the weather gets more conducive to such things, I will be having a morning ritual out in the yard.  In the meantime, watching from the window serves me well.

Oh, and by the way this little fella is out here several times a day, along with his partners in "crime". I have dubbed him "Tiny Tail", as he seems a little short in that department.

Tiny Tail