for the birds

we have a plethora of goldfinches in our yard every morning. they are native to this area and are the washington state bird. they nest well into summer when thistles flower. they eat thistle seed and use the fluff for nest building. i have been trying to get a picture that shows the numbers of them, but they are small and won't hold still in a demonstrative bunch. they are flighty things and will take off in large, swirling flocks at some signal we can't perceive. sometimes a flock will zoom off erratically to the alders at the edge of our yard.

they like to bathe.

only a fraction of the goldfinches in the yard can eat at the same time. good thing some are bathing.

they also eat seed from the ground that has spilled out of the feeder, and peck around in the gravel for weed seeds.

they seem to like sunflower seeds too. au natural.

i watch the birds while i do my morning reading from one or the other of the internets. i check my favorite blogs, leaving comments sometimes. i read the san francisco chronicle, a fifty year plus habit (damn, i am a geezer), starting with my small list of favorite comics. i read the santa cruz sentinel because i used to live there and like reading a small town paper. i read the two big seattle dailies and the weekly port townsend leader. i check the editorials, though i don't read them all, and i usually read the letters. lately i have been avoiding the big international stories in the papers because it's mostly old news to me, since the political blogs are timely to the latest minute. the news is also rather depressing, all the way from politics and war to the dead zone in the pacific ocean off the oregon coast and melting glaciers worldwide. the birds in the yard don't know the news, good or bad.

posted by roger, who hasn't yet worked out this name change thingie.