"Birds Who Came to Dinner" video shown today at library

If the snow's not too bad my very informal talk will be held at 2PM at the Farmington Main Library and video, "The Birds Who Came to Dinner" will be shown. Here's an 1-munte excerpt called Finches with Attitude.  I'lll also be sharing a little about how the lively bird photos in the exhibit were created. The  "Birds who came to Dinner" video features 12 different backyard birds including cardinals, snowbirds, carolina wrens, blue jays white-breasted sparrows and more!

Primroses Freezing in the Snow!

Not a bird or a plane but "Primroses Freezing in the Snow"! which is the title of this January photo.  At least in this arctic weather (minus 5 here today!) we can enjoy these colorful flowers.  As far as birds, none have ventured on my deck yet this morning!

New Video about my Snowbird friends

So entertaining was the interaction between these delightful birds that I decided to make a musical slideshow of their antics.Snowbird defends his territory

Beautiful Connecticut Snow

One of my favorite quotes about winter:
 


      Oh! the snow, the beautiful snow,



            Filling the sky and earth below,


                 Over the housetops, over the street,


                          Over the heads of the people you meet.


                                        Dancing,


                                                  Flirting,


                                                        Skimming along.

               - J.W. (Joseph Warren) Watson, Beautiful Snow
 
More pictures of winter in winter gallery...

January Exhibit at the Farmington Library

I'm proud to be at the Farmington Library this month and have filled every nook and cranny with flying songbird pictures and winter scenery. I got to display photos in both the foyer and long corridor this year. Here is an article that appeared this week about the show in the Farmington Patch. FarmingtonPatch article. Now you can enjoy the birds living their winter lives and some beautiful scenery without going outdoors! The Farmington Library is a wonderful place, with an elegant long corridor, resembling an art gallery and an eclectic lobby with photos, prints, a giant bookcase with DVDs and even a fireplace! Here is their Blog about currents and past exhibits where you can read more. Farmington Library Exhibit - Song of Winter & the Snowbird. I've posted some photos of their lobby and foyer area as well as a couple of photos exhibited.

The Snowbird and the Sparrow

A drama later ensued in the afternoon when a small brown song sparrow took an interest in the Niger seed which the snowbirds thought was only “theirs.” Well that was just not going to happen! The snowbird glared openly at the small sparrow and then proceeded to draw itself up on its thin legs so that it appeared to be very tall. On its third return, the snowbird lost patience and attacked! It flew right on top of the little sparrow who of course fled, and then the snowbird itself in a seeming fit flew sideways off the deck, perhaps following the sparrow. I just died laughing, having not expected such a humorous drama to occur.

 

The Snowbird and the Niger Seed

After the heavy snow, we had a lively morning at the birdfeeder.Around 9AM I heard a commotion and many chirps and tweets – the gang had arrived and were flying around my deck, calling to each other, and tasting all the goodies I’d left out – black oil sunflower seeds, a few raisins, blueberries and a new treat, Niger seeds in a dish.

  

The plump little snowbirds, normally rather non-aggressive,stood on tiptoe to peer into the white bowl with the seed, then perched on top of the edge for a while looking down then leaned down and took a few seeds out, finally, went right into the Niger seed dish and perched in the middle of all the seeds as if they were a nest!! More antics occurred as they also inspected the sides of the dishes, leaning way down and sticking their little feet up in the air as they explored. I had never seen them stand on

tiptoe nor imagined their legs could be so long.

Now that the snow is gone (temporarily)

A  haughty American Goldfinch settled comfortably on an branch empty of snow and leaves stares down at me, quite content in his stance!  These lively birds (olive colored in winter and getting brighter in spring) are frequent visitors and I will later talk more about their antics on my deck!