Thought for the day

6:26:54 PM     comment []

Monday musings

(Mourning Doves from the Audubon Collection)

For the past several mornings, very early, I've heard a mourning dove singing from the backyard.  Other birds are in abundance, and I spotted a robin at dusk yesterday as well as a few redbirds. 

My mother is a bird-watcher and has feeders and birdhouses hanging from every available tree limb as well as patio bird baths.  I envy her kitchen with the big wide window over the sink.  She keeps a very small set of binoculars on the windowsill, sitting squarely beside three little Fenton glass bluebirds (a daddy bird, a mommy bird and a baby bird).  Every year there is a real family of bluebirds taking up residence in a small tree in her backyard where.  It really is an amazing thing, watching the babies being so lovingly cared for by their parents. 

I wonder when I'll see the hummingbirds again.  They're my favorite, and I've always had hummingbird feeders on the deck and front porch filled with sugar water to attract them.  How small they are!  I've been fortunate enough to even see baby hummingbirds flitting side by side with their mothers, just beginning to learn how to feed themselves.  I've tried taking pictures of them, but they are too quick to fly away.

But it is the song of the mourning dove that has stayed with me.  Melancholy and sweet, she greets each new sunrise.  How beautiful is that?

6:19:51 PM     comment []