Connecting With Jeannie

Birds At MY Feeder

Hubby and I love feeding the birds. We've been feeding them for ten years now, and we're seeing so many different kinds who visit the feeder. They are the Chickadees, Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Goldfinch, Hummingbirds, Nuthatch, Scarlet Tanager, Baltimore Oriole. Blue Jay, Cardinal, and even the huge Pileated Woodpecker came to visit - Woody Woodpecker was drawn when looking at this bird.

The first one at the feeder were the Chickadees. I fell in love with them immediately! The others ones I got to know by looking them up to see what they were called.

When the Pileated came to the feeder, my granddaughter saw him first and got all excited. "Grandma, there's a big bird at the feeder!"

I turned to look and was amazed at how he maneuvered his way to those little feeders. After a while, he got pretty good at it. For such a big bird, he sure didn't stay long to eat. The smaller birds eat more than he did.

Birds are just like people, some of them get along, while others like to fight, wanting it all. Some get pretty mean, but I guess, when you have a feeder, you have to take the good with the bad. They all have to eat!

I wrote a poem on one of the birds that came to the feeder. He likes to mock other birds sounds, and he is very good at it. I had this delightful conversation with another member on WDC. We talked about the different birds he saw at his feeder. He never heard about the Grackle, so I thought I would write a poem about this bird. He loved it and thought he was cute - I'm sad that he is no longer with WDC.

This Common Grackle made a nest by the creek that goes through our place. This bird loves to visit our feeder. He's quite a character!

The Grackle looks like he’s been stretched
A whole twelve inches is my guess.
With his long black tail, black beak, bright yellow eyes;
Gives him an eerie look as if in disguise.

Bronze-iridescent body and a purple headdress,
He struts across the lawn for dried grasses to fetch.
Male and female alike deliver twigs, reeds and mud to the nest,
Which takes one to four weeks isn’t an overstretch.

The final touches alone does a female obtain,
A feat of perfection the nest she attains.
Takes another five days to make without respite,
Who knows, she may be working all through the night?

When ready, she'll lay four to seven eggs with pride,
Of pale, greenish brown with dark marks inside.
This amazing nest may be found fitted in a shrub or a tree
Located anywhere from three to thirty feet high, roughly.

Maybe you'll find it above the water or close to the ground
Where the parents are waiting for their hatchlings spellbound.
Which will take around thirteen or fourteen days forthright,
Then another twelve to sixteen days for their young to take flight.

Give food to the birds, you will then be surrounded by the wings of love, you will be encompassed by the joys of little silent hearts! Mehmet Murat Ildan