Twilight. The last of the day is fading fast, and the birds are busy at the feeders getting in their final bites before heading off to seek a safe night roost. A male house finch sits on a nearby branch, awaiting his turn—his head and rear back feathers glowing crimson in the dimming light. A delicate living jewel.
A lot of folks hereabouts don't think much of this fellow and his kind. After all, he isn't one of us. Nope. They're a western species which spread east; a sort of native invader. I saw my first one in the early-1970s. It was springtime, the world was fragrantly a'bloom and love was in the air. I was heading into a used bookstore in Cincinnati when a boisterous bit of unfamiliar avian music stopped me in my tracks. The singer was perched a dozen feet away, in the top of a pink flowering crab. Even then, I think I was captivated—by the male's bright red markings as much as its song.
How can you not like such an exquisite little bird?
Tonight's low is supposed to bottom out at 3˚F. Seriously cold. How will this tiny bird survive? That they somehow manage, along with all the other birds which choose to spend their winters here in this southwest corner of Ohio, is nothing short of a miracle…or so it seems to me. I've spent my own bitter winter nights outdoors, hunkered in wooded hollows and under rocky cliffs, often as not shivering in my fancy sleeping bag. Cold kills if you're not prepared. Is this precious finch prepared? Can he find shelter from the wind? Has he eaten enough sunflower seeds to keep him warm through the cold, cold darkness?
Yeah, I know…in my dotage, I'm doubtless turning into a worrying old woman.
10 comments:
Such a beautiful Finch he is too!,
we are in a cold spell in the north, not fun.
Thanks for the offer to fix my problem, grizz, I am using the html method and is working okay for me, will definitely call on you if it starts acting up worse though. Now I have to catch up!! :)
Bonifer…
Thank you. I really like this shot because the bird just glows—and that's not bumped up or manipulated in any way, just the natural light. All I did was crop a bit.
I'm glad you have a workaround for getting your images to post. I'm sure no expert, so whether I could have figured it out is better left untested. I've never had a problem. FYI, I upload from the camera's memory card to my Mac, directly into iPhoto, which is my image library—where I store and sort. Any work on an image is done in PSE 10, mostly cropping or touching up dust spots, occasionally lightening. I then reduce the image to a 799 pixel jpeg (as Blogger/Gmail doesn't count images under 800 pixels against your allotted free space) and export to my Mac's desktop…which is where I retrieve (upload/import) them from to place into a post. It's quick, easy…and so far, snag-free.
You could put out a sleeping bag nest.
They are so very common here and in such big numbers that their beauty often gets ignored. And then, you see one perched alone like that, with the sun illuminating just how lovely they are, and you realize how much you take them for granted. They are tough little birds for sure.
AfromTO…
Or bird boxes with central heat…
Jayne…
Isn't that too often the way we view so many things, including people…we dismiss them collectively, but allow as to how they might have worth, after all, when considered individually?
HI GRIZZ - beautiful picture of the finch.
We were just talking about our bird feeders and how we have not put them out yet - part logistics and part unsure where they got put away in the basement/garage area. No excuse, I inow - and with this arctic blast upon us we are going to set things right today, in the Winter sun, albeit bitter cold, there is some sun. Thanks for the reminder of how the birds need food to survive the Winter's cold - although I am sure we are not the only "restaurant" in town, we sill have been remiss and now need to start serving again. ANd I love that you worry/wonder about your feathered friends
Love to you
Gail
peace.....
As you probably already know, like you in the wooded hollow or under a rocky cliff, birds get through the night by shivering. Shivering is such a miserable experience for us humans--I wonder if it's miserable for the birds, too, even if it is life-saving. The trick for the birds is to find enough food to be able to stoke that shivering little furnace all night; that's why I put out lots of fatty sunflower seeds on cold days. Despite all this, though, I'm sure many birds don't make it if the temperature stays too low for too long. In Bernd Heinrich's book "Nature in Winter," I believe he equates Golden-crowned Kinglets with annual plants because so many of them succumb each winter that their population has to rebuild again during the following spring and summer year after year.
Gail…
I hope you did get that feeder out today. Though if the birds weren't accustomed to feeding there, not getting food out is not as worrisome…though when it's really cold, they can always use all the food they can find. I do worry about them, and I know it's silly. And I feel guilty if I'm slow in getting everyone fed some mornings. Stay warm.
Scott…
While I do understand the various biologic mechanisms which helps a bird survive—from high metabolisms and substantial caloric needs, the way some species huddle on the roost, fluffing, etc., and know they're thus reasonably equipped to make it through a bitter winter night…still, I'm often amazed that any actually do. A bird is such a delicate creature. A pinpoint of life trying to hang on in the gripping cold of winter. Feathered miracles. And the truth is, as you point out, that so many don't make it. A heavy snow, or an ice storm which coats everything and stays frozen for a few days…it doesn't take much to spell the end. The life of a bird in winter hangs in an specially precarious balance.
Incidentally, I've been a fan of Bernd Heinrich for decades, ever since I first picked up copies of "Bumblebee Economics" and "In A Patch of Fireweed" and read them back to back. I have most, if not all, his books.and he and his family have an amazing story. I can't think of anyone who's lived their life's work (both are one in the same for him) in such a wholehearted way.
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