Thursday, January 26, 2006

Early Birds

   Outside my window, the first ones I have seen this year, birds.  Four.  Two blue ones and two small brown ones. I am not a birder, so I cannot tell you what they were, I wish I could.  Blue ones were blue on top and gray underneath, but lacked the crests of Jays, and the small ones were mottled brown and were on the ground pecking for food.  The blue ones were on the trunk of a tree.

   I was surprised to see them, for I hadn't missed them.  But I am glad they are back.  It is two months before the swallows return if they follow their time honored schedule, so these are the early birds of 2006. 

   Welcome.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I live in a refuge area that has many Eagles.    They are fantastic to watch as they cruise looking for rabbits.      mark

Anonymous said...

I use to have a big bush underneath my window and in the early morning hours they would awake me with their beautiful chirpping!
Had to get rid of the bush and i mss the songs!

Anonymous said...

Noticed Marks comment, I would love to see an eagle flying free. We have lots of birds here, mainly songbirds, some birds of prey. I love to hear the dawn choruses in early May - delightful.
Sylvia xx

Anonymous said...

If it was jay-sized, the blue was probably a scrub jay.  They don't have the crest.  If it was sparrow-sized, it was likely a mountain bluebird, but there are other possibilities.

The brown were probably either finches or (more likely) sparrows.  There are a zillion kinds of sparrows, which is why birders have the term LBJ, meaning "little brown job."  It's not always easy to identify which LBJ you have, and not always worth the effort.  But more sparrows in this country are house sparrows, which aren't even native to this hemisphere.

Karen

Anonymous said...

   I don't know much about birds either, but I do love to hear them singing and chirping.  When I was newly married, we lived across the street from Mission San Juan Capistrano, and it was fun to see the swallows return every year, right on schedule.  They are about the only ones I can identify.  Well ..... them, and the pigeons we used to feed at the mission.   Tina http://journals.aol.com/onemoretina/Ridealongwithme

Anonymous said...

I live in Pennsylvania, and I anxiously await the return of the robins every year.  I usually hear their songs first, and that makes me run outside to get the first glimpse.  That, to me, is the arrival of spring. -Cindy