Birds

 

Look who came to see us this afternoon!  Mr. (or Mrs.) Roadrunner is back.  I saw it the other day and announced it to the family, but today I got pictures. 

 

Years ago, we had a roadrunner who would come to the house quite often and hang out.  When we were getting our a new roof put on, that roadrunner would come around and clean up the old cigarettes the men working on the roof would leave.  It was quite a sight to see.  Imagine--a roadrunner sitting on the window sill (like in the picture above) chewing on a cigarette.  

 

Needless to say, that roadrunner left a while back, and until this month, we haven't had any around the house. 

 

The other day while I was outside looking at my pigeons, and my chickens started cackling in such a way I knew something wasn't normal.  

 

Now, Let me explain: chickens (or at least my chickens) will alert each other if there is a low flying bird in the sky, such as a hawk, a couple of fighting sparrows, etc.  When they sight a possibility of danger, they look to the sky and watch for anything they should hide from.  Anyway...

 

I looked to the sky and quickly saw a large bird shadow.  When I followed it and found the bird, I was surprised to see a Blue Heron!  I've seen a bunch before in the pastures and other places, but never right in front of our house.  I watched it land in our elm tree, and then fly off, I thought it was never to be seen again. 

But I was wrong.  A couple of days after, it showed up again, this time landing to the side of our house where I got to look at it for a second. 

 

This past month, Beatrice, my hen, hatched two chicks.  Yay!  As did my other hen, Paprika, though they all died.  But Paprika began sitting again and now has three darling chicks.  Yay, again!  Likewise, my pigeons are doing better at keeping their squabs alive.  I don't even know how many of them we've lost this year, but thankfully, we have some more little pigeons who are doing fine. 

 

Among my many pigeons and chickens and doves (oh my...) we have a bunch of wild birds that are great to listen to and watch, and I for one am really glad God made them.  Just being the bird lover that I am--I decided to do a post about my favorite animals.  Hope you enjoyed.  : )

 

Beatrice's chicks