Think Said the Titmouse

It is that time of year when the birds are flooding the yard.  Some days it seems that a sparrow convention has been scheduled for our yard, and then the next day the black birds arrive in a large flock.  And no matter how many pictures I've taken of these lovely feathered friends, I cannot control the urge to grab my camera when one poses and seems to stare at me through the window.  This happened the other day with this Titmouse.  He seemed to want to fly in and check out our abode.  Obviously he is not a very smart creature, as our house is the picture you find in the dictionary next to the word, chaos.

And as he flipped from left to right using each eye to take in the odd woman in the window with her closest friend, a digital slr camera, I couldn't help but think of this poem that my kids have memorized for school - "Bird Talk."

He may not be a robin or a jay but he was certainly thinking some odd thoughts about me...

Bird Talk

by Aileen Fisher

“Think…,” said the robin,

“Think…,” said the jay,

sitting in the garden,

talking one day.

“Think about people-

the way they grow;

they don’t have feathers

at all, you know.

“They don’t eat beetles,

they don’t grow wings,

they don’t like sitting

on wires and things.”

“Think!” said the robin.

“Think!” said the jay.

“Aren’t people funny

to be that way?”

So...what birds have come to enjoy your feeder this January?  And am I the only mother that has been reduced to communing with the birds in the backyard?