Wednesday was a miserable, dark day with heavy rain - not the sort of day that one expects during the early days of a Vermont winter. We can screw up the climate with carbon emissions, but we can't control the weather we get. So my favorite companion and I made Christmas cookies, beginning with Danish klyner. These "twisted" cookies are deep fried. Then I mixed up Finnish bread, a delightful little treat held together by butter. But the oven never reached temperature, and by mid-afternoon we were shopping for a new range.
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| Tufted Titmouse on the window feeder |
However, about Noon, with cookies unbaked in a dead over and dismal rain coming heavier, our flock of
Evening Grosbeaks arrived. They still number 40+ individuals.
So many people long to see just one Evening Grosbeak, while I have dozens visiting daily. How I can explain my good fortune? Is it due to:
- Clean living?
- Superior virtue?
- Reward for working so hard to learn my birds?
- A months-long, inexhaustible supply of black oil sunflower seed?
- All of the above?
- None of the above?
- Dumb luck (emphasis on the dumb)?
You can vote on this, but if I don't like your vote, I will treat it like a hanging chad (remember the '00 presidential election in Florida). - or perhaps learn from the Afghans and stuff the results.
Good birding!
Holy Cow! I would vote that you are using superior food...sunflower seeds coated with caviar or something like that.
ReplyDeleteBoom & I will pass on the reason for the visit Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI'll just go with all of the above and maybe one below... And add in an additional "holy cow!" with a hint of jealousy!
ReplyDeleteChris -- I would say # 5. All the above. What a feast for the eyes to view all the Grosbeaks! -- barbara
ReplyDeleteHahaha...you crack me up. Well...it can't be 1 - 4 because I do all that too and have none at my feeders...haha ;-) ...and I have dumb luck sometimes with an emphasis on dumb so that one's out too. I'm going with 6 and saying the answer is Vermont! (I would faint if I looked out of my window and saw all those beautiful grosbeaks at my feeders.)
ReplyDeleteI'd say #7 ;-) I travelled 7 hours last weekend into northern Ontario to see one and was shut out but did manage to see a N. Hawk Owl, I have no logic to explain that except bad luck coupled with good luck ;-)
ReplyDeleteI would be #7 if it happened here but never saw one here. I did see a cross bill once and thought i was somewhere else.
ReplyDeleteWhatever it is, you are so very fortunate. 40+, WOW! A joy to see all these beauties. Your images and words brought a big smile to my face.
ReplyDeleteNot for the rain, but for the grosbeak, you are a lucky man ;-) Beautiful shots even if they have been taken through the windows.
ReplyDelete