Saturday, December 1, 2012

The Birds

We love to feed the birds.  Oh the poor rich people who have big houses and huge yards and never see birds! If you have a tiny patio, the birds are right outside for you to enjoy. Especially if you put out small plastic dishes with fresh water every day!

If you go to the Tower of London, you will see the ravens there. Did you know that they clip their wings so that they cannot fly? They do this because of the old belief that if the ravens ever leave, the crown will fall and Britain with it!  Not that anyone believes that would really happen, but hey, just in case!
I love English birds and American birds. The English robin and the American robin are two very different birds but I love them both, dearly! The first colonists in America were so excited to see a similar colored bird as the English robin, that they called this much larger thrush a "robin", but it is about the same size as an English blackbird and I believe are in the same family.  Therefore, in the bird world, we have AMERICAN robins and ENGLISH robins.  I have read that the English robin was used on the first Christmas cards in England and I treasure my cards from England with robins!   The first drawing that I saw of an English robin was from the book "The Secret Garden" and I just assumed that the illustrator didn't know how to draw a robin! (I was eight years old when I first read it.)  I love that book by the way, "The Secret Garden" is one of my favorites, not just from childhood, either. I have gone back and read it as an adult and it makes me appreciate my good taste in books! There have been several movies adapted from this book but the one that I remember from a few years back was excellent.  I found the trailer for it, it was made in 2009, I think, my son was 10 years old then and he also loved it.  (I always look out for and listen for the English robin when I am in England, I don't always see one, but it makes me so happy when I do!)
Tufted Titmouse trying to have a private bath.
Chickadee ready for a drink. (This looks like the Blue
tit in England!)
Cardinal.  Bright red, so this is the male.  This has to be where the expression "Pretty bird" came from!
 
American Goldfinch.  These bright yellow feathers with the black and white are just exquisite! This same bird in the winter will be a dull brown. That yellow turns to a dull brown!  Really, I promise that it does! Amazing!!

American robin.  This photo was from this hot Georgia summer. Please do not notice our poor dead grass, everything suffers in this heat except any birds who visit Kay & Richard!
 
Many people in the USA have been influenced by the viewing of a movie by Alfred Hitchcock called "The Birds".  Have you seen it?  It is a very well made film and it was based on a short story by Daphne DuMaurier. This is why works of fiction bother me so much.  I can't tell you how many people have told me that they don't care for birds because of the Hitchcock movie, "The Birds"!  It is fiction!
There is a wonderful story about Roger Tory Peterson who was one of the first in America to write and illustrate the first field guide to birds.  As a child he came upon what appeared to be a brown bundle of feathers on a tree trunk. Thinking it was dead he and his friends poked it with a stick and it flew up in the air with an explosion of wings. 
 Peterson would say later, " It was the contrast, you see, between something I thought was dead and something so alive... I came to believe birds are the most vivid reflection of life.  It made me aware of the world in which we live."

41 comments:

  1. kay, You have some great bird pictures. We have the cardinals, robins, and finches around here. I love hearing bird songs. One of my all time favorites is the robin's song. Enjoy your sweet feathered friends.xoxo, Susie

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    1. So glad you enjoy the birds too! We had more robins when we lived closer to town. Those photos of the robin in my yard was when it was over 100 degrees and every bird around came down to us for water.
      Have a great weekend! xx

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  2. Key, "The Secret Garden" is one of my all time favourite books, too - but I have never seen any movie based on this wonderful book. Have you read the sequel? It was written some years ago by an author who loved the book as a kid and always wanted to find out what happened to the children as they grew up... and her way of finding out was writing a sequel.

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    1. Hey Meike!
      I love that you made that mistake and called me "Key", that reminds me of "The Secret Garden"! :-)
      I have not read the sequel, but I WILL look into it!
      So glad that you like it as much as I do and I know that you are very fond of childrens books too!

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    2. Oops - how untypical of me, to spell someone's name wrong, but I must have really associated your name with the book :-) Let's blame my new job starting tomorrow - RJ and I are both quite excited about that!

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  3. "The Secret Garden", "A Little Princess", and "Little Lord Fauntleroy" -- three excellent reads, which can be made into fabulous movies or atrocious ones. Glad the latest version of "Garden" was a good one.

    Your "garden of birds" is beautiful, no matter how the grass looks!

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    1. Did you know - Frances Hodgson Burnett was born in England in 1849 but came to live in Tennessee in 1865. She wrote "Little Lord Fauntleroy" first, giving her young son something to read and modeling it after him. She wrote "A Little Princess" and "The Secret Garden" after her second marriage when she was living in Long Island, New York. So, both England and America can claim her! (And of course, anyone in the world who loves her words.)
      And thanks, but that grass, oh my, it was scary looking!

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  4. I have made sure that the wild birds are fed and watered. It it so cold here suddenly.

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    1. Good for you! It's very important when it is cold. Sometimes, they need some help.

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  5. "The Secret Garden" was a favourite book of mine too when I was a girl.

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    1. It really is a very good book. Have you read it as an adult? You should, I think you would like it even now.

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  6. Adorable little birds - what would this world be without them? The Secret Garden is one of my very favourite movies. I've watched it countless times - it's such a beautiful story and the cinematography in it is divine.

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    1. Oh good, Jane, I am glad that someone else loved that movie too. And I forgot to say that Maggie Smith is in it too! She is one of my FAVORITES.

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  7. I was a bit of a twitcher in my youth and used to love going bird-watching with my Dad. I remember seeing an American robin in Boston and being amazed and confused at the size. Your goldfinch is different to ours too - ours has a red patch on its head. And we don't have cardinals at all - I wish we did though - what a fantastic colour!

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    1. I love birds in every place I have ever been. We even have different birds out west in the USA than the ones we have here in the east. I remember the chaffinch in England with its call that sounds like this,"You naughty little boy, I'm going to beat you!"

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  8. You may not know this about me but I am WILD about chickadees. I ADORE THEM! Last year they made their nest in our basketball goal. I LOVED hearing the babies every day and I was sad when they finally left. So I especially loved the little chickadee photo above. And that cardinal....wow, so beautiful!!!

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    1. Yes, I do remember your post about your chickadees. You were so lucky to have them!
      I took all these bird photos when Richard was at work, I will have to find some that he has taken. They really are better, he would have moved the blinds, but I just took them through the slats!

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  9. "The Secret Garden" was a great favorite of mine, as much for the lush illustrations as for the story. I blush to tell you that I just finished listening to the audio book "A Little Princess" at my age!
    Goldfinches winter over with us. I feed the brown/gray little guys all winter, they suddenly turn gold, and then they're off! I only get to see them in their glory for about a week after feeding them all winter, lol!

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    1. I love that you listened to "A Little Princess"! Just showing your good taste is what I say!
      Oh, that's so funny, you feeding the goldfinches and seeing them in bright yellow for only about a week.
      I hope you enjoy that one week! :-)

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  10. I loved both the book and the movie. I miss seeing the robin in Hawaii. I remember seeing the ravens at the Tower of London. They were huge! Lovely photos, Kay! I really enjoyed seeing that trailer again. I made me want to rent the movie once more.

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    1. Someone wrote on her blog that she had crows in her garden and that she first thought they were ravens, but I wanted to tell her, no..ravens are huge! And that is just what you typed in your comment. (I wish I could remember whose blog this was, but I can't remember!)
      So glad you loved both the book and the movie! xx

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  11. Lovely post as usual, Kay. So many of the lovely birds that visit my garden are now south of the border enjoying warmer weather. I really miss them, especially the American robin that is so friendly --- and so photogenic! Every year we have a robin family settle near the roof of our house. Considering that they live for a few years, I like to think that it's the same ones that keep returning. Maybe it's one of the kids all grown-up. It's sad (and very ridiculous) that some people don't like birds because of a fictional movie. I've seen the movie twice, the second time very recently, and don't think it's that big a deal. It's a good movie, but it's fictional!!

    I love that quote you added from Roger Tory Peterson!!! It is so true that "birds are the most vivid reflection of life". I adore them. I can't wait for them to return. The robin is typically the first to arrive, and the most beautiful sign that spring is here.

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    1. Dear Martha,
      I know you love birds as much as we do! We are lucky, other than our hummingbird, all of our birds are here year round, but we get some extra ones that come South, or if they are passing through! It's exciting to see a bird we have never seen and try to figure out what it is, so much easier now with the internet.
      And even in the South, people believe that Spring is here when they see the "first" robin. They say that because they have read it in books, but in Georgia, robins are here year-round! We are lucky in birds.

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  12. Let the ravens leave the tower, let Britain fall!
    Scotland however will flourish!

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    1. You see, all you have to do is to go to the Tower of London and take away those wing clippers!

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  13. Thankyou for the pictures. I'd not seen a cardinal before I visited the USA and I fell in love with the colourful diversity of birds there - to watch the hummingbirds feeding by my window was a sight I never tired of.
    w x

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    1. Hey Wendy!
      Thanks so much for your comment! Yes! My in-laws were amazed at their first sight of cardinals on our deck and when we told them that they are very common, they were stunned at this beauty was an everyday treat.
      There is a bird called a House Finch, which despite its name, is very colorful. My mother-in-law said it needed a better name!
      And hummingbirds! Oh, I danced with a hummingbird this summer, honestly, I did! I love them.

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  14. I love robins as well, Kay. They look so cheery on a cold, winter's day, with their proud little red breasts. I think that's the first chickadee I've ever seen. So cute, and I love the name.

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    1. The song of a robin in England is one of my best memories.
      And the chickadee? Guess what, that is what the call sounds like...chick-a-dee-dee-dee! Mine really give me that call when they want more sunflower seeds!

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  15. I have not seen that movie. But I love birds and feed them every they in winter time. We have a lot of different birds outside the house.

    Hope you have a blessed Sunday:-)

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    1. As much as I dislike people being afraid of birds because of that movie, I must tell you that the movie is very well made and if you watch it, think of me seeing when I was just a kid, it is scary!
      So happy that you love the birds too and feed them and enjoy them! :-) Blessings to you!

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  16. Having been born in America and then moved to England I found the two Robins quite interesting also. English Robins have a truly beautiful song, and are very territorial, two males will fight to the death. So, they look tiny and friendly but are real warriors. They love fat balls in winter and although they are here year round we mostly see them then. Your birds are so pretty! Such colours. I too love the Ravens at the Tower, magnificent birds. x

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    1. And I forgot to mention how the English robin looks all puffed in the winter, trying to stay warm! Against a background of snow, it makes for a very memorable sight. As does the Cardinal against the snow, I must mention, it also is used quite often for Christmas cards!
      Thanks so much for your comment!

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  17. I feed the birds - the feeder is just outside the Patio doors and so I sit and watch them - terrible timewasters but compulsive.
    Today we have three robins on the lawn. I always thought that they were solitary and territorial birds but it seems not in my garden. Perhaps I feed them too well. The Ravens at the Tower - I found too spooky and a bit intimidating. Perhaps I remember Hitchcock's "Birds" too vividly!

    The Secret Garden was introduced to me by my daughter not so long ago. I had never read it. It is great having a daughter who is a book worm. I get all her cast off books when she comes home - or at least I used to - now she has a Kindle and so books are few and far between to hand on. Shame.

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    1. Hey Pat!
      Let's not call it wasting time, let's call it "Bird Observation"!
      I can tell you that the birds know who their friends are, and it seems they tell their birdy friends!
      You might never see ravens so close up. I do love all the birds, even the birds of prey that some people find scary. They all have their place in nature.
      There, you see, all my years of bird observation are coming in handy!
      Hey, you know you can always read the books that I tell you to read, you know! I am going to tell you about two books that I have read in the next week and they will knock your socks off!

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  18. It is lovely to have birds around the house. We had a native tui singing in our tree over the weekend. It was a beautiful song!

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    1. Hey Paul!
      Wonderful to see this comment here from you! I am so excited to tell you that I typed in "Tui singing in New Zealand" and was rewarded by several different recordings of it! Fantastic! What a bird and what sounds it makes! One of the commenters from it said that the sound of it made them homesick for New Zealand and that now he knows why he loved R2D2 so much! :-)

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  19. I love that Peterson quote. We feed all the birds around here too. I have a friend that is petrified of any type of bird after watching Hitchcock's The Birds. What a shame. Blessings to you today- xo Diana

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    1. Dear Diana,
      So happy you love the birds too and that you like Peterson's quote. His drawings of birds are just perfectly done in his books. You can tell his great love of them.
      I have had a lot of people tell me how much that movie affected them and the way they feel about birds, they just see that Hitchcock movie and that is all they see.

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  20. I love both kinds of robins, but especially the English robin. Of course I should -- I married one!! :o)

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    1. Of course, you Canadian Chickadee, would love the birds anyway! Oh, that was another thing I noticed, Robin is usually a girl's name in the USA, whereas, I only saw it as a man's name in England. I like the name no matter if it is for a girl or boy.
      I wonder what it is in Australia or New Zealand? More like a man's name there, I reckon, we Americans are usually different! :-)

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