A Little Spot of Red

When it's warm around here, the bird watching is incredible. This past summer, a bald eagle visited. We have two types of merganzers—regular and hooded. There are the rasping, laughing kingfishers that always make me think they were constructed from spare parts, a lot like Welsh corgis in the canine world.

Walking in the woods, we get serenaded by birds that sound like calliopes. Sometimes, we get that adrenaline rush that ruffed grouse always cause when they burst out of the shrubbery near your feet with a sound that closely resembles a burst of thunder.

There are so many, as a matter of fact, that our appreciation gets chopped into little pieces.

Not so this time of year. With the leaves off the trees, our avian friends are more visible. We have a bird feeder that we watch from the front windows of the living room. We call it kitty TV because George loves to perch where he can see the early morning traffic. It attracts chickadees, nuthatches (both white and red-breasted), goldfinches in their olive drab winter plumage. And then there are the cardinals.

Jay took this picture of a pair who came to our feeder the other day. The Mrs. of this pair is a beautiful bird in her own right. There are beautiful details of color in her beak and around her eyes. But when her beau shows up, his scarlet costume always steals the show.

When the cardinals visit the feeder, I slow whatever I'm doing so I can drink in their color, a reminder that when life gets dull, it's time for a spot of red.

M.I.T. for today: starting on a big sort through my office file cabinets. It's a time to find what's missing or discover you don't miss what you do find. Always a treasure hunt, this task.