Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Bird Baths



Last Thursday, I set out for a little walk and saw something amazing in our driveway.



It was cold. 
It had been raining and snowing, 
and there were icy mud puddles in our gravel driveway.



And there were birds bathing in these mud puddles.
(I think they might be Dark-eyed Juncos. Maybe.)
(Also known as Oregon Juncos, btw.)



Like I've said before, I don't know much about birds. 
There must be important benefits to this bird bathing stuff.
My sweetie and I speculated and joked about it later. 
Was it some sort of bird gang initiation?





You wanna be in the Dark Feather Brotherhood?
Break the ice, dunk your head, and flutter, little bird!






Or maybe it's a competition?




You think you made a splash? That's nuthin'! Check this out!








Then a towhee* showed up, and the other birds left.
(Guess their gangs don't flock together.
Who knew a mud puddle could be contested turf?)




And the towhee took up right where they'd left off.





That's a chunk of ice just to his left. 
And yes, a dusting of snow in the background.





Here he goes . . . 





Brrrrrrrr!




*
I had initially identified the towhee as a robin, until someone who knew something about birds set me straight. My apologies!

3 comments:

  1. I just love the way you use the art of observation for these posts... so many people would have just walked right past the birds and thought "Dumb birds, don't they know it's cold out here?" But you, my friend, observe with a creative perspective, and I love where that takes you (and me, when I read what you write and look at your pics.) Thanks for sharing pieces of your world with me!

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    1. Lori, thank you for reading my blog and commenting! It's just a little glimpse of my world...I'm glad you enjoy it!

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  2. Oops! Someone who really does know about birds has let me know what these are. The juncos are actually black slate juncos, and what I thought was a robin is actually a Rufus sided towhee. Thank you! Good to know! :)

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