All for the birds

On Wednesday I added three new bird feeders in hopes of attracting more varieties of, well, birds. That hasn't happened yet, but scores of additional house finches and goldfinches have arrived. I also have two scrub jays now, which answers my question about whether I was seeing the same one every day because they often travel together.

It's funny how this bird thing started. I began drawing and painting birds because they had one of the simplest shapes I could manage. Then I started seeing some of the birds I had found in my photo references. My next step was to hang feeders in the back of the house where I watched to see who would arrive. I stuck a little plastic feed tray onto the living room window with a few others in the bush in front of the window and realized I could sit on the sofa and the birds were all within two feet of me, oblivious of my staring curiosity. 

My most recent step was to order the enormous Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology textbook, some 1,300 pages that I'm reading religiously - literally, a passage at a time - to expand my understanding. I found Steve's binoculars for closer views. Then I noticed the red-shouldered hawks that are on my route to class. I seem to be a beginning birder!