Variety is the spice of life...

It’s cold here.  Not as cold as in the upper Midwest, but pretty darn cold.  It is also very bright and beautiful out.  It seems like the birds are extra active in weather like this.  They have been coming and going with great frequency to the feeder.  Now and then they have to rest though and when they do, I have been trying to grab my camera.  Here are the birds who have visited us lately.

The official state bird of Massachusetts:  the Black-capped Chickadee.  He looks official, doesn't he?

The cardinals are not as apt to hang around near the house.  If you look closely in this photo, you will see this dashing male's wife sitting on a branch behind him.

This little Junco looks curious, but the Juncos are very skittish so I don't think he knows I'm there.

Of course, the Wild Turkeys have to stop in the yard on their way through the neighborhood.  I got a kick out of watching them jump off the ground trying to grab the leftover crab apples off the tree.  Sort of the opposite of bobbing for apples.

This morning, there are American Robins in the yard.  We've noticed that they  have been sticking around during the winter the last few years.  So much for them being the heralds of spring.

Random 5 Friday...gobble, gobble...

1)  We were well prepared for Trick-or-Treat last night but only about a dozen kids came to our door.  It was a slow year.  We have a long driveway so I think that often our house is bypassed.  One year though, I thought I was prepared with a couple big bags of candy but ended up panicking and passing out granola bars to a few kids toward the end and turning out the lights early.  This year, I have lots of left-overs that, believe me, I don’t want.  Boo!  After some consideration, though, I think we are just in one of those in between years.  The older kids have finally decided that trick-or-treating is lame and the younger kids are just too young.

2)  I’m still smiling over the Red Sox win and hoping that will hold me over until Opening Day, which for the Red Sox is March 31, 2014.   Seems like a long way from now.

3)  I was sitting at my computer earlier today bemoaning the fact that it was a pretty nasty, dark, drizzly day out and it was going to be difficult for me to come up with something for my Flickr 365.  That sad fact called for another cup of coffee.  On my way down the stairs from my office a bit of movement in the front yard caught my eye.  The turkey family was on the move.  I got my camera and started shooting.

  My 365 for today…done and dusted.

4)  As I was going back to my computer with my coffee and my SD card loaded with turkeys, I noticed the frantic flying of the chickadees going back and forth from the bird feeder.  At that moment I realized that I am much more like a turkey than a chickadee.   I don’t mean like a turkey in the pejorative sense.  Wild turkeys are admirable birds.  But I do kind of lumber around like a turkey at a deliberate pace checking out all the stuff around me.   I don’t do anything at chickadee pace.  More turkey than chickadee, that’s me.  What kind of bird would describe you?

5)  Okay, I will admit to some lameness here.  I can’t figure out how to email people from my blog and have their response included in the email.  You know what I mean.  When it says:  “On Tue, Oct 29, 2013 at 1:52 PM, barbara l. hale <commonplacebeautyphotography@gmail.com> wrote:” etc. etc.  What the heck?  How do you do it?  I love getting emails from y’all and I often want to answer someone who comments on my blog.  I’m not being a blog snob, believe me, it’s just one more thing I haven’t figured out yet.

  Maybe I really am a turkey in the pejorative sense.  Gobble, gobble...

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