One thing about having coffee in the evening, I'm almost guaranteed to be up before the birds the next morning, and so it was this morning. Sitting on the porch with a cat on my lap, I was treated to some special sights and sounds, beginning with my first WHITE-THROATED SPARROW of the season. Hearing those clear little notes (which many field guides liken to "Old Sam Peabody Peabody Peabody") on a calm quiet morning when the sun is still looking for its slippers under the bed, is one of my favorite bird moments.
Later, when the sun was barely up, I watched the ever-amorous male mourning dove chase an ever-evading female around the red maple (she must relent eventually). Next a male common grackle began displaying extravagantly to a female, his head bowed, his wings and tail fanned out like an opera cape...but any potential success his might have had was interrupted by two black squirrels racing up the trunk.
Then as the morning got underway, the gentle song of the sparrow was lost among the fr
iendly neighborhood music of dogs and children playing, of lawnmowers buzzing. Time for me to start my day, too, but not before I took a photo of Pearl standing in the rainbow light from the suncatcher.Note on the post title. Some of you may remember this song from the 1969 movie, The Sterile Cuckoo, starring Liza Minelli. (I can still picture the venting-under-the-train-bridge scene after 40 years!) Anyway, this song was recorded by a group called The Sandpipers (better known for their hit, "Guantanamera." If you're a movie music buff, and/or you'd like to listen to it again, here's LINK to YouTube.
Photo of white-throated sparrow from Wikimedia Commons
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