How the landscape has changed in just a few short days.
It takes a little getting used to, and yet as I gazed out of the window, nibbling my lunch, I thought that even during this in-between season, there is such a variety of colour and texture. You just have to pay attention.
Patches of snow still catch the sun.
Also the moisture on the stalks of last year’s corn.
Yesterday’s high temperatures turned the front lawn into a veritable quagmire, and there are still places that don’t catch the sun where you could do a merry dance if you aren’t careful. I have this notion that the last piece of ice in Cambridge is going to put itself under my shoe and send me to the ground, after a whole winter of avoiding falls. But I’m just saying that to keep the gremlins away.
Speaking of gremlins…today as I ate my oatmeal, I lifted my eyes to the window opposite and my heart sank, yet I was compelled to capture the image:
Very obviously, at some time since yesterday morning, a fairly large bird struck the window. I would guess a dove. It must have happened when we were out or I should certainly have heard it and gone running.
Not that I could likely have done much to help it. At my place in Washington I went to the rescue of several small birds after they hit a window. Each one sat in my hand for fifteen minutes as I whispered to it. Then they seemed to recover and flew off. Sadly, though, I’ve read that quite often these birds do not survive.
Another setting on the camera changed the picture to this ghostly image. Poor birdy.
When little muddy feet scrabbled at the window last year, I decided not to clean the prints off, thinking they might serve to prevent bird strikes.
Obviously, I need something more effective. Last year I also hung up some little Tibetan prayer flags but then I discovered that the red and orange ones were attracting hummingbirds. Such challenges!
Birds have always been important to me.
In the past few days I have seen the first geese returning and the Mallard couple down the road have a pond to swim in again.
Then, early this morning little black shapes started to fall out of the sky. The Red-wings are back.
They only stopped by briefly for a seed or two.
Hopefully they are only the avant garde, the front fliers, as it were. We are still hoping for a great chorus like last year.
You can just see his little red flashes. If you look really close!
There was a solitary grackle as well, but my fumbly fingers failed to get him in focus.
Suddenly the sky and Earth have opened up.
It makes the Universe seem immense.
Which, of course, it is.
It makes me feel better to think that this sweet bird is flying free again in that endless Universe.
It touched my heart.
I always try to help out if we have a bird strike on the windows. I like to think that some survive to tell their friends about their adventure.
Even if only some survive, it’s the right thing to try to help, I think.
I have had bird strikes against the glass of my storm door. I bought some stick on decals from the dollar store and so far, it seems to be deterring them from thinking it’s an open space.
I’m going to get something of that kind…