Birdwatching... Catch the fever!

     Okay... so I never thought this would be me. But I am hooked. I have fallen in love with birdwatching, and boy, what a buffet that visits me each day.
     I consult my Reader's Digest, North American Wildlife guide to see what's what (I ordered mine at Amazon for less).
     So far, in just the past few days, I've seen cardinals (I've grown to appreciate the subtle beauty of the khaki-colored females), blue jays, robins, white-throated sparrows (these look like chipmunks, with their black and white striped heads), house sparrows (or english sparrows, as they are called), black-capped chickadees, common grackles (gorgeous, fairly large, black and irridescent purple and green birds resembling the brewer's blackbird), dark-eyed juncos (very small, sweet little things), eastern towhees (black headed birds with burnt orange sides and white-edged tails), and of course, the mourning dove.
     This is a very exciting new pasttime for me. I put some seed out so I can study them as they eat. Each time I look outside is a surprise.
     If you live in Maryland, be on the lookout for these and more. I can't believe I wasn't paying attention all these years. And to think spring isn't even here yet.
  

Nature's consolation...

     This morning I came downstairs at sunrise, made my coffee, sat on the loveseat in my dining room, gazing out of the bay window overlooking the woods of our side yard like I always do. There, the natural life of the early morning peeps out to start the day.
     This is where I, too, begin each day, and say my prayers for the morning.
     This morning, I asked God for something that I don't usually do, but I've had an emotional time of it lately, and so I asked for a small sign of His consolation. Of course, I qualified it to the Lord, saying that I was not testing Him, but was in need of just a little of his supernatural comfort in my very natural world.
     Suddenly, I looked down, and there was an unsual bird, just sitting on a fallen limb on the ground. Unusual, in that it wasn't a robin, or a cardinal. It was a plain taupey-greyish bird that looked a little like a pigeon.
     No offense God, but I was kind of hoping for a happy little yellow finch, or a graceful blue bird.
     That's okay. I sat and studied this bird anyway. It sat there for a very long time... longer than I did... barely moving except to leave a little goodie on the grass beneath it. Nature. Still okay. God knows what He is doing.
     The more I studied it, the more I thought it was beautiful in its stillness and its simplicity.
     Of course, I had to know what kind of bird this was. I had seen it before, and I knew it wasn't really a pigeon. So what was it? I consulted my wildlife book, and found it.
     It was a mourning dove.
     Not a morning dove, but a mourning dove.
     Providing me with some peace and joy in the stillness of the morning... and the mourning. For as long as I needed it.
     God does indeed know what He is doing.

Other birds I have seen in my side yard today: blue jays, cardinals, robins, white-throated sparrows, and black-capped chickadees. The mourning dove has gone on its way...