I am often at a loss for words these days, but a couple of hours of birdwatching with a new friend was a welcome interlude in the grieving process.
The beauty, variety, and unexpected behaviors of birds can inspire feelings of joy, awe, and wonder, which can be a powerful counterbalance to grief.
~ AI
Dear friend Barbara – I agree that going for a walk with the trees and birds is the best way to cope with grief. Much love. Wish I lived closer and could go walking with you.
I have a feeling we would be good walking partners, Rosie, with our mutual love for the natural world and being so familiar with grief. If you ever find yourself in North Carolina let me know and maybe we can make that wish come true. 💙
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I’m not sure what happened but both your comments went to being held for moderation, as if they were first time comments, even though you’ve commented before. Maybe WordPress is getting buggy again. Sorry that happened!
Glad to hear that you have a new friend. Are the photos taken on your home deck? Very nice variety of birds visiting on this autumn afternoon.
I spend hours of birdwatching on my property!
October I had an exterior STYE on my eyelid. It healed only to have another internal STYE in the same place. That healed and holy cow another STYE appeared! It’s hard to believe that a STYE could make me feel so ill. But for six weeks, it knocked me off my feet into my bed. Doctor said I also had conjunctivitis in both my eyes and prescribed an antibiotic cortisone ointment three times per day. Once placing the ointment in both my eyes I could not see for two. Everything was blurry but I could shuffle around inside my home.
That illness is clear and I am as well as I get now. Love the birds and birdwatching! 🍂
The photos were taken from my friend’s living room out onto her deck. It was sprinkling that day and I didn’t want to risk getting my camera wet. I hope the next time we get together to watch birds we will go outside and take a walk on a nature trail. I wish I could have feeders so close to my deck but I have so many squirrels it would never work out. I’m glad you continue to have the joy of birdwatching right from home. 🙂
Oh dear, those styes sound terrible!!! And the treatment sounds like such a nuisance, but it sounds like it did the trick. Now you can see the birds and enjoy their healing therapy again!
It’s great to be able to enjoy a bit of time with a neighbor in your complex to see a variety of things around! I have a new petite squirrel. She is always first here and last to leave. This squirrel absolutely love the acorns in the Texas Oak in my front yard trees. I named her Miss Acorn.
Sunday afternoon on the holiday weekend a giant 100 foot tall very old but healthy Hackberry tree fell onto my backyard neighbor’s house. I heard it hit. There was no rain or thunderstorm, but winds 22 mph. Considered windstorm damage here which most people cannot afford here. She our age and her son who must be in his 50s were home investigating when I went outside to see what it was that I heard. The tree belongs to her neighbor who rents out the property who accepted full responsibility. The rental manager hired a professional tree company and they have been working all week. I have been watching progress.
Tuesday it was like a beautiful sunny spring day! But Wednesday the cold and sprinkling rain set in. But they have been working steadily despite the weather. Incredible workers with a sense of humor. They know that I’m watching with binoculars and snapping videos with my cell phone. One worker said to me laughing “Another Day at the Office”.
Enjoy your squirrels! They are very entertaining too!! 🐿️
How lovely to have Miss Acorn in your life now!
Wow! That must have been some sound when the hackberry tree fell on your neighbor’s house! I see pictures in the news of houses crushed by trees falling on them, but I’ve never seen one in person. Sounds a little close for comfort. Is your neighbor back in her house yet?
Oh Barbara the tree landed on her roof but didn’t crush nor puncture any holes in the roof. She didn’t have to evacuate. I spoke to her on the phone Saturday afternoon. She said it is a relief to have that part done and next phase is to have the roof evaluated to repair and replace any damage to shingles and such She said the process isn’t over. She has lived in that house for over 38 years. She has seen it through a lot! These homes in my area are 80+ years old. My house 84 years old has some of the original windows and window frames despite all the windstorms and hurricanes. What we live through!
So happy to know your neighbor didn’t need to evacuate and that nobody was hurt. Hearing the sound the tree made hitting her house must have been a shocking experience for her, since you heard it all the way over at your house, too. It is amazing how well some houses hold up in those violent coastal storms.
Birdwatching can really lift the spirit, esp. when one’s mind is troubled. I esp. need them in winter when the natural world seems to stand still. Good that you are getting out and about. 💕
It’s so true, especially in the winter months. In his last years when my father was confined to a wheelchair, watching the way the birds behaved outside his window gave him many hours of pleasure. 💙
🙏🏼 💕
These are beautiful close-ups of the birds Barbara – how nice you found a place to see and photograph birds and take some time to enjoy a nature walk again. I have never seen an Eastern Towee, but I see Sparrows, but they are so quick, so I will have to study them to see if they are White-throated Sparrows like you have here in your close-ups. The Cardinals and Woodpeckers are enjoying their meals with great gusto. Coincidentally, I will have a post on the 14th with a Downy and Red-bellied Woodpecker at a birdfeeder at the Interpretive Center and I saw and photographed some Cardinals after putting peanuts at Council Point Park (before this ugly weather settled in), but I couldn’t get close-ups like you have here.
Thank you, Linda. It seems like its been ages since I’ve gotten and pictures of birds so it felt good using the camera again for that again. On most of my walks since Tim died I hear birds calling but I haven’t been able to spot them. I was very excited to see the towhee – it’s only the third one I’ve seen. The first one was in CT in 2020, during the pandemic, and it was rustling around in the underbrush so the picture I got wasn’t very good. The one I got in NC in 2024 was eye-level up on a branch, and a little better, but with twigs in front of it. The one I got here surprised me on the deck railing, but still hidden in the vegetation. They seem to spend most of their time concealed and are very elusive. Looking forward to seeing your woodpeckers on the 14th!
I am sure it felt good to be out and about with the camera again. I am glad I had those nice weather days in September and October and back in the Spring for my nature walks since 2025 was filled with a lot of weather frustrations. Right now the next week remains active for weather, with bitter cold and snow nearly every day. I Googled yesterday and we do have Towhees here in SE Michigan, but maybe not around here. I hope my woodpeckers don’t disappoint – I thought it was funny that we both had these woodpeckers in our posts.
It does sound like you’ve been getting lots of winter weather lately, from what little snippets I hear on the news. It was supposed to snow here yesterday but it didn’t. But we can use the rain so that’s okay. No way your woodpeckers will disappoint! 🙂
I’m glad you didn’t get any snow. I am glad my woodpeckers won’t disappoint. 🙂 This morning in the backyard I was checking the downspouts and a Red-bellied Woodpecker zoomed through the neighbor’s yard and I saw it land in the tree … that neighbor, behind Jeff’s house, has a tree with a bird feeder and a suet feeder or two. I saw a squirrel busying himself there as well. It’s a little too far to see with the camera. But I’m going to watch the action at the tree as I could ask Jeff if he minds if I go into his yard sometimes to get an up-close shot. But you know, by the time I walk over there, it likely will be gone.
Oh, that’s exciting! Back in Connecticut we had a red-bellied woodpecker who would announce his arrival by calling as he flew in. I grew to recognize the call and would go to the window to watch him feed at the suet feeder he loved. I hope you manage to get some shots in your neighbor’s yard!
I was really happy to see this Barbara – I hope I get some shots too. I’ll have to point it out to Jeff next time I see him outside. I have the Red-bellied Woodpecker (Rex) at the Park who zooms in when he sees me putting out peanuts. He grabs a peanut and departs quickly. I sometimes can get pics in the snow as he often stays and eats it or sunflower seeds right there, rather than “to go”.
Interesting! My red-bellied woodpecker in CT never took any of the peanuts Tim put out for the squirrels and blue jays. He just stayed on the suet feeder. I just went back to your 12.9.20 picture post about Rex – those were some great shots you got!
That was probably because your red-bellied woodpecker only ate the suet, assuming it was just for him. 🙂 A polite red-belled woodpecker in CT … not so polite here in MI as it would take suet and peanuts. I used to take suet in the container it came in for the birds and chop it up so it was easier to eat, but they didn’t eat it until the peanuts were gone. The squirrels ate the suet as well, especially if it was the peanut variety or had seeds embedded. Yes, Rex likes the peanuts in the shell and I went back to that post you found and thank you! The males are handsome birds aren’t they. Rex would have been on the ground awaiting a peanut drop since he didn’t have one in his beak.
Such pretty birds to help uplift the spirit! I love downy woodpeckers, they are so cute! I tried having a suet cage on one of my shepard’s hooks a couple winters ago but it went unnoticed by the birds. Perhaps I had it placed where there wasn’t enough cover for the birds to feel comfortable coming to it.
I love downy woodpeckers, too. Back in Connecticut the only feeder I had on my deck was a suet feeder and it was the downies and the red-bellieds that visited it constantly. Maybe I should try one again here. I wonder if your suet cage swung too freely for the woodpeckers to brace themselves on. Mine had an attached flat vertical protrusion below it for that purpose, plus it was stabilized by the deck railing.
PS – I just looked it up, it’s called a tail prop! EcoTough® Double Tail Prop Suet Feeder at Wild Birds Unlimited.
One moment, one step at a time, doing the next right thing is all I’ve got and isn’t that amazing?! Thanks for sharing your moments of now and grace.
It is amazing, moment by moment, little by little, healing does come.