I'm not a real birdwatcher, but I do watch birds. We have feeders and a bird bath in our back yard that we keep filled. And, I keep a hummingbird feeder on the patio. The Anna's hummers are fun. We get mostly sparrows and various finches. There is usually a black phoebe around catching flies. At times we get a scrub jay that steals peanuts out of the squirrel feeder. You can't miss its shrill cry. Mocking birds sing all summer and catch bugs on the lawn. Occasionally I've seen gold finches. A sharp shin hawk comes around regularly to snag an unwary meal. One year there were a couple of starlings pulling earth worms out of the grass. There are always a few doves and crows. There is a flock of green parrots that have become naturalized, and they show up when the neighbor's pecan tree is full. They really make a racket. The rarest bird we've had is a long tailed whydah. I've seen it several times. It's tail is about 3 times as long as its body. It's a native of Africa, but has also been naturalized here.
There are a variety of others that I can't identify. There is one that is really tiny, not much bigger than the hummers. And there is another about the size of a robin that just goes peep and hunts for bugs in the lawn.
Some people find an aquarium relaxing. I get the same effect from watching the birds. It's an ever changing show.
Don
nthego:
