It's a new year. My self-help books tell me it doesn't do a bit of good to beat myself up for not sticking to my goal of drawing a bird a day, and that I should just put one foot forward best I can. So here is my 2012 offering: a Spotted Towhee.
Randy and I love it when one of these happens to take refuge in our yard, because they are so pretty with the glowing black head, tawny sides, and white streaks on the back. We usually get just one in our yard every fall, and it will hang out with us for several months off and on. It stands out amongst the flocks of smaller, drabber white-crowned sparrows and juncos that comprise our winter backyard bird commune, hiding furtively in the bushes, always sticking low to the ground and kicking up the gravel with its feet to find the last dregs of the birdseed we spread around back there.
Every now and then, maybe when it gets lonely, I don't know, it will flutter up to perch up high in our neighbor's mesquite tree and will offer a beautiful, intricate melody of warbling notes that would make anyone turn their head and gasp. But just as quickly, it will fly back down into the bushes. Maybe it decides it can't compete with the noise of the freeway in the distance. Or maybe it decides its better to keep its secret stash of Forrest backyard birdseed to itself.
Welcome back. We were all wondering.
ReplyDeleteAnd a two-fer at that. Both are evocative. A little color in the yard would be a treat and a song, too.
I'm glad to see you post, again.