I was walking down hill so my eyes were on the level with a tall oak behind the house at the bottom of the bill across the main road.

Glancing up as a car passed me I was amazed to see a gigantic flock of sparrows surge up from the tree - if you have seen huge flocks flying then maybe you have seen how they form into a round balls of birds that all keep the same distance from each other. It is beautiful.... add to that there were about a hundred plus birds.

Suddenly the ball broke into two parts. One larger stayed down above the large Oak... the other part about a fourth of the circle - circled over the main road then flew up the road above me and into my yard. HOLY MOLY. LOLOL What a thrill.

I have noticed that the group of birds in my yard has grown in size. Add the Inca Doves that live in the cedars, toss in a few White eyed Vireo, some male & female Northern Cardinals, Carolina Wrens, Carolina Chickadees and the Black-crested Titmouse and the Tufted Titmouse. And I can't forget the gang of White-winged doves who sit on the power lines with a few of the Sparrows and are the alert systems for when I have thrown seed onto the driveway.


This morning since everything was frozen I let Charlie out without a ball. He raced up over the retaining wall - then along the fence to the far back corner where the deer usually are. Then back to the fenced corner by the house.

I had to climb using the fence and a low spot to chase after him as he would not go home. I had to anyway to put peanuts in the squirrel jar. The Bluejays that were here stealing the nuts took off a month ago.

After I got Charlie in the house I fed the backyard birds. But I had to walk around the house for both porches were iced over completely.

Luckily the front steps and porch are not exposed enough to get wet or ice over. So I walked only on the grass - for parts of the driveway were iced over also. I tried to remove some fossils but they were frozen to the picnic table. LOL

I had already put the birdseed jugs on the back porch but luckily I have a rubber mat there which I had to pry up then flip over so I could step out without falling. I then added peanuts to the squirrel jar right by the porch railing.

Then I walked around the house to add food to the feeders hanging from the big oak. But I had to keep from stepping on iced tree roots and large fossils all around the back steps.

I almost slipped on one of the roots... not a good thing.

Once I made it back in the house I opened the back door to get the jugs... and already the peanuts were almost all gone from one of the feeders in the big oak. I glanced back as I closed the back door to see two squirrels dash along branches to chase off the Cardinals who wanted the seeds. Which the squirrels also stuff their cheeks full of as well as peanuts the have shelled.

I love this place and I hope to get some bird feeders that are more suitable for my needs. The ones I have now are mickey moused from bits and pieces of stuff I had around.

I need seed catchers as the doves and some of the birds push all the little seed onto the ground below the feeders.

I give the squirrels and some of the smaller birds Chances leftovers. They also toss the smaller seed on the ground. SHeesh so untidy are these birds.

I have to umbrellas hanging from branches above two of the feeders.They work great to keep rain off the open air feeders.

One more thing - I downloaded an APP from the Cornell Lab of Bird Ornithology in Germany. It is free and called BirdNET. It records bird sounds and then it identifies the birds names. I can't take it with me when walking Charlie for it might say unknown for Human being Lolol.

If you have birds around your home and often sit with a cup of tea or coffee enjoying the sounds of birds do download the app and give it a try. It may be a bit tricky figuring out how it works so do read the tutorial. LOL It helps save you time and frustration. 8-)

I hope everyone is safe and warm. And that no one needs to go out in this mess. There have been only two cars drive down my hill since 6am. Hope they made it to where they needed to go.