Father Robin took out the smart board.

The whole flock were travelling south and I saw them on a break, between here and Florida. Father Robin showed the flock the sine, cosine and tangent curves in the clouds and how they were growing closer in their rapidity which meant that snow was coming. Each row of clouds was counted and as they got to ten, he flew past them to mark the 5. I wasn't able to stay there till they counted all of the spirals. It was so interesting. Father Robin gives his fledglings all they need to travel with the flock successfully. None of them were lost and none of them were surprised or afraid of the weather.

The bunch of robins observing the clouds, like I look at the little clouds over the pond. How is the structure of the large clouds in ringlet lines like straw over the pond comparable to the huge spiral lines of clouds in the sky to the birds. They were looking at them to calculate something, it seemed. What would they be calculating from the ringlets? Gathering stuff, maybe severe weather, or maybe it tells them how far they have to go to get to the warmer weather. There was definitely some reconciling going on down there???

Bimulous!

Puffy precipitous looking clouds in the sky and the trees were quiet and sullen, as though they were waiting for the burst of new life that usually comes during the next few weeks. The trees were begging for their new leaves. The precious drops of rain had sunk deeply and I could see the little nutrients golfing as to which tree would get the nitrogen from here or there. They do 18 holes and try to get the nutrients into the phloem and the xylem so that the real work of the tree can begin. Photosynthesis is happening right before our eyes and the little angels who were doing their flying practice last season remote controlling the pollen where it lies were now golfing the nutrients where they go.

Yesterday, Mother Goose nearly got hit by a car. It wasn’t funny, but I did laugh. It is always funny, to me, when premature spring fever gets under Father Goose’s feathers. He has no discretion in the least and pinched her, right out in front of everybody. She yelped and flew just short of the street. Mother Goose was just settling into their elderly sedentary relationship, when Father Goose snapped her right out of that thought. Where is this spring nonsense coming from she squealed? She is funny about those things and public displays of affection are always taboo for her. He knows this, but does it anyway. They are hilarious to watch. The goslings were tickled at how Father had made her jump so high. And it is still is a number of weeks till Spring. I wonder if he will make it through the season at this rate. He was acting old until just this morning.

Like water off a sparrow’s back?

Why would they feather their nests with the wet bark from Mr. Tree? The young couple were as cute as could be feathering and choosing the delightful branches together. Her northern husband is not a micromanager that her father was. He just enjoys the sight and the experience of putting the pieces together. What a contrast to Father Robin who had to be convinced and take a trip to the Library of Feathered Sciences before he would even put a single strand in the nest. I wish I could get the new sparrow couple together with Mother and Father Robin for counseling. Mrs. Robin would be a lot less stressed if she had a well raised fellow like sparrowling caught up there in the North. Father Robin has calmed down a bit it is true, but that is only since the fledglings have left the nest. I don’t see hide nor hair of them, like honeymooners, its true, but he did take years off of Mother Robins life with his rantings.

The couple were making eyes at each-other and dreaming of being partners in parenting together. Their premarital counseling had concentrated on the differences between them. This storm made them reminisce about the differences that had attracted them. I just love how you chose that precise large piece of bark for our nest, the dashing sparrow complimented his bride. She was really surprised that he found it fun to do this. For her it is quite a chore carrying the eggs and flying and picking is not one of her favorite things to do. She winked back, now, out of habit. They are really loving eachother regardless what she feels these days.

Tracy Sparrow shows her craft

Tracy Sparrow wanted to show me what she had done with her twigs from Christmas. When I walked around the building, she played hide and go seek and then jumped out to say boo. I was surprised, but not shocked. Hi Tracy.
She flew over and showed me her twig whittling that she had been working on, since Christmas. That is adorable I oogled. She flew off in an encouraged way. It is hard for mother sparrow, no matter how she tries, their doctrine forbids, fawning over the peeps and that has made Tracy a glutton for attention, being the 4th peep to have hatched from the nest. They never seem to see anything she does and they never seem to acknowledge, when they do see. I really did admire her work, but I oogled more because it was Tracy, than I ordinarily would have.

Mrs. Bluejay was showing off her new shape and ridiculing my slower pace, these days. I told her that my knee was hurting still, she just waved her tail to show me that she has no problem in that area this season. I said, so what!

The Ducks and Blackbirds had a dance party this Christmas.

I missed it, for hanging out with the sparrows. Mother Robin clued me in on the whole thing. She sat in a tree with at least four of the young and not so young couples that she came up from the south to visit. These young couples are too much in love to have sense enough to move with the weather. I am retired from laying eggs now and Mr. Robin and I stay as comfortable as possible these days. I was surprised to see her, because it had been so brisk.
She said the couples and her would never darken the doors of such a display. They had all kinds of line dancing and the turkey trot. They stayed in the trees until they played her favorite song, some Spanish song, that I didn't catch the name of. She did go down and dance, just that one and then she was up in the tree talking about the attire and deportment of such practices of the other bird populations who would go to such extents in their celebrations. They had a live band and everything. To hear Mother Robin tell it, I think I will request a personal invite from Mother Duck for next Christmas.

Goswing Christmas!

Christmas at Mother Goose’s House.

My, oh my, she is a frazzled one for Christmas. Her preparations have to be just so. I’ve never seen a bird so in a tizzy. It was fun to watch her ruffled feathers get all over everything as she checked the pies again and again and looked over the bread baskets and smacked the little hands who tried to mess up her preparations before the time.
Mother is a stickler for pomp and circumstance. She had her elder goslings calligraphy the place settings and checked and checked the magazines from Martha Goswing to find the perfect colors for the table settings for this year. Last year it was the green family, this year, blues were all the rage. She will never be said to have place settings that are, “yesterday’s news”. Current and in the scheme is her claim to fame. Every bird invited to the feast knows that they will be privy to the absolute highest in foul cuisine. I felt out of place because I didn’t know that there was a Christmas color of the year and dressed in my usual red Christmas dress. No one was dressed that way and everyone looked at me as though I was not in the “in”.