A Bird Visitor as Well

Our visitors last week spent a great deal of time watching our birds.  Many of our common birds are not seen in Wisconsin.  A frequent question from our guests was, "what kind of bird is that?"  They were especially thrilled to see the Pileated Woodpeckers swooping to the suet.  They had never seen a Tufted Titmouse.  At one point they asked, "What kind of bird is pale gray with brown streaks?"  I wondered what they could be seeing.

Finally I saw her for myself.  A gorgeous leucistic female Purple Finch!!!  Her body was white with light brown markings.  What a sight!

She seemed quite attractive to one of our male Purple Finches who started feeding her sunflower seeds.

Note the difference between the "normal" female on the left and the leucistic one in the middle.  The male has just fed her a seed.  You can see a glimpse of a male cardinal in back of the feeder.

She has been around now for several days, often sighted near one of the males.  Here's hoping they decide to nest here.  I would dearly love to see the offspring.

And so March Madness went out with a fizzle rather than a bang.  The final game was the worst game of the entire tournament.  Our favored Butler University team play as poorly as we have seen.  Even victorious UConn did not bring their "A" game to the floor that night.  Maryland coach (at the time) Lefty Drisell once said of his team, "Tonight they couldn't stand on the beach and hit the ocean."  That applied to Butler on Monday night.  What a shame that a team normally so good could perform so badly.

Too often we get so caught up in the NCAA Tournament that we forget that most of these players are teenagers.  No doubt the game was even more painful for them.  They felt they let themselves down and let their team down.  They felt they let their coach down, and their families and friends.

I think this photograph (taken from the Internet) best describes how the Butler team felt on that awful night.

But the sun came up on Tuesday and life goes on.  A hard lesson in the lives of these talented young men.

At the Birdfeeders

One of the best things about a house in the woods is that the birdfeeders on the deck are near the trees and attract a wide variety of birds. The birds have been especially entertaining this winter with our near-record snowfall and cold temperatures. I have to refill the feeders at least once a day.

A Purple Finch sits patiently waiting for the crowds to clear at the feeders.

A couple of female Purple Finches share the remaining sunflower seeds with a goldfinch.

As the feeder swings in the wind it becomes apparent that there are actually three females with the goldfinch.

Meanwhile, the large male still sits on his perch watching all the action.

The goldfinch appears to be saying something. Perhaps it's about the snow.

The Purple Finch adds his two cents.

A Tufted Titmouse decides to get a bite.

The action has been fast and furious at all of our birdfeeders and at the water. Every morning the birds sit in the trees waiting for me to hang the feeders and pour the fresh water.

I got an email from Newsweek this morning. They want me back and are offering 88% discount if I subscribe. After continually subscribing to Newsweek for many many years, I canceled my subscription a couple of years ago when they hired Karl Rove to write commentaries. When I called to cancel, I listed the reason in two words, "Karl Rove." I may not be able to hit the "mute" quickly enough to avoid him on television, but I wasn't about to pay money for a magazine subscription and get angry every single week. No thanks, Newsweek, I've done quite well without you. But I do wonder how in the world you got my email address...

And Then the Sun Came Out

Despite a day of rain the icicles on the trees remained and continued to grow. The following morning we finally saw the sun. What a beautiful sight after so many gray and dreary wet and snowy days.

I would have liked to do some walking around to see the magic, but the constant cracking of broken tree limbs kept me grounded. These photographs were taken from our deck.


The Tufted Titmouse pauses during feeding.


The Purple Finch sits on an icy branch.

Sunrise actually brought the dawn. We hadn't seen the sun for many days.

Finally...the sky is Carolina blue.

The ice has melted from the trees but the weather has turned unseasonably cold and we have high winds, certain to bring down more trees. It's a bit scary to drive the mountain roads, not knowing if you will encounter fallen trees around the next curve. Here's hoping for better weather across the country. Stay safe and warm.

Good Luck and Bad Luck

I knew exactly what it was Saturday morning when I came back from walking the dogs. There's no other sound just like it and few sounds more sickening. Nevertheless, I put my boots back on and tramped through the foot-deep snow to the space underneath the house where the sewage lift pump resides.

Amazing, isn't it? You know what the sound is; you know its origin; you hear it get louder as you approach the space; and yet you are still hoping that somehow, someway it's something else. Nope, it was the sewage pump alarm. Traipsing back upstairs to the garage to turn off the breaker to stop the alarming, I noticed the breaker to the pump was tripped.

Hey...maybe that's it. Just a tripped breaker. That could be it, couldn't it? So I flipped the breaker to "off" and then to "on" at which time it immediately tripped again. So much for hopeful thinking. Oh, did I mention it was on Saturday morning with a foot of snow on the ground (and on the roads)? I gathered my courage, smiled faintly and told my husband that we had a little problem. I sounded a little less calm than the folks who said, "Houston, we have a problem."

The details you can imagine. All service folks were snowed in. One service finally made it out to us on Sunday afternoon, but did not have a new pump on his truck. He promised to get a pump and come back today.

So, for two full days (and working on a third) we have not run any water down any drains since they are all connected to the pump station, and we are flushing VERY sparingly. I feel like the old pioneer woman, running a little water in a basin to "wash up," then pouring it off the deck onto the back yard. Our neighbors have offered to allow us to shower in their homes and while it sounds so tempting, one of us can't leave the house and the other would never be so selfish as to take advantage of a shower. (But give me one more day and see how charitable I still am.)

So yet another stoke of totally unexpected bad luck. Our daughter asked if we had any idea which Deity we might have angered so we could try to make amends. But in the scope of the world's problems, ours are small and insignificant. We're still smiling and laughing since the other alternative is to cry.

We are more fortunate than the thousands here in western NC who are still without power. At least we do have access to hot water...it's just that we can't pour any of it down the drain. We have plenty of food and two dishwasher drawers. I've started washing plates as we use them so at least we don't have to use the good china. Would you believe we don't have a paper/plastic plate in the house?

And I totally believed Arnold (the plumber) who assured me that as soon as the vans were running and he found a pump he would be at my house. After all, it's only 11:00, and I know he will fix everything. It's only 11:00 so I'm sure he is getting things ready. After all, it's only 11:00, right? After he is finished, I'll clean the dishes and tonight I'll have a hot soak with the jets surging. Because Arnold just didn't look like the type to disappoint me.

Meanwhile I have two lovely dogs to cheer my up. And today we have a Purple Finch visiting us in the bright sunshine. The birds are flocking to the feeders as the snow has covered a lot of their natural food.




I finally assembled our little artificial tree and it's not such a bad little tree after all. So life is good. And it's only a little after 11:00.

Bird Quiz Follow-up

The mystery bird is indeed a leucistic female Purple Finch. Of course, we named her Leuci. We are so original with names.

I agree that the bird looks a great deal like a female Rose-breasted Grosbeak, but she was much too small to be a grosbeak. Additionally, the beak is much more like a Purple Finch. And finally, I sent the photographs to experts who confirmed it to be a Purple Finch.

Here is a normal female Purple Finch at our feeder:

And here is a female alongside a male Purple Finch photographed in the rain.

We saw Leuci for only three days and have not seen her in a week. I had rather hoped she might stay around.

Thanks for your guesses. You figured it out pretty quickly.

Purple Finches in the Rain

The birds are singing loudly and pairing up. We are so happy to see so many birds nesting in our woods. This year, for the first time we have Purple Finches. They have been hanging around for quite a while and I am hoping they will nest nearby.

This week brought some welcome rain...more than two inches of gentle rain over two days. I love to watch birds in the rain, especially birds as lovely as the Purple Finches.

A male and a female recently shared lunch in the rain.

The female kept her eyes on me most of the time, but she stayed to eat with her mate anyway. I just love this time of year!

Of Cardinals and a Finch

One of the best things about our strange March 1 snow, was watching the birds on the snow-laden branches and at the feeders.

A female Cardinal tunnels under the snow.


She comes up with a beak covered in the white stuff.

A male Cardinal was sitting at a feeder, enjoying himself. Suddenly, a Purple Finch landed beside him on the feeder. The Cardinal doesn't like that very much.

The two birds move around the ring on the feeder. Neither seems inclined to chase the other away. Both of them look a little exasperated, but neither challenges and neither leaves.

Since the feeder seems peaceful enough, a Pine Siskin joins the party.

The Cardinal and the Purple Finch continue moving around the feeder and stuffing themselves.

This was the scene just before the snow. Bright sunshine and warm breezes. Mr. Cardinal likes this weather much better.

It's Purple and it's a Finch

[LATE ENTRY NOTE: Because of some of the comments, especially from Zen Birdfeeder, and a new one from Lynne, I am putting this disclaimer. Watch for the comments on the next post. Wow! I have been watching Purple Finches all winter. (Sorry, Mary.) Word in from Kathi confirms it's a Purple Finch. Read her comment on the next post for a great explanation of why this is true.]

"Come here," he says several times a week. "That's one, isn't it? "No," I reply. "That isn't one either."

My husband desperately wants to see a purple finch. This year the house finches are amazingly rosy, perhaps from all the delicious berries around. They also vary a lot in depth of color, so each one looks a bit different. So each time one appears in the trees or at the feeder, my husband's hopes are raised once again. [New note, late entry: I have apparently been totally wrong in calling these birds House Finches. Poor guy, he's been seeing Purple Finches all along.]


Look at this group of messy birds. You would think they hadn't eaten in weeks.

Note that the siskin seems heavier than the finch.

Well, lady. I can't help it if you don't know the difference. Poop on you.

He goes about his eating and ignores me.

One bird is very easy to identify and there's no confusion. That's one of our mated Pileated Woodpeckers. This is Big Mama, checking out the trees for some tasty stuff.

I can't wait to see my husband's face when I respond, "Yes, dear. That's a Purple Finch."