Are you fascinated by birds, their ability to escape the confines of earth with flight, their marvelous color patterns and not in the least, their song?

Have you complied a life list over the years? What are your favorites among those birds you have seen and heard?

Having watched and studied birds most of my life and compiled a substantial life list from various parts of the country and beyond, I have my favorites amongst the group and they are now prominently displayed on the wall in my great room as seen on the right.

It might even be fun to include your state bird in the center of that group. I am in the process of including all the state birds in my collection. Enter the gallery by clicking on any of the images or on the gallery link above, and see what you like.

Little Gems in the Forest

November 1: While hiking along a logging road that runs through a partially cleared section of our woods up behind the farm, I heard the thin, high notes of golden-crowned kinglets actively working their way through the balsam branches as they sought out tiny insects.  On such a grey, dreary, cold day, the sight of tiny flashes of gold among the dark green evergreens as they chatted excitedly to one other was such a little thing, but so huge in the way it gave light to my soul. Golden-crowned kinglets are little birds that breed and raise their families in northern confer forests, but will sometimes spend their winter months here in the Berkshires of Massachusetts.  Normally, they are hard to spot because they are tiny, very active moving from branch to branch high up in the tops of  evergreens in search of little insects. Their high-pitched, thin notes and buzzy chatter will give way their location.  Luckily this day they were searching in the lower branches and were such a pleasure to see close up.