Yay! It’s Friday! My favorite day of the week AND I get to share some more photos (lucky you, huh?).
I decided to go with a winter theme this week in hopes of filling my mind with cool breeze thoughts in the never-ending heat and humidity of this summer. I hope it works. 
Shelter from the storm
This woodpecker was taking shelter from the blowing snow and cold. Poor guy was attempting to eat sunflower seeds from the nearby feeder, but kept getting buffeted around from the wind. I actually took this photo through the window of the sunroom and was pleasantly surprised that it turned out as good as it did.
These are MY crabapples. Back off.
This mockingbird was my daily greeter each winter for two years in a row. I have a row of crabapple trees that line my driveway and every winter they are filled with dried fruit that the birds swarm over. That is, until this mockingbird discovered them. Then they became his and his alone. He protected that food source all day, every day, chasing other birds away that dared to attempt to help themselves to the crabapple buffet.
I know that many people consider them loud and obnoxious pest birds, but I absolutely love mockingbirds. They are a favorite of mine. This guy would let me come within a few feet of him and would just cock his head at me when I talked to him. I looked forward to seeing him every morning just outside my garage door.
One day in the middle of winter, a large flock of starlings overtook his domain and completely stripped all of my crabapple trees of all their fruit… and then they disappeared, looking for their next food source. This poor mockingbird was so distressed. I tried putting out raisins and dried fruit for him, but in the end he disappeared also. I can only hope that he found another food source elsewhere and didn’t perish that winter. He never did return and I’ve missed his presence and song in my yard ever since.
