Spring Tease

Man, the weather has really been teasing us these past couple of weeks.  We have had some beautiful days, some gusty, windy, rainy days, a power outage, even snow!  Mother nature can not make up her mind. This morning the sky was clear and blue, the sun was bright, the birds were singing and the air just smelled like damp earth and spring time.  I spent my early hours in the front yard pruning my rose bushes, then poured myself a cup of coffee and sat down near the open window to listen to the song birds who were perched in the lilac bush outside my bedroom. I love these birds so much I found myself obsessing over ways to win their affection and encourage them to maintain a more permanent presence in our yard.  Eventually I became convinced that we absolutely must set up a bird bath and feeder near the lilac bush.  I set about browsing the infinite shopping possibilities on the internet, but slowly talked myself down and reminded myself it would be best to find a way to re-use or re-purpose something we already have laying around the house. The bird feeder was a piece of cake.  I had some empty water bottles sitting in the back of my car, left over from a recent visit to a hospital waiting room.  I also managed to find an unsharpened pencil with a missing eraser in the kids' craft cupboard (score!)  I punched two small holes in the opposite sides of the base of the empty water bottle and slid the pencil through until it was centered.  Then I cut two more holes (slightly larger) above the first two holes, filled the bottle with seed and replaced the cap, tied some twine around the neck of the bottle and...TA DA!  Instant bird feeder :)  I hung the feeder out on the lilac tree and then spent the next half hour obsessively staring out the window, waiting for a bird to land on the pencil perch and check it out...it never happened. But I have faith! If you're interested in making your own, and want to follow directions that are actually clear and well written...you can have a look here!

I'm not sure how I am going to create a bird bath however.  We don't seem to have any old pie pans, cake pans or hub caps hanging around the house. I haven't given up looking quite yet, but I DID find a local artist who forms bird baths out of concrete.  If all else fails I will console myself with the knowledge that, even though I didn't find a way to make a recycled bird bath, I purchased one that was created locally.

This is a picture of a gray-crowned rosy finch.  These little guys are all over our lilac bush!

more about gray-crowned rosy finches here!

Until....one of the awesome western scrub-jays comes along and scares them all away!  He may be a bully, and he isn't much of a singer, but he sure is beautiful!

more about western scrub-jays here!