Greensboro Birds

Dinner, the surprise rooster, has returned to the mother land

So busy these days, so few posts, even fewer photos. In a nutshell:

• We returned Dinner to the farm where he was hatched and brought home an older Welsummer hen, Rita, that matches our remaining red hen, Lunch. (Dinner’s extraordinarily LOUD cockadoodledooing a few mornings ago confirmed his true gender. He couldn’t fight nature after all.) Dinner followed his beloved Josh to the car as we were leaving, which was a little touching and heartbreaking all at once. Rita’s settling in quietly while Lunch gives her the cold wing.
• First cedar waxwing of fall arrived today. Josh foretold its arrival this afternoon. Eerie.
• Ruby-throated hummingbirds are still visiting in twos and threes. They’re ignoring the feeders and going for every bloom in the garden instead.
• Wave after wave of warblers is pouring through the yard. They all look alike to me, which is a little warblerist, I admit, but it’s true. My life list would be a lot longer if someone would just come here and tell me what all these yellow-gray-greenish birds are.
• We bought an old pickup truck, taking one more step toward full assimilation and another step away from being New Yorkers. Now that we have two vehicles, I’m free to roam about the countryside while Josh is at work. Cool.
• The leaves are starting to fall. Ugh! Can summer really and truly be over? And, much like the time I blamed the laundry lady for shrinking my jeans when it turned out I was just gaining weight, I’ve been thinking my trees were dying when in fact it’s just the incessant drumbeat of time refusing to stop for two freaking seconds.

Eventually, when things slow down, I’ll have photos of cool stuff like the female rose-breasted grosbeak that grabbed some pokeweed berries on its way through. In the meantime, thanks to everyone who has contributed to the 2009 GBirds Hosting Fee Fundraiser. If you’d like to be a GBirds supporter, you can become one by making a donation via the ChipIn widget in the right-hand sidebar. Thanks also to everyone who shops at Amazon via the links on GBirds. A portion of your purchase also helps pay my hosting fees and it doesn’t cost you a thing—unlike that other bailout that’s being bandied about this week. Hey, at least I’m not asking for $700 billion (but I certainly wouldn’t turn it down if you offered)!