| 191 | Birds... | 2010-02-17 |
Last year a pair of cardinals took turns roosting each night under our front porch. One night the male enjoyed the warmth of the porch light and the next night the female. We loved going to the front door and watching them. They became a wild part of our family.
In the fall the male cardinal returned. He roosted regularly but seemed to have lost his mate. A female did show up from time to time, but was not consistent, but the male was. He came every night. We even asked our friends not to use the front door, because it startled him.
Then after the snow a couple of weeks ago, the male cardinal left. He has not returned even to visit.
Over analyzing, like I do for everything, my wife and I discussed possible reasons he left us. We finally decided he was hungry with the snow covering the ground. He left us for a house with food. Well, we didn’t just sit around, we took action. A quick visit to the hardware store and we had food and feeders.
Now, we are addicted. My wife got an app for that to help identify the birds. And we are constantly watching for guest birds visiting the new diners, our bird feeders.
Just today we have seen numerous robins and grackles, a house wren, a downy woodpecker, a house finch, and a carolina chickadee. The bird feeders are a great distraction.
So if anyone happens to see a small male cardinal in the neighborhood, please tell him that we now are offering free meals with the roost. We miss him.
Happy bird trails.