Feathered Sunshine

Finches in general have a beautiful song.  We would always have several of them when I lived up in Pennsylvania every year.  Where as they're small birds, their bright yellow colors always made them easy to spot in the crowd of sparrows and chickadees.  They also have a very distinct flight pattern, so even if you can't catch the yellow across the sky, you can follow the wave like pattern...flap flap flap drop flap flap flap drop flap flap flap drop.  I'm not sure why that always amused me as a child, but I thought it was the funniest way to fly.

This goldfinch is perched on a branch of dogwood.  I haven't seen any since I've moved to the island, but I'm hoping that one of these days, I'll spot one amongst the birds that visit the museum gardens.

As We Struggled Through The Snow

It snowed this year down on the Outer Banks.  Not just a little bit, but around 8 inches of it.  Growing up in Pennsylvania, we always fed the birds during the winter, going through an amazing amount of seed every week keeping them warm and fed.  To think how hard we humans have keeping warm through the snow, and here are these tiny little sparrows and chickadees fluttering in small flocks, their bare little feet on the bars of the feeders.

So this feather was inspired by all those tiny little birds, who have braved the sudden snow that has hit the island, as well as those who are kind enough to continue to feed the little feathered things through the winter.