OLIVIA IN NC

 february delights at the pond

I seriously feel like I just came back from an aviary.


Or at least like I was just in some cheesy reprise of a movie where nature is just wonderful
and the camera circles around the main character zooming out to a bird's-eye-view.

One of the two.

But actually my little one and I just returned from a "pond round" out back.


I wish I'd had a mini Mr. Webb or other birdmaster on my shoulder to whisper the names of all the bird calls I was hearing.
(There were at least 10 distinct whistles!)

I felt like so many birds were all flying around us as if we weren't there. They were having some kind of party.

Really. These photos aren't doing it justice at all.

There was a beautiful state bird out there too but I didn't catch her on the camera.
I thought I was hearing a cardinal call for the first time, but then she flew away and the cool bird was still calling.
It's only been 30 minutes but of course I can't even remember exactly what it sounded like.

Cohen didn't protest even though all he could probably see was my chest from his perch in the BabyBjörn.

He was calm and quiet and awake. I think he sensed my euphoria and maybe felt a bit of it too?

It was the honking of these geese that initially called me outside in the first place.

They were so loud I could hear them while nursing on my bed even though all the windows were closed.

Oh, and then to top it all off, the biggest flock of starlings flew overhead as we walked back to the house. This is just like one tenth of the total chirping birds. Not only could we hear their occasional chirp but the flapping of all their wings was audible too.

In Ben's words, this is when I'm glad we don't live on campus.