I think I was wrong this morning about the flicker making a racket pecking on something. And I am so happy to be wrong: the Pileated just landed on the suet. The Pileateds haven’t been around for months!! and I’ve missed them.

After scarfing suet, he flew off into the ravine to peck at snags and downed trees. He’s looking especially bright and fresh, and I am so glad to have him “home”.

I LOVE the Pileateds. Last summer for awhile there were three coming around, a male and two females. I got a big crush on them. Why do they make me so happy? I don’t care why. I’m happy to be happy.

Photo by Thomas Puzino and used with gratitude under Creative Commons licensing.

It is extremely noisy this morning. The air is not still. The stream in the ravine is rushing loudly. Herons and seagulls and robins and hummingbirds, plus a flicker pounding away on a snag somewhere all add to the cacophony. The Stellar’s Jays are begging for peanuts and the crows want a piece of that, too.

There are other birds out there in the trees, but I am only beginning to learn to identify bird songs, and I don’t know the names of the birds behind these particular calls. I do know that the migratory birds are adding their transitory bits to our airwaves, arriving suddenly with their songs and then gone again as the season requires.

I imagine my world out there trying on a different feathered hat now and again, dressing up for spring.

Photo by Dan Dzurisin and used under Creative Commons licensing.