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| Mr. Cardinal all puffed up for the winter. |
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| A nuthatch hops headfirst down a tree. |
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| Towering green bamboo |
So--this is January?? A day for open air knitting and bird watching.
When I was small, I lived in New Mexico and the birds I remember were robins, brown sparrows and crows. When I came here, I learned cardinals and blue jays and mockingbirds. I set out a feeder and learned tufted titmouse, chickadee, finches, wren, and so many others. But, I have become jaded. "Oh, just a cardinal," I say. "Just a mockingbird." But when I spy a ruby crowned kinglet or a bird I have to look up in my book (most recently yellow rumped warbler)--wheeee! I am ridiculously thrilled! I scramble to add it to an app in my phone.
Today is Martin Luther King Day. A holiday. MLK is a hero of mine. I remember my father telling me that all people were the same under their skin, that all people, no matter their color, felt pain and loneliness and humiliation all the same. I have never forgotten that.
