After a recent snowfall, the trees were laden white with the fresh, clean snow. With every slight breeze, puffs would settle out like big globs of froth - on their way down to the ground.
The bird feeders over the deck were a busy place. Little birds flew into the balsam Christmas tree we placed outside in early January. They checked out what looked good to fill themselves with energy for cold days. Resident grey squirrels showed up to eat seeds that had fallen from the feeders - and they enjoyed a long drink of water from the pan that held a heater element, which keeps the water in it from freezing.
Today, it was the usual crowd - sparrows, an occasional cardinal and a saucy blue jay, nuthatches, chickadees, and juncos. Downy and hairy woodpeckers took turns at the two suet feeders.
It would be easy to say same-old same-old. The same flocks filling themselves with birdseed.
But this daily activity calls me to pay attention.
As I gazed out the window, I saw something I'd never seen before. A blue jay headed for one of the suet feeders and precariously balanced itself. With its long beak, it acted like a woodpecker, pulling bits of suet from the feeder.
If I had given the congregation of birds a cursory glance, I would never have seen this blue jay supplementing his diet with suet - and playing the role of a woodpecker - as though it had studied the smaller woodpeckers who had been coming all winter. His audition as woodpecker was a pretty floppy act and not likely to earn it an Oscar. Several times it almost fell off - like a clown entertaining its human audience of one.
But in the cold, a bird does what it needs to, in order to stay healthy rather than hungry.
Today, what have you paid attention to that brought a smile to your face?
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