wordsfromanneli

Thoughts, ideas, photos, and stories.

Dinner at the Diner

39 Comments

I wonder if there’s a restaurant up there. They dropped some food here on the floor, but maybe there’s fresher stuff up top.

Ah … this is more like it. A real borgasschmord of meaty worms and grains. Looks like a zinnia dropped some seeds here, and a bunch of other weedy things left promises of more weeds in the spring. I could help Anneli out by eating the weed seeds. But it might be easier to go dine at The Suet Block today.

Uh-oh! Looks like Mr. Darling Starling is already tucking in.

“Hey, Star! Don’t you know Anneli doesn’t want you here?”

“And why might that be, you little piece of Junc-o?”

“Well … she says you gobble too much food and don’t share, and anyway, she doesn’t like feeding baby killers. You know you’re a nest robber.”

“Harrumpf! Watch it, Twirp, or I’ll peck your eye out. And anyway, you’re not social distancing.”

“OMG! OMG!” said Harry, the hairy woodpecker. “I’d like to go down there, but – sheesh! That starling is star-k raving mad! … and-and-and he’s m-m-mean too.”

“I’m being good, Mr. Starling. See? I’ll keep my distance. I’ll just sit here and watch until you’re done.”

“Well, Twirp, you should have brought a chair. I’m gonna be a while.”

“Heh, heh, heh. Here comes Anneli. Look at that coward fly. He’s a “star” at running away. Coward! Heh-heh-heh. Wish Anneli would sit out here in the rain with us … sigh….”

Author: wordsfromanneli

Writing, travel, photography, nature, more writing....

39 thoughts on “Dinner at the Diner

  1. Wonderful bird photos, Anneli, they are so cute. The larger bird has got to be gobbling too much food. Pig bird. I thought you guys had a ride to a diner! 😂😊🇨🇦

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  2. Beautiful photos, Anneli. Looks like those lucky birds are not on lockdown. ❤

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  3. 😂 Love the photos too!
    Happy New Year!

    Liked by 2 people

  4. Love the photos, Anneli! I could watch the birds all day.

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  5. The little juncos and woodpeckers are so lovely. 🙂 Starlings, not so much. But they’re part of the whole process. I love how the junco won’t stand down and is facing off with the starling.

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    • I was surprised that he stood his ground like that. I don’t care for starlings at all, but I felt bad for them. I kept telling myself they’re birds too, they’re hungry and cold too, but in the spring I know I’ll be sorry when I see them fly off with a baby bird or a bird egg.

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  6. I love those pictures and the birds a lot. It´s better to take the camera than the broom!

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  7. The junko and downy look well fed despite the aggressive starling. Nice photos, Anneli!

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  8. I’m so glad your birds are getting some TLC, Anneli. You’re an angel.

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    • Haha. Thanks, Diana. The Captain would say a “broke” angel. We’ve been spending a ton of money on birdseed but we can’t stop now, not in the middle of this cold, wet weather. But I do thing it’s important to feed them now (until the weather warms up and things start to grow again).

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  9. Great photos Anneli. I am also not a big fan of starlings, but it seems every creature has their purpose on this earth. Bird watching is so much fun but very time consuming, isn’t it? It is definitely worth it when you can catch a few good photos.

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    • It’s surprising how much time slips away between gawking out the window, running for the camera, watching for an opportunity, and getting the actual snapshot. But I love it when I upload the photos and see something special I hadn’t noticed as I took the picture.

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  10. I always enjoy watching the hierarchy of birds – and which ones wait patiently for the other kind to leave. For the most part everyone is pretty patient, as you show here. Great photos!!

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  12. Anneli, I’m smiling away at the beautiful photos (how do you get such good ones of the birds!!) and the dialogue is terrific – glad I’m not the only one creating a running conversation between the birds as they feed away!😀

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    • And me too! I’m also glad there is someone out there who doesn’t think I’m completely crazy (just a little bit) when I write what I think the birds are saying. Glad you like the pictures. I wish some were clearer, but sometimes I’m taking them through the window and that always makes them worse because I don’t keep my windows all that clean (on purpose) because I don’t want the birds to fly into them. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it. 😉

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  13. Love the bird stories and the photos!

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    • That makes me happy, Jennie. I used to love bringing the animals into the classroom, either in pictures, or books, or “taxidermed,” or even some that were, unfortunately, roadkill and we could admire them frozen) up close. I had samples of mink, weasel, otter. Sometimes when I drove to school, past a marsh area, I’d see a poor creature that had been hit by a car and I’d phone the Captain from school to go pick up the victim. I got so much mileage out of them and the kids learned to love those animals and care about them after we studied them.

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  14. Great photos and a cute story haha. So one of the two times I’ve been attacked by birds, the villain was a starling. I was walking around on hotel grounds and a starling divebombed me, pecking at my head!

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  15. Lovely photos! What a sweet little woodpecker. I have to say I do appreciate starlings. They do descend en mass to our garden to raid the feeders and gobble everything up. But I can’t blame them and their markings are so beautifully iridescent. Who doesn’t love seeing a starling murmuration? Corvids are such intelligent creatures too, I love jackdaws especially. I guess I’m of the mind that the only truly horrible creatures on this planet are humans…or at least some of them!!

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    • I agree with all you’ve said about starlings, except it bothers me that they kill nestlings and eat eggs. If they would stick to vegetarian food, I’d be happy to have them share the birdfeeder offerings. Actually I agree with you about some humans too.

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  16. Yes, I don’t like to see that either.

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