Birds | wordsfromanneli

July 28, 2026
by wordsfromanneli 27 Comments

Here, Kitty Kitty!

A couple of months ago, this kitty was visiting our neighbourhood, just three doors down from us. A brave neighbour took this footage with his cellphone to document the visit. Notice Kitty’s kinked tail. I shudder to think how he/she hurt it, but it seems to be an older injury.

Now the question is, what is Kitty eating to stay in what is obviously pretty good shape?

Are you lost my Kitty, dear?

This is just a hunch,

All the neighbourhood’s in fear

They’ll become your lunch.

Little puppies stay inside

Keeping out of sight,

Best you find a place to hide,

Lest you get a fright.

Time for housecats not to stray,

Hunting precious birds,

Near your home, it’s best to stay

Heed your mama’s words.

Bunny rabbits, hop, hop, hop,

Nibbling garden plants,

Pay attention, stop, stop, stop,

Or Kitty grabs your pants.

I could climb up in this tree,

And escape the threat,

But he still might follow me,

Faster too, I’ll bet.

Oh my goodness, I have heard,

Kitty’s on the prowl,

Mama says to heed her word,

If Kitty starts to growl.

Surely Kitty needs more food

Than just a little squirrel,

But if hunger is his mood,

I’ll leave with one quick swirl.

Cooling down was so much fun,

But what did I see?

Kitty is a sneaky one

Wanting to eat me.

I think we are safe up here,

No cats on this roof,

Still we must be careful dear,

Lest we make a goof.

July 17, 2026
by wordsfromanneli 22 Comments

Stop Bugging Me

I believe these are two juvenile northern red-shafted flickers. Presumably, the one on the chimney is the male, looking for company. It’s not really mating season, so I think he’s just looking for his sister who was probably his nest-mate.

Just guessing. They didn’t really tell me.

In the clip below, he looks around and, not seeing her, decides to get her attention another way.

When she arrives, she is restless and scratching here and there, as if she has some kind of mites or other minuscule critters bugging her.

Big brother watches her scratch for a while, and then remembers itches of his own. He scratches and then becomes aware how nice the sunshine feels on his wings. As he spreads them out, he thinks it won’t hurt if his sister sees what a handsome fellow he is with his colourful wing feathers.

But oh, it itches! Her head is turned right over. This gives us a look at the pale orangey-red feathers on top of her head, telling us she is still a juvenile.

Here they are, having a “scratch-in,” both wishing those critters would stop bugging them.

Might they be mites? Horrible things!

July 13, 2026
by wordsfromanneli 42 Comments

Calm, yet Busy

Dare I hope that this is one of the baby robins I rescued a few weeks ago?

I asked him if he had lost a leg, and he told me he was just keeping his toes warm, one leg at a time, while he waits for a bug to check out the beans growing next to him.

Crispin has been at work high up in the fir trees, cutting down fir cones. They fall from a great height with a loud bang each time one of them hits the metal roof of the wood shed. Maybe I should get a hard hat for him. Then he comes down to gather the cones and stash them in secret places nearby. I made the mistake of helping him by bringing about 25 freshly fallen cones to the wood shed for him. I hadn’t counted on the sticky sap getting on my hands and had to go looking for some WD-40 to dissolve it. How do the squirrels not glue their mouth shut when they eat these sticky cones? I guess it’s like eating toffee.

Mrs. Hummer is resting on the Florence fennel, watching the nearby scarlet runner beans. Their flowers are so bright red, and they must have some delicious nectar in them because there is a line up of hummingbirds waiting their turn to get at them.

While Mrs. Hummer watches the beans, Mother Rabbit is watching her. Do you see them both in the photo below?

Bunny Junior doesn’t have the patience to sit around watching hummingbirds. He’s on the lookout for any weeds that might still be green in this dry spell. Luckily for him, the weeds are the last to die of thirst, and rabbits love weeds.

Have you noticed that for each of them, it’s all about food?

If that’s what it takes, then “I’m some kind of animal.” Interpret that any way you like.

June 17, 2026
by wordsfromanneli 43 Comments

Robin Rescue

I know this is a blurry picture, but it has a story to it, so if I can beg your indulgence, I’ll tell you what happened.

Yesterday morning, I had our English cocker spaniel, Emma, out for a walk around the yard – on the leash in case Henry (the raccoon) showed up. She stopped to sniff something under one of the hazelnut (filbert) trees. I waited a moment and then I thought, “Oops! I bet she’s found another pile of Glosette Raisins (rabbit poop),” and I pulled her away. I looped her leash around the corner post of the veggie garden and went over to see what was so interesting.

It was a young bird on its back (which is never a good sign), and I tried to turn it over to see what kind of bird it was. As I nudged it, it opened its beak wide as if to cry out, but no sound came out. I thought, “Oh, the poor thing! It’s going to die out here in the grass. Not enough wing feathers to fly yet and not enough strength to cry out.”

I brought Emma into the house and looked for the Captain to tell him about the poor little bird. I couldn’t find the Captain right away so I took a picture of the bird. It was a l-o-n-g distance, hurried shot from the house deck way out to the front yard, but I got a fuzzy semblance of the bird. BUT, it had TURNED OVER. So maybe it wasn’t ready to die yet.

Next question: How did it get there?

I looked for a nest nearby. The most obvious answer would be the filbert tree overhead.

Yes, there was a nest. I could see only one other face looking over the edge. As I picked up the fallen bird’s tiny body, I could feel that it was still warm. I reached up to put it in the nest. It clung to my finger and gave it a squeeze as if to say, “Thank you.” Or maybe it was saying, “For God’s sake, please don’t drop me!”

The picture below was taken the next day, and shows the other baby robin that was in the nest. I still didn’t know if the fallen-angel robin had made it.

So I took my cellphone and reached up to try to get a picture of the inside of the nest. I couldn’t quite reach, but as my hand got near the nest, two baby robins perked up and so did both parents who had been foraging for food nearby. They came in like two mini fighter jets in defense mode.

Turn on the sound to get a sense of their alarm as I told them to “Smile please!”

For sure I was smiling when I saw that both babies were alive and well.

May 24, 2026
by wordsfromanneli 30 Comments

Rufous the Towhee

Rufous spies some newly planted grass seeds strewn liberally on black soil.

“A meal for me?” he wonders.

“Nahhhh…. I’m sick of the same old, same old. I’ll wait ’til they feed Crispin his sunflower seeds and invite myself for lunch.”

“I’ll leave you a few … if I’m not hungry anymore,” says Crispin.

Don’t think I’m not caring,

And I don’t mind sharing,

But Rufous is greedy,

It’s not that he’s needy.

It’s lovely to have enough,

Life here is not so rough,

Maybe I’ll leave Rufous

Seeds. Such a doofus.

May 2, 2026
by wordsfromanneli 41 Comments

Robin Robbin’ the Garden

I’ve hired some help in the garden this year. She’s done a beautiful job of sorting out the weeds and making a lot of bare soil ready for planting. I love it, but the robins love it even more.

When they see a patch of newly disturbed soil, they move in to mine it for food to feed their children.

“Look what I found under the rhubarb plant!”

But wait! There’s even better shopping along the fence. Watch the video and see what the robin comes up with.

“Want a closer look at what I found?”

“What? You feel sorry for the worms? We don’t worry about that. The kids love a feed of fresh earthworms.”

“I’ll be there soon, my darlings!”

Welcome to the world, babies!

April 4, 2026
by wordsfromanneli 43 Comments

The Janitor

A cozy sheltered spot this be,

A perfect place to eat,

Did someone put out food for me,

Or is the spread deplete?

I think I saw some feeders hang

From underneath this roof,

But I would fall down with a bang,

No thank you, I’m no goof.

I feel much safer on the ground,

I’ll pick up fallen seeds,

I’ll tidy up the mess around,

And satisfy my needs.

A janitor! That’s what they need!

I help to keep things neat,

By eating every messy seed,

That falls right at my feet.

*** In case you’re wondering what this lovely bird is, it is a Eurasian collared dove.

March 22, 2026
by wordsfromanneli 38 Comments

Looking for Love

Two years ago almost to the day, a red-shafted flicker landed on our chimney to take advantage of the reverberations of the drumming on metal. It saves his vocal chords when calling for his girl.

Turn up the sound on the video, and watch for these cute little actions:

Mr. Flicker talks to Mrs. Flicker just before she arrives, doing a little dance on top of the chimney, tail feathers spread out as if he’s trying to be a peacock displaying his fan.

Mr. Flicker has the red cheek slash while Mrs. Flicker does not.

She arrives and looks around as if she’s trying to find a way up to the top. He chatters to encourage her, she flies down onto the other side of the roof, and then comes back for a second look. She stretches her neck to look around the other side of the chimney as if she’s looking for the elevator.

If you want to have another look at the video clips I put on here two years ago, including a love poem for birds, please click on the link. https://wordsfromanneli.com/2024/03/22/calling-all-girls/