wordsfromanneli

Thoughts, ideas, photos, and stories.


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Drumming Up Business

This flicker likes my chimney. It’s a perfect drum for establishing territory, possibly for protecting nearby nesting areas. She was here doing the same thing a year ago. How do I know it’s a “she”? The male red-shafted flickers have a red moustache slash. The females do not.

She hears another flicker and answers the call and then drums to assert her right to the territory.

 

 

And speaking of drumming up business, please visit my other blog site, annelisplace for everything related to books, reading, and writing. https://annelisplace.wordpress.com/2023/03/28/say-youll-come/


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Who Says There’s No Free Lunch?

“Floyd! You’ve been at the suet block forever!” says Johnny Junco. “Don’t you think you should give me a turn?”

“Bah! Go eat the seeds I drop,” says Floyd.

Rufus and his Missus zoom in as soon as Floyd takes a break.  “How is it?” asks Rufus.

“A lot of fat before you can get to the good stuff,”  she says.

“Well, why don’t you get right into the cage?” Rufus says. “You’re slim enough.”

“Why thank you,” the Missus says. “How kind of you to say so. I hadn’t thought of that. But you stand guard in case Floyd or his girlfriend, Bossy Flossie, comes back.”

“I guess I’ll just have to pick at what drops on the ground,” Johnny says. “Those guys are just too big for me to take on. But at least there’s something for everyone.”

If you’re big and rough and tough,

When you eat you’ll get enough,

But if you’re a little guy,

You must wait, or stand and cry.

 

 

That’s the way the real world works,

First come bullies, then the jerks,

Dainty birds like us must wait,

Sadly this has been our fate.

 

 

At the feeder we can find,

That someone has been so kind,

Now there’s food to feed us all,

Whether we are big or small.