I went to visit with my aunt out of town to deliver her the Mothers Day box I made up of Bath and Body Works goodies that I had shared on a previous blog. My intention was that of a quick visit because there were other chores to be done. That is not what ended up happening.
She was busy with my uncle cleaning a light fixture when we arrived but that was okay with me because my attention was diverted with what was going on in her side yard. I stopped briefly what I was doing to give her the cello wrapped box which she loved. She thought at first I had picked up a premade gift....mentioning to me as she unwrapped it that she wanted to go to Bath and Body Works because she saw online they had a light up rose wallflower. I smiled and told her I knew that and in a moment, so would she. The gift made her day beyond words and the card brought her to tears. This aunt is my mothers only sister and the only surviving member of that side of the family now. We were close my entire life and she's always treated me as a daughter so it made my heart smile to give her something just because I was reminded of her as soon as I saw the rose.
Gifts being done, I went back to what I was doing....photographing the birds out her kitchen window.
She has feeders all over her yard and the ones just out the kitchen window usually draw your typical birds for her area. I get a few different kinds to my feeders occasionally and it was that discussion that was going on with Lou and my uncle as they were looking through the bird almanac in the living room. As I was mesmerized with the swarm of yellow goldfinches feeding on the black oiled sunflower seeds they were talking about a Grossbeak bird. My uncle said he has never got to see that bird there.
I saw one at my feeder once. A pair of them....the day my girlfriend died from lung cancer. I was devastated, and as almost a distraction to my pain, this bird with a red patch on its breast that reminded me of a heart shape, came to my feeder the entire day....and then left when Lou got home.
And as if the fates heard the conversation, a Grossbeak bird appeared at the feeder. We were all shocked and I was yelling for the two of them to come and look. I clicked the shutter in disbelief trying to make the camera as steady as I could in shaking hands, trying to get at least one picture worthy of this pretty bird.
I looked at my uncle and said...okay, did you ever see a bluebird? And he asked did I mean the one that looks like a blue robin? I said yes and he replied no, not yet. I continued to click the shutter and try not to let the birds see us moving around and I kid you not....a blue bird appeared in the neighbors tree and came down to the feeder.
At this point we are all standing there with our mouths open...looking at one another....and then back at the feeder. I said, "Quick, someone start talking about winning the lottery!"
It looked as if a Indigo Bunting got the message that there was a buffet at my aunts house an he, too, wanted to join the party.
I stopping shooting long enough to check the pictures and saw that because I was shooting through the glass using the zoom to get up close pictures that it made them not crystal clear as I would have liked. But that in no way diminished the beauty of these creatures.
So we opened the window....and of course, scared the birds.
My aunt invited us to stay for a belated brunch and she proceeded to begin cooking not wanting any help, letting me resume shooting the birds who did come back. All except for the blue bunting.
I shot over 300 pictures and I am still going through each taking in everything I may have missed in my excitement.
Like a page from a Marjolean Bastin book, my Saturday was one filled with beauty and peace. My gift...
Here are some of the photos:
Male Cardinal
Cardinal and Male Goldfinch
Male Goldfinch and Grossbeak
Female Goldfinch
Goldfinches and Redheaded Finches
Male Goldfinch
(bird flying away is a Titmouse)
Indigo Bunting
I will add more photos to my FaceBook Page photo album