It Has a Song

A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song. ~ Chinese Proverb

Not to worry. This isn't another song challenge. This post is all about birds.

I've only ever seen mockingbirds in one spot, and that's in my local park. In fact, I've only ever seen one at a time so perhaps it's the same beauty which keeps on showing up. On this day, I was able to get a couple of distant shots of my feathered friend, though he was perched in such a way that made it difficult to focus on him instead of the surrounding tree parts.

No, we have been as usual asking the wrong question. It does not matter a hoot what the mockingbird on the chimney is singing. The real and proper question is: Why is it beautiful? ~ Bertrand Russell 




Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy... but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird. ~ Harper Lee


I always get a kick out of a hawk sighting. Living in the city as I do, that doesn't happen exceedingly often. And when it does, if I'm lucky, I'll have a zoomy lens on my camera at the time. I was just starting my walk when I spotted this guy (probably a Cooper's Hawk) landing on a nearby branch. I was fortunate to see him but the above mentioned lens was not to be. This was the best I could do with the 100mm lens.

The hawk is aerial brother of the wave which he sails over and surveys, those his perfect air-inflated wings answering to the elemental unfledged pinions of the sea. ~ Henry David Thoreau

A clever hawk hides its talons. ~ Japanese Proverb

Common but always sweet, there are plenty of sparrows to be seen in my neck of the woods. They seem to pose so nicely for the camera.

I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance that I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn. ~ Henry David Thoreau 

A forest bird never wants a cage. ~ Henrik Ibsen

Some thoughtful person must have filled these pine cones with suet for the birds. They had been picked clean by the time I happened upon them along the creekside path, but I liked the way they looked dangling in the late-day sunshine.

Those little nimble musician of the air that warble forth their curious ditties, with which nature hath furnished them to the shame of art. ~ Izaak Walton

I realized that if I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes. ~ Charles Lindbergh

While walking near Frank's place late in January, I heard a distressed chickadee and a rather upset young squirrel in a wooded area they call the Woodland Path. I looked around to see what might be causing their discomfort and saw this barred owl fast asleep in a nearby tree. The light wasn't wonderful and subsequently, neither were my photos but I was still happy to see this beauty. I'm pretty sure the creatures around him were safe during the daylight hours.

A wise old owl sat in an oak.

The more he heard, the less he spoke.

The less he spoke, the more he heard.

Why aren't we all like that wise old bird?

~ Nursery Rhyme

I rejoice that there are owls. They represent the stark twilight and the unsatisfied thoughts we all have. ~ Henry David Thoreau

More photos in a few days.