If you feed them, they will come

Feed the birds, tuppence a bag

tuppence tuppence tuppence a bag.

Come feed the little birds show them you care

and you'll be glad if you do

The young ones are hungry, their nests are so bare

all it takes is tuppence from you...

Pardon me, that song is in my head a lot, especially when one of my daily "chores" becomes feeding the birds. I have no idea what a tuppence is, but if I had one I would surely sacrifice it for bird feeding.

As soon as the leaves start falling I start putting out bird seed. The thrill of watching them congregate as the season presses on is very rewarding. Usually, most of the birds that gather on my porch are finches, cardinals, sparrows, and the occasional woodpecker. Once in a while I'll have a stranger appear, and then it's

Joy

and

Rapture

Early this fall I had a little stranger appear and didn't bother to ask his name. Fall is a time for birds to migrate and I figured he was on his way somewhere warm and tropical and I didn't want to become jealous and then miss him when he left, so I tried to ignore his presence.

But he kept coming back. Again and again.

Not only did he come to eat, but he was quite inquisitive and would fly within just feet of me, cock his bright little eye my direction and do everything but introduce himself. I've watched him closely and observed his song and his mannerisms and assumed he was a form of woodpecker or sapsucker. He does that fascinating rowing motion when he flies as most woodpeckers do.

I decided that I wasn't THAT expert on bird identification and probably should find out his name since he seemed intent on staying around.

I thumbed through the woodpecker section in my bird book and he wasn't there! So, further I researched and

hot diggity dog I found him!

He is a white-breasted Nuthatch.

You know what my favorite thing about this information is? Nuthatch is way fun to say!!

NUTHATCH

NUTHATCH

NUTHATCH

Ok, so now I have a new friend and his name is Nuthatch. I've discovered that there is more than one attending meals around here too! I so hope that they stay and that they feel welcome. I try so hard to accommodate them well.

While I was reading about them, I learned that they are quite inquisitive little birds and are very tame at feeders...pssshht. I already knew that.

Love,

Mary Poppins