Thursday, May 3, 2012

Bird Of A Feather

The barn birds, mostly sparrows and wrens, are busy, busy, busy with nest building these days.  They make trip after trip for materials, and rest for a minute on the hog-panel dividers with their beaks full of fresh grasses, dried weeds, or small sticks before going on home.  I had to laugh yesterday when a sparrow landed with something out of the ordinary in his mouth.  His wife evidently is one of those Joneses with whom everyone will want to keep up, having a nest that will be the focal point of envy in the bird community.  No common weeds for his lady!  This enterprising fellow had flown far afield, all the way over to the chicken pens, and was bringing an offering of white Silkie down feathers to accessorize their nursery.  I hope she appreciated his efforts.

Sheila got up on the wrong side of the stall yesterday.  She came out of the barn locked and loaded, spoiling for a fight.  She taunted and punched each and every one of the girls, including Poppy, while waiting for her turn on the stand.  She did come in to be milked, panting from running Inga around the pen.  She hadn't gotten it out of her system by bedtime, and had Tessie up in the tree afraid to come down, poor thing.  It took some finagling to get everyone into their rooms and settled for the night.  I hope Sheila wakes up in a better mood today.

1 comment:

Kathryn said...

Wow, you think of people getting up on the wrong side of the bed, but not critters. Hope all is calm in the girlie pen today. And yes, Mrs. Sparrow should be mighty pleased with that Silkie offering - sounds like a great way to cover the scratchy twigs to me!