A Few of My Favorite Things....Part 1

One of my favorite Christmas songs is "My Favorite Things"

Who can forget Julie Andrews in The Sound Of Music?

Classic

Although my favorite rendition has always been country singer Lorrie Morgan's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXiTIsB_ADQ

As we are winding down to the last few days before Christmas , I am reflecting on some of my favorite things.

So I decided I would do posts this week on things that bring a smile to my face .

I hope they make you smile too.

And I want to thanks Pinterest in advance for assisting me with photos.

If you are a regular reader of my blog , you know my skills as a photographer are lacking.

Thank God for the ability to find any and everything on Pinterest!

My first favorite thing....

My Birds

I have always loved birds and bird watching.

I didn't really know one bird from another.

Last year for Christmas , my friend gave me the book,

Birds of Iowa Field Guide.

I love this book !

I mean I could tell if a bird was a Woodpecker , but who would guess that this one

is actually a Red BELLIED Woodpecker - NOT a Red HEADED Woodpecker?

Make sense huh?

And how about this funny little guy that runs down the tree instead of up,

is a Nuthatch.

And then there are the Finches.

I have a plethora of Finches.

It's easy to identify a goldfinch ,

 Eastern Gold Finch to be exact,

it's Iowa's State bird.

But what about this one?

Thanks to my book, I know this is also an Eastern Goldfinch , the female.

In the bird world , the females are generally the less colorful.

Not fair huh?

Not as common at my house , but still a frequent visitor,

is the House Finch.

not to be mistaken for the Purple Finch

but they are REALLY hard to tell apart!

I have two different "feeding stations".

One outside the kitchen window.

Which I am happy to say , Hubby enjoys more than I.

(he does the dishes, YAH! )

After much experimenting with different seeds and seed mixes,

I have limited my seed selection to sunflower seed and suet.

Sunflower seeds seems to be a favorite of many varieties of birds.

My second feeding station is outside the Living room window.

In direct view from "my spot" on the couch !

Again , I just feed sunflower seeds and suet.

Do you like my feeder on the old porch post?

Ryan put that together for me on Thanksgiving Day.

Isn't he sweet?

Funny thing, even though I use the same feed at each station, I get different varieties at each station.

The Finches visit both,

 but I have a pair of Blue Jays,

 Mourning Doves

 and Cardinals ( in the winter),

 that only visit the "kitchen station".

The Living room station seems to be a favorite for Woodpeckers

 and Nuthatches.

Go figure.

Different birds also have different feeding habits .

Some like Woodpeckers and Nuthatches like to hang upside down to eat.

Blue Jays and Doves eat off the ground or tray feeders.

Finches can eat anywhere!

As can Chickadees

 and Sparrows.

Here's  a little "bird inspiration" from Pinterest.

Love this ! Especially the one little red one!

AWESOME!

Great idea to use those leftover Halloween pumpkins.

Aren't these SWEET?!

Hmm...we'll see...

This one is for Spencer . She HATES birds!

And in closing ...

My goal in life~

Linking this post to:

http://debbie-debbiedoos.blogspot.com/

http://youaretalkingtoomuch.blogspot.com/

http://my1929charmerblog.com/sundays-best-party-6/