As I poured my coffee this morning my mind was bouncing around like a ping pong ball. Topics came and went quickly though my mind. There was laundry, going to gym, and is it really a good idea to feed the birds? Ecologically speaking, aren't I disrupting the natural plan by setting out suet, peanuts, black sunflower seeds, meal worms and sugar water? Because I do this my yard has many more voles and field mice. The lawn around the bird feeders is soft with underground tunnels. The voles and mice attract more feral cats, foxes, and hawks and possibly owls. More of those predators is not good for the birds. Perhaps it would be better for the birds to NOT feed them. As I think this thought I see a big white underbelly of a bird upside down on my peanut feeder. This bird's belly is three times the size of a white breasted nuthatch. What is this bird? I see a red belled woodpecker drinking water out of my bird bath. The bird with the white belly leaves the peanut feeder and flies up to the bird bath too. I am star struck! Although this is not Johnny Depp or George Clooney, this is a rose breasted grossbeak! I stand still. I don't even think about getting the camera because I know this moment is not going to last. This male grossbeak is a beauty. With the pink crab apple trees in blossom behind it, this would make an awesome photo so I take a mental snapshot. Ten seconds later both birds leave. Wow! What was that thought about disrupting the ecology?
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