Birds, birds, birds

From singles 2

Last weekend I was off. Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Wow! What can I say? I had images of getting the garden whipped into shape, spring cleaning the house, doing laundry. You know, having fun.

I have this problem. I blame the babysitter I had when I was in Junior High School, Bobby. Bobby always insisted that we get our work done before we did anything else- like walk over to the IGA to buy Hostess Pies- chocolate or apple. So, until things are "in shape", I have trouble relaxing and doing something just for fun or, god forbid!, doing nothing. And, the long glorious weekend started with two fabulous days of RAIN.

I like a rainy day. But, I don't move very fast. And, it is pretty much impossible to either work in the garden or dry clothes on the line. So, I cleaned up the house, got my hair cut, and then finished reading "Crusader's Cross".

From singles 2

Our neighborhood butcherbirds don't do much on rainy days, either. They congregate on our fence (gate, really) where it passes under the roof of the car port. And, they sing. The acoustics in the damp air with a bit of bouncing off the roof is lovely. I really should have remembered that my camera can record sound. But, instead, I just snuck out and caught a photo of the chorus. (I'll attached a YouTube video for those of you who haven't had the pleasure of listening to butcherbirds.)



This lovely whistling melody is in stark contrast to
a. their eating habits - (from Wikipedia) Butcherbirds are insect eaters for the most part, but will also feed on small lizards and other meat. They get their name from their habit of impaling captured prey on a thorn, tree fork, or crevice. This "larder" is used to support the victim while it is being eaten, to store prey for later consumption, or to attract mates

and

2. the vocal stylings of the much more visually flamboyant native, the rainbow lorikeet.

From singles 2