Monday, February 6, 2012

Magpies in Snow

The lightest snow has been sifting down all day today in our mountainside neighborhood.  Several very fluffed up magpies showed up this afternoon, checking the crab apple tree and the chokecherries for fruity snacks.  At the same time, they found it entertaining to talk incessantly to the three deer who came into the yard.  Sometimes it appeared that the conversation was very earnest, but mostly the birds seemed to like landing right at the noses of their four-legged dining companions. For a while, I was not sure what they were trying to do, but then I noted that the deer were pawing in the snow for fruit that had dropped to the ground and been covered, and the 'pies were waiting until it was revealed.  Then they would snatch it from under the deers' noses and fly up in the tree to eat it.  Great way to get someone else to do the work for you.  This went on for about a half hour, and then both the deer and the birds seemed satisfied. The deer left and the magpies treated themselves to a splash in my heated birdbath.   There is never a dull moment here when it comes to my black and white friends.

1 comment:

  1. There are so many words in our dictionary that are arranged alphabetically. Yet, when a gifted author puts some of those words in the right order, you are one and the same with the magpie and deer and it creates a picture that allows you to be right there and visualize in your mind's eye the actions of God's beautiful creatures. What a gift to us is Lorretta's work.

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