Nine:
Just a few pretty shots I’ve taken lately. It’s so exquisite here, I walk around holding my breath. I’m not going to exhale until spring.
By the way, it looks like I have a new bird to care for. The above image is of the varied thrush I found in the forest today. He can’t fly and Penelope nearly chomped him. He seems to have a bite on his back, or a talon puncture, and his flight mechanism is broken. He is sizeable — much larger than Titus McFlightus was — and has a slightly gamey smell to him! His chirp is pure warmth and there is intelligence in his eyes. I hope he recovers in the next day or so. If not, I’ll have to keep him over the winter months and then bring him back to the Methow Valley to release him as my region of Idaho looks as though it isn’t a natural territory for him. In the future, I should stop to ponder on how practical it is for me to make little things like this my responsibility but my mind seems to work so much more slowly than my hands and heart. I just have to scoop these broken critters up and bring them home with me.
Also, I’ve been meaning to tell you of the Titus McFlightus encounter one of the smokejumpers had over at the base! About a month ago, JT was using a leaf blower behind the para-loft when a grouping of waxwings flew into a nearby tree. He kept on working and one of the waxwings flew over and landed on his hand while he was using the leaf blower! JT said this little waxwing was missing the yellow parts of his tail feathers (which Titus also was), and the two of them just strolled all over the base together until JT set Titus down on a tree and the little guy flew away! SUCCESS! I was so delighted to hear that Titus had been spotted and that he was flocked up with his own kind and living the good life. Doesn’t that just warm your heart like hot buttered rum?
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