Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Charming

Words fascinate me in general, but the collective nouns for birds have a particular appeal.

A scold of jays? Yes.
A raft of ducks? Apropos.
A host of sparrows? If our feeders are typical, absolutely.
A drumming of woodpeckers? No joke.
A charm of finches? Indeed.

House finches live year all year, but we only see goldfinches in the winter. They are here en masse right now, and I am loving every minute of it. This morning I counted 10 coming for breakfast at the same time. (They are quite petite, much smaller than house finches or sparrows, but larger than the hummingbirds we see here.)  May the following peeks into our backyard brighten your day.