It is springtime here in the city. For a week or so, my cat and I have been fascinated by the periodic choruses of peeping from the highest boughs of our spruce tree. His interest was dietetic, mine just aesthetic. This morning, the peeping dispersed.
From inside my kitchen, I spotted a fledgling on the grape arbor. I took a quick snapshot from inside, and then tried to slip quietly outside to get a clearer picture. As soon as the youngster saw my front-facing, predator’s eyes through the glass, it flapped madly for the overhanging wires. It didn’t have enough loft, and was shedding down as it bumped the wire. Finally it gave up and flapped toward the lower concealing cover of the lilac bush. So all I got was this through-the-door snapshot.
What a beautiful picture! Hopefully that fledgling will have a long life to sing – free, one hopes, of predators feline and otherwise.
Dan: What a delight to open up the site and see this exquisite photo of the little bird so full of hope (in the bird sense of hope), ready to forge out with its new wings and to seize the day.