Or, Brief mental flights of an extremely amateur birdwatcher.

I never cared for bird watching until I went to Costa Rica a year ago. Seeing macaws and toucans and such persuaded me I might have overlooked something in my habitual rushing around.

Not that central North Carolina has anything to offer that’s quite as compelling as, say, a quetzal, but working on a prompt for the Grow Write Guild has got me paying better attention to the things in my garden that already fascinate my cat.

First objective: Learn who it is I’m watching.

I like taking pictures trying to take pictures of birds but it’s extremely challenging. They do move fast, particularly when I’m about to get a good photo. And then, I have little idea who it is I am watching.

I do know this one’s a woodpecker, for instance, but that’s where my knowledge ends.

This one isn’t a bog-standard cardinal, but beyond that I am (temporarily) at a loss. He has lovely marbling in his feathers.

I do have lots of Eastern Bluebirds, except when I have my camera in hand. Then there’s this guy, who’s blue without a doubt, but not the typical bluebird.

Juvenile Eastern bluebird, Sialia sialis

I’ll do a bit of research and see if I can’t identify these fellows. If you know who they are, do drop me a line.