Birdwatching With Achilles

Still sick. Just sitting at home, watching the birds with Achilles. Luckily it's January and I work in retail, so I have only missed one day of work.

See how he stares intently? 

Achilles is happy to have me sit with him as he watches CatTV on the Bird Channel all day. (That's what we call our patio door.) The winter lineup is not as good as the spring lineup, though. There aren't as many of those little birds (finches, wrens, etc) as there are in the spring. And not as much variety of birds. Basically, it's mourning doves, sparrows, and the occasional cardinal.

I've upped the large-seed content of the bird food mix by adding sunflower seeds to the mixed food I already put out. Also, I've added a suet cake (usually with peanut butter or berries) to the channel so that   the birds will move around a lot for Achilles  the birds will have a higher protein diet for the winter.

Oh, and we also get an occasional horrifying visit from a hawk. I believe it's a Cooper's Hawk. Every so often, it comes and sits in this bush across the yard from us and it treats our back porch like Patwoman's All-You-Can-Eat-Buffet. I can tell when the hawk is here because there will be no other birds. 

The neighbors probably think I'm
taking photos of them. Ha!

Or, you know, there will be 40 birds eating and then all of a sudden, 39 will fly away. Poor Bob the Bird will just be looking around like, "Huh?" And all of a sudden, that hawk will snap him up and fly off with him. I know, I know. The hawk has to eat, too. But wow. It is just completely gruesome.

Poor Bob.

And then, for good reason, there will be no more birds at the feeders for the rest of the day.

Luckily, the hawk is elsewhere today. (This photo was taken on a previous day, by the way. It is not nearly this green here now.) Achilles and I have been watching the Bird Channel, and the Rabbit Channel. Maybe later tonight we will also see the Possum Channel?