This is an American Goldfinch.

I know this only because I googled for yellow birds in New England.  I had never seen one before. However, for the past few days I have been seeing some bright yellow bird out of the corner of my eye.  I could never quite get a good look at it as it flitted by the house or swooped into the bushes.  Eventually, I decided that I was seeing a light-colored sparrow and the sun was playing tricks on my eyes.  Until today, however, when it landed on a fence post right next door.  I got a good look and then went to the computer to look it up.  To my surprise, these birds are considered quite common here and yet I have never seen one before in my life. 

Apparently, these birds often winter here in the cold north.  I am going to keep a lookout for them this winter and perhaps it will be a good time to start putting out birdseed.  This new location of ours has proved a wonderful spot for birdwatching.

More on the American Goldfinch: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Goldfinch

Time is For the Birds

I keep hearing the parakeet singing. The only problem is that I don't have a parakeet. My daughter bought me a bird clock as a punishment present.  Every hour, on the hour, it plays a different bird call.  At first, every time it chirped out a tune, I started, thinking there was a bird in the house.  Now, except for the Mourning Dove, I usually find a lazy thought about the parakeet floating through my mind until it hits the brain cell that retains the information that I haven't owned a parakeet in years.  Then, the brain cell that remembers the clock kicks in.

But the main effect of this clock has been to create a completely new and strange interest in birds and birdwatching.  Suddenly, bird songs I have heard in the backyard since I was a child have meaning to me.  I know which bird is making them.  And moreover, I hear birds that I never see, birds I didn't even realize lived in my backyard.

Perhaps it is old age.  I never had time before to sit on the deck and listen to birds or note the colors and plumage of birds or even think about identifying them.  And the clock doesn't scare me once an hour the way it did at first.

Except the Mourning Dove, that's still just too spooky.