Journal - Visitors

Well, here I am back again! It’s about 3pm now and I just wanted to update what I started earlier. I got my potato salad finished and Joni and I think it turned out pretty good. The potatoes may have been a little bit overcooked but not too bad. At least they didn’t completely go to mush when I mixed everything together. Also the eggs I boiled this morning were undercooked and the yolks didn’t look right to me. So I gave the yolks to Sassie, which made her very happy, and I just used the whites in the potato salad. It’s in the fridge chilling right now and should be ready for supper. We’re going to have hamburgers and potato salad. Sounds good! Also, while I was waiting for the potatoes to cook I decided to whip up a batch of chocolate chip cookies, something I’ve been wanting to do for a few days now. I usually take the easy way and instead of making a bunch of cookies I just throw the dough into a glass dish and make cookie bars or whatever you want to call them. So we’ll have something for dessert too.

While I was working away in the kitchen we noticed that we had some very pretty visitors out on the front lawn. Take a look at these!

This is actually the second time we’ve seen these colorful fellows in the yard. I snapped a few pics of them the other day but didn’t really get any good ones. Instead of trying to sneak up on them this time I decided to snap a few pics through the kitchen window and they turned out pretty good. When we saw these guys the other day Joni looked them up in her bird book and discovered that they are American Goldfinches. They’re very pretty aren’t they?

And both times that the Goldfinches have come around, there’s been 1 or 2 of these bright fellows with them. Joni couldn’t find this one in her bird book the other day but today found out that they are Indigo Buntings. These are much brighter and prettier than the typical bluejays or bluebirds that we usually get around here. Today we counted seven of the Goldfinches and two of the Buntings. As we watched them we discovered that the Indigo Bunting is a bit of a bully, often chasing the Goldfinches away as they found something to eat.

But all in all, they commingled reasonably well. Here’s a nice little group of them. The American Goldfinch is the state bird of New Jersey, Iowa, and Washington. They typically winter in the south from southern California down to Texas and Mexico, and even as far east as Florida. In the summer they head up to the northern Midwest and Canada to breed, but can be found throughout much of the US all year round. They also have a very pretty song. After listening to it from the internet we could easily identify their call in the yard.

The Indigo Bunting spends the winter all the way down in Central America but in the summer they can be found just about anywhere in the US with the exception of the Rocky Mountains and anywhere north and west of them. They are commonly referred to as “blue canaries” and I think that’s a fitting name as they are a small and brightly colored bird.

Matthew 6:25-26 Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ESV

Genesis 1:20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” ESV