I've been enjoying starting my mornings with a half hour or so walk. Some mornings I get to see the brush strokes of pink in the early morning sky as it sweeps faintly across the pale grey pre-sunrise sky. Other mornings it's more of a maroon-dark grey shade that more boldly fills the morning sky. Or, like this morning, I caught a hint of brown in the early morning sky colors.
I'm sure if asked for "colors of the morning sky," I'd never offer up "brown." But, I swear, this morning there was a light brown tinge to the pre-dawn shades as I walked briskly around my morning loop.
Another component accompanying me each morning is a chatty and busy, Mr. Mockingbird. He gives me my first smile of the day as he flits and darts from his staked out territory first sounding like a blue jay, then moving on to his own crow imitation! He seems to like to perch on a large spruce in the area and whenever I turn his corner, he dives down from the great swooping branches and is right there to announce to me his morning jubilation. White bars on his wings flashing as he divebombs a little chickadee to show me that indeed, he is king of this roost. All the while mixing his tune from blue jay to crow...and even threw in a little chickadee-dee-dee to mix up not only me but the chickadee too!
As chatty as Mr. Mockingbird is, he actually has become the quietest part of my day...or the most peaceful, anyway, and definitely has given me my first smile of the day for several days running now.
Thanks for that, Mr. Mocker. May you have a good spring and nesting season...and continue to add a smile to mine and anyone else's day who might notice you and your antics!
* I've learned that older Mockingbirds can have up 200 different "songs" that not only replicate other birds, but can sound like crickets, cats, frogs, even mechanical machinery! Quite a clever adaptation, wouldn't you say?!
* Here's a site where you can listen to a Mockingbird's call...I know it's their little twist of a survival mechanism, but for some reason they crack me up in their efforts to imitate so many other sounds around them. Multi-lingual, I guess!
Early morning walks are a real joy at this time of year. We are just blocks from a beach. Sometimes a heron fishes there and a resident flock of Canada geese shifts from beach to nearby golf course through any day, flying over our house. Songbirds, ducks, gulls and the occasional bald eagle give us a thrill any time! Sunrises never grow tiresome. Of course, many of our mornings require full rain-gear, but once dressed properly, it doesn't matter that it's raining. In winter, a flashlight is necessary for cleaning up after dog--city parks furnish plastic doggie bags and we bring them home in lots!
Posted by: Karen | May 13, 2007 at 12:31 AM