I woke up this winter Kansas morning to a fresh layer of snow on top of a layer of ice. Shoveling the snow off the sidewalk and cleaning the car I couldn’t help but notice a large robin red breast that was working for his food in an environment that was suddenly frozen over.
We have a small crab apple tree next to the drive that still has a few frozen apples hanging on the branches and that’s what he was trying to feed on. To his evident dismay the apple he wanted was too far from the branch he was sitting on to make grabbing it easy. Instead he would lunge forward, grab the apple in his beak and frantically try to hover like a hummingbird. For a large thrush like that robin hovering just isn’t an option and several times he ended up hanging ingloriously by his beak and looking slightly out of sorts. But after several valiant attempts to pluck the fruit from the tree he finally managed to dislodge it and flew off with his prize. A tiny, wizened, dry and frozen apple that probably didn’t justify the energy expended in retrieving it.
But the bird was happy and the snow will melt in a day or two and once again life will be good for birds and snow shovelers.
No comments:
Post a Comment