9 February 26

My sister Gloria Rae (Kleppinger) Huizenga always stays somewhat older than I. Her birthday comes up every year on 9 February, but she sometimes chooses to celebrate it in May for warmer weather. We grew up together in Bethlehem, PA, and Glo set the pattern for Dick and me to follow her lead to Houghton College. Glo lived in Houghton (in New York's western tier snow belt) before moving to the snowy Philadelphia area, and then last fall she moved to Louisville, hoping to find warmer weather. Not much better this year! She asked me to wear my woodland birds tie to help her celebrate a new bird feeder. They include a European waxwing, song thrush, bullfinch, European goldfinch and European robin.

28 January 24

 To celebrate her birthday (yesterday, 27 January), Beth asked me to wear my woodland birds tie, which is very appropriate for my duties to fill our 15 bird feeders. One of our visitors today is a Carolina chickadee.

8 August 23

We're having fun feeding birds! And watching them! For our 48th anniversary (tomorrow, 9 August) we gave ourselves a Netvue® "Birdfy" feeder, one of the "smart" feeders that has a camera watching the perch. It records video when there's motion -- and then it uses artificial intelligence tools to identify the birds! Over the last two weeks we've had visits by hundreds of cardinals, house finches and mourning doves, a few gray catbirds, a Carolina wren, and most recently a chipping sparrow. The birds on my tie are European songbirds, unlikely to visit us in Kentucky.

5 January 22

 Today is National Bird Day! While the sponsors for this Day are based in the United States, I'm quite sure they are happy to recognize my European song birds.

8 October 21

 Tomorrow, 9 October, is World Migratory Bird Day, "a global campaign that aims to raise awareness of migratory birds and the need for international cooperation to conserve them." It gives me a great opportunity to show this new birthday present! Thanks to Ben Kleppinger and Amanda Wheeler for the tie and for identifying its birds: European waxwing, song thrush, bullfinch, European goldfinch and European robin.