Grandmother's Bedtime Stories Book 2

During the winter months, many different kinds of birds fly south to a warm climate. Some of them flew to my town and then into my yard. The little birds settled in trees nearby and began chirping and chirping. Of course, I thought their many anxious chirps were trying to tell me "dinner time is here". So off to the store I went. Walking up and down the store isles, I came upon the pet supply area. There were many different bird feeders on the shelves. Some were wood frames with glass windows, some were plastic, some were made of wood and plastic. Some bird feeders were square, some tall, some of them had holes punched in the plastic windows, allowing the birds to peck out the many kinds of seed thru the holes. Other feeders had a bottom tray to catch the seeds that fell thru openings on the bottom frame. I decided on the square feeders. Of course I bought five-pound bags of assorted birdseeds, my reasoning was that different kinds of seed would attract many different birds.

One feeder was hung on a low branch of the grapefruit tree, about five feet from the ground. The other bird feeder I hung in the orange tree also about five feet from the ground.

Both of these feeders I would be able to watch from my Florida room picture windows on cold and windy days. But on many warm days after filling the bird feeders I would sit very quiet in my lounge chair on the patio, trying not to move a muscle, lest the birds would be scared away.

Oh! What a joyous sight! All those little feathered Chic-A-Dees. Flitting from one tree to another. Going from one bird feeder to the other. Imagine the birds sitting on the edge of a feeder, gripping the ledge tightly with their little feet. How amazing this was!

A round little body covered by soft silky feathers. Wings strong enough to fly the birds thru the air, against winds, thru large rain drops. A small feathery head, two small dark eyes, two hidden ears, and a short but sharp beak that can cut thru hard seeds. Their tails were almost as long as their bodies. And, all this feathery fluff was supported by two very thin spindly legs, the size of tooth picks, with little thin claws and nails.

Each day at eight o’clock in the morning and again at five o’clock in the late afternoon, the birds would fly to the feeders or sit on the surrounding tree limbs. One, two then three at a time the Chick-A-Dees would perch on the feeders, look around, peck at a few seeds, look up and down, they fly back to the branches, chirping, chirping. As if to say "I had enough to eat, now you other birds have some food, too".

After the feeding ritual, some of the little brown feathered friends would hop onto the large white bird bath that was in front of the trees. First taking a few sips of water, then hopping into the water and splashing their wings up and down, wetting their whole little bodies. When the daily bath was done, each bird would hop up onto the edge of the bird bath, flutter their wings and stroke the feathers with their little beaks to help dry the feathers. Then looking around, up at the big blue sky and large white clouds floating by like puffs of cotton, they flew back to their nests to settle down for a nap.