Those little nimble musicians of the air,
that warble forth their curious ditties,
with which nature hath furnished them
to the shame of art.
~Izaak Walton
Is this little guy cute or what! I first saw it yesterday while I was out taking pictures. What made me aware of its presence was the unusual twittering noise I heard above me. Wanting to know what creature’s “curious ditties” had broken into my solitude, I turned around and listened for it to come again. When it did, I spied the little thing sitting up high in the branches of the still barren, woody althea shrub. At first glance and seeing only its back side I thought the bird was a small female cardinal but the longer I stood there peering up at it, the less convinced of that idea I was. Finally it dawned on me what it was even though until then I’d only seen photographs of titmice in books. Of course my first instinct was to raise the camera and snap away, but since I didn’t know how skittish this bird might be, I decided to stand very still for a few more minutes. When I did start shooting, the titmouse continued on about its business seemingly quite unconcerned about my presence, so much so that instead of flying away it proceeded to move, hop by hop, closer to the adjacent peanut feeder. As it turned out the tufted darling, at least this one, was quite the “ham” because it would stop from time to time and look right at me as if posing for the camera. Once its hunger was satiated, the titmouse flew away, but I somehow knew this one would come again. And sure enough it returned today. Its curious little twittering noise alerted me of the bird’s presence, and I, delighted to see it, only watched from afar this time. Life here on planet earth is undeniably fraught with hardships and brutality, but every now and again it gives the appearance of being the untroubled paradise it once was. Where? Mercifully in the little piece of Eden that a garden is the difficulties and noise of a fallen world are sometimes silenced long enough for paradise to reveal itself once again if only for a short while.
My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. ~Psalm 63:5 ✝
Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you save, you heal, you restore, and you reveal Your Father’s heart to us! You have captured me with grace and I’m caught in Your infinite embrace!
**Some of these images were found on Pinterest.
Sacred Touches 
Pingback: 331. The sound of birds stops the noise in my mind. ~Carly Simon | Sacred Touches
Wonderful and intimately special all rolled into one–
thank you for sharing this special encounter!!
That of the tufted titmouse—too cute, and of coy Mrs Cardinal
Great shots Natalie!!!
They certainly have made my evening!!
cookie
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I’m glad you enjoyed my bird story. I love my birds, especially when a new one shows up at my table. Hugs, N 🙂
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What a charming collage with all those feathered friends !!! No wonder your garden friend brought paradise down to earth even for a while ! They are great bards,they know better than humans how to hymn God.Great post,Natalie !!!
Love and hugs , Doda xxx 🙂
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Thanks, Doda, I’m glad you enjoyed the post. Birds do seem to know better than we how to praise their Maker. I love the expression “bards” you used to describe them. Wish I’d thought of it myself. Always good the hear from you, Doda. Hugs and love to you as well. Natalie 🙂
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I’m with Carly…I love lying in bed in the morning listening to the morning song of the birds. It’s sharp and clear and easy to focus on without my mind starting up with its’ commentary on everything! It keeps me in the here and now. Awesome bird pics, Natalie.
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Thank you. I’m glad you enjoyed the post. I too love listening to the birds when I first awaken. Not only does it clear my mind momentarily, but it cheers me up and often ends an ongoing “blue funk.” Blessings and hugs, Natalie 🙂
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Wonderful. I love watching and listening to the birds. Sometimes when I put food out I stay near by as still as I can just to watch the birds feeding. Our problem is pigeons who will consume any food we put out very quickly at the expense of the smaller birds. They cannot access the hanging feeder, but the starlings can! Then there was the morning I came downstairs to find a sparrow hawk breakfasting on a blackbird on the patio! That took some cleaning up.
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Thank you. I’m glad you enjoyed the post. Yes, we too have the “pig birds” as I call them that try to consume all the food before the more desirable ones can even get at it. And the squirrels sometimes manage to get up the pole to get at it and that really annoys me. Oh my I’ll bet that was the mess from the blackbird slaughtering was a mess to clean up. I pray you have a great day with no such problems in it. Blessings, Natalie 🙂
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Oh that’s lovely. What gorgeous little birds!
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Thanks, Jessica. I’m glad you enjoyed the post. He is a lovely little guy, isn’t he?! Hugs, Natalie 🙂
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Reblogged this on Sunflowers & Meadowlarks.
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Thank you for the reblog. Blessings, Natalie 🙂
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