Hello All! I don't have time for a long post today as I am so busy. With that said, I wanted to share some birding news. I love birds!! I have since I was a little girl watching them from my dining room window. Now that I have become an avid birder (Ha! Ha!) It is so fun to watch the migratory patterns of our local birds in Michigan. Yesterday I was driving home from town on a road that winds around the side of our rather large local inland lake. The sun hit the bird just right as he sat there calling from the cattails just light the bird in this picture. I saw clearly that is was a red winged blackbird! Yahoo! Most people who are not avid birders (Ha! Ha!) like myself think the robin ushers in spring. But we birders know it is the Red winged blackbird that shakes us out of the winter "blahs" and points to warm sunny days. The males arrive first and establish their territories. The females will arrive in a week or so. I love tracking the different birds as they arrive in this area to summer with us. It helps me again to feel in touch with something so much bigger than me. I am in awe of a God who can create birds to migrate thousands of miles. How awesome is that!! I am often even more in awe when I think, I am familiar only with birds. What interesting details about other animals am I unaware of ? I wonder what things we have yet to discover about God's creation. God is so good even to the birds. Birds don't migrate because they can't tough out the winter in the north. They migrate because food sources become so limited or even non-existent. The red winged blackbird is back in this beautiful swamp we call Michigan. The ice is melting and he now has a perfect view from the cattails of his food for the next 7 months. The kids and I are commonly pulling the car over to get a better vantage point of a bird spotted by mommy. Today we saw a big bird on the ice on the lake. He appeared to be eating something he caught. I did not have my "binocs" (binoculars) in the car, so it was hard to make him out. Grace, kept squirming and peeking from her booster seat in the mini van. "Mommy," she said "Don't drive away before I see him." My little birders! My hope is they will also see the beauty in God's creation. We welcome you back Mr. Blackbird, please enjoy your stay with us : ) Love, Crystal
