When the leaves have fallen
And the days begin to shorten;
When the dark night draws its curtains
At tea-time on the sun;
When the summer flowers have gone
And we put our warm coats on ~
The Robin comes back to the garden …
Is he waiting to be drawn
To go on a Christmas card?
Is he bringing a touch of red
Now most of the roses are dead?
No: we guess why he comes
And put out seed for him and crumbs.
~ Stanley Cook
December begins tomorrow, and it's time for winter birdwatching! Are your feeders well-stocked? Are your field guides handy? :)
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This winter we are planning to collect favorite bird poems and focus our picture study on birds in art. I have ordered a copy of this book, pictured at left, and requested this one from the library. I also thought our winter biography subject would be John James Audubon, The Boy Who Drew Birds.
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Right now, we're reading a fun book called The Company of Crows: A Book of Poems. We happen to have a highly entertaining band of crows making daily visits to our front lawn, and their antics are thoroughly distracting and enjoyable! When we hear them coming, we abandon whatever it is we are doing just to watch for a while. They are wonderful to observe - have you ever really watched crows together? They are quite caring and social with each other. This all is very timely for us as we are reading Bunnicula Meets Edgar Allen Crowe for Book Group next week. (And in January we'll be reading The Trumpet of the Swan, another fitting title for our bird study! A magnificent pair lives in a nearby pond.)
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Now, we haven't seen a robin just yet, though we most likely will just after Christmas, unless it's very snowy. Robins will figure into our February plans ~ when we begin The Secret Garden. (Have you seen the beautiful new annotated version? It's at the top of my Christmas list!) But if we do happen to spy that robin of December from the poem above, we'll throw out some raisins and apples along with a handful of crumbs, and hope he finds shelter somewhere closeby.
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Thanks for visiting today, and, oh yes - the Round up is here! Happy Friday!
