Black Feet

I have never noticed before that the juncos have dark feet!  Considering that we have large numbers of these perky little sparrows in the garden all winter, every winter, I'm not sure how I missed this.  But there they are, larger than life, sitting at the bottom of their little pink legs.  

It has been much cooler and rainy most of the day so I spent some time in the hide, enjoying the comings and goings of the birds.  At one point there were seven (!!) male cardinals all in the same small tree next to the hide.  Most of them with a female nearby.  Strangely, they were all tolerating each other quite well.  They are territorial during the breeding season and will defend a desirable location (such as our yard) vigorously, so I am guessing that the spring hormones haven't fully kicked in yet. 

Covid cases are continuing up in our area.  We learned last night on the weekly zoom call with MIL's senior living facility that the local hospital now has 27 Covid patients, quite a few on ventilators.  And the care facility had a positive test from one of the Independent Living residents who was between first and second vaccine.  A big reminder to everyone that although the first jab offers some protection, it is still possible to contract symptomatic covid.  The resident is currently being cared for in the facility; hopefully his/her symptoms won't require hospitalization.  And, of course, this means full Red Level precautions in every area of the facility for the next 42 days.  

I'm headed out in the morning to a doctor's appointment that I am not looking forward to at all.  Hubs is coming with me, which will be nice.  More details later.

Be kind, be safe.  And I'm leaning towards the orange-infused dark chocolate today...

xo
Debbi