Day 87: Feeding the birds

We started the day wondering whether any birds would discover our new bird feeders, and they did. The morning was dry and sunny, not warm by any means but we wrapped up and ventured out to take the Beaver Tree Trail. It did not disappoint as you can see from this beavered tree. We also saw several new-to-us species of birds including one not sighted at this location by anyone this year.

This afternoon we went for a swim, Exile #3 and Exile #4 surprise us every time with their increasing confidence and enjoyment of being in the water which is great. After we all had a nice Japanese meal, Exile #2 and I went to do some last minute Easter shopping. Whilst standing in the fruit and veg section I heard a message over a loudspeaker "Please stand back..." I missed the rest of the announcement. Moments later water started spraying behind me over the salad items accompanied by recorded thunder sounds. Classy!

Earlier in the day, we found our bird-feeding had unexpected consequences. We fed one bird, not with fat-cake and seeds but with a bird feeding on the seeds. A Cooper's Hawk had caught a small bird and was devouring it between our house and the one next door. It obligingly stayed long enough for my dad to get a decent photo or two for identification purposes, before departing to let the other birds relax again for a while.