07:20
Still, quiet, white sky

Birds In Order of Appearance:

1. mwbw (Checkers)
2. unbanded
3. mbrg (Trapper)
4. morgo (Mr. Go)
5. morlb (Red Eye)
6. mlbob (Mrs. Go)
7. unbanded (Shopper aka Chopper)
8. mwlblb (Tame Bird)
9. unbanded juvenile
10. lbpmp (Princesa)
11. unbanded (Rusty Bill)
12. mbow (Bow)
13. banded juvenile (Plum)
14. mwrg (Wringer)
15. mwrr (Droopy)

Notes:

Upon rising each morning, I brew my coffee, then feed the birds. I make three to four piles of wild bird seed, a pile of sunflower seeds, and piles of peanuts. Then I sit on the deck and shell a few nuts for myself. There is something satisfying about sharing peanuts with the birds at the beginning of my day. Usually Mr. Go, Tame Bird, Shopper, and more recently, Red Eye, are first to greet me in a flurry of activity. Tame Bird and Red Eye show little fear and will come close to me, daring each other to get the first peanut. Mr. Go stalls until I move farther away, but holds his ground, clearly in charge of who comes and goes here. This morning, Checkers and an unbanded were sitting very quietly in the tree above me, hidden by foliage. There was a lull before the usual crowd joined me.

Shopper is turning into a tyrant. Unlike the other birds who tolerate the youngsters, he frightened a juvenile working to open a peanut. A speed demon with crest slicked back, Chopper is a more suitable moniker. The young bird struggled to first open the nut, not yet able to stabilize it with his toes, nor able to apply the necessary force with its bill. Once he got it open he grabbed the whole peanut and swallowed it whole. Much too big a bite, I watched the bulge of nut travel down his gullet. More careful with the second nut, he pecked it into smaller pieces. He has yet to develop the skill of balancing a nut on a tree branch while gaining access to the other half, so uses the flat platform of the bench.