Happy Thanksgiving!

grate·ful 
/'grātfəl/
adjective
feeling or showing an appreciation of kindness; thankful. "I'm grateful to my family and friends for all of the love you've given me." synonyms: thankful, appreciative
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I was talking to my mom this morning about how special Thanksgiving is. She summed it up with one word, grateful. It truly is wonderful to have a day set aside every year to simply be grateful for everyone in our lives and all that we have. I'm deeply grateful I have a loving and kind family, close friends and neighbors, and sweet pets and animals...

...and I'm also grateful for Mother Nature and all the love she has to offer!

Happy Thanksgiving!

What's that creeping up the tree?

Look what Larry found creeping up his tree this weekend...

..a beautiful Brown Creeper! 

Look in the bottom-right corner. He is perfectly camouflaged against the bark, creeping around that poison ivy runner. With brown and white streaked feathers, creepers have the ability to blend into the tree trunk, and if they sense danger, this becomes their defense. They freeze and hunker into the bark, virtually disappearing from sight.

Brown Creepers are winter visitors, and they are fun to watch!! Creepers fly down to the base of a tree and then systematically spiral upwards, nabbing insects from behind the bark. When they reach the top of the tree, they fly down to the base of the next tree and start all over. The constant spiraling is entertaining. We had a pair visit for a few days last year and the year before. I loved watching them. (I have to add, The Spotter, once again, spotted them before I did.)

Brown Creepers and White-breasted Nuthatches complement each other. Nuthatches walk down the tree, loosening bark and picking out insects on their way down, while creepers spiral up the tree, working the bark from the bottom at a different angle and getting the insects the white-breasted nuthatches missed.


Both are fed, and the tree is happy too. Mother Nature always knows what she’s doing.