A Welcome and a bit about Birds

First of all, welcome to all my new followers who have joined me through Grow Your Blog.  It's so great to share experiences with you!

One of my visitors commented that she loves Chickadees (in reference to the Chickadee that I am stitching).  I am also a fan of Chickadees and birds in general.

I can trace my love of birds to my grandmother who was a bird fanatic.  She also did counted cross stitch and most of her stitching involved birds.  Her favorite bird was the hummingbird.

My favorite bird piece of hers in my collection - A Bluebird

I grew up in Wisconsin (which for my international followers is in the upper Midwest portion of the U.S. and gets lots of snow in the winter) so I saw birds all the time.  Growing up, we had a nice grassy backyard with a large Silver Maple, several Blue Spruce trees and a birdbath so we attracted a lot of birds.

The state bird of Wisconsin is the American Robin.  They were everywhere.  After a rainstorm, the air was full of their song.

They are much larger than a European Robin

Here are some other birds I used to enjoy.

The Black-Capped Chickadee, a spunky little bird

The House Wren, a bird you don't see but definitely hear

A bright yellow summer visitor - The American Goldfinch

We had Cardinals all year long.  Their red color was a welcome sight when everything was covered in snow.

My favorite bird, the Nuthatch.  This one is the Red-Breasted variety but I also saw the White-Breasted ones.

Now that I live in Texas, surrounded by prairie grasses and cows, I don't see a lot of these birds anymore.  I see a lot of Mockingbirds (the state bird) and Scissor-tailed Flycatchers and the occasional Roadrunner.  I do miss my Wisconsin birds though.