This afternoon we looked through our field guide

to identify our recent breakfast guest.

Our guest is a Tufted Titmouse.

Here’s what we read about our lil’ guest…

Voice: Its commonest call, sung year-round

 and carrying a considerable distance,

is a whistled series of four to eight notes

sounding like Peter-Peter repeated over and over.

Habitat: Swampy or moist woodland and shade tress

 in villages and city parks; in winter, at feeders.

Nesting: 5 or 6 brown-dotted white eggs in a tree cavity

Or a bird box stuffed with leaves and moss.

Titmice are social birds and, especially in winter,

Join with small mixed flocks

of chickadees, nuthatches, kinglets, creepers,

and the smaller woodpeckers.

Although a frequent visitor at feeders,

It is not as tame or confiding as the chickadees.

It often clings to the bark of trees

And turns upside down to pick spiders and insects

from the underside of a twig or leaf.

When we read that it is a social bird

We quickly looked through our field guide

to try to identify the other bird that came with it the first time it visited.

We think it was a kind of nuthatch.

We enjoyed reading about these birds

And we enjoyed a visit outside to see if we could find its nest.

Also this afternoon, we began reading “Summer with the Moody’s”.

We’ve read it before but it’s been a while

and we wanted to ‘refresh our memories’

before we start with “Autumn with the Moody’s”,

then proceed into “Winter with the Moody’s”.

We had company over for a little bit after reading aloud

and when our company went home

we sat in the reading room, singing Christmas carols (& hymns).

What a precious time that was.

I hope that everyone has enjoyed their day!

I’m off to make supper… Lasagna. Mmmm…