Mono Monday : : Impromptu

He thought he could walk up the skinny little pole and nab a meal, but it didn't quite work out that way. He couldn't reach around the bubble cover, so he turned around, walked back down the skinny pole and stretched across to the hole. The feeder is filled every day, but it was getting low and he couldn't reach the bottom hole which was the only one which still had some seeds behind it. He retreated back to the skinny pole, hung from it by his back feet and stretched his body out until he could reach. His impromptu meal turned into something else entirely....ingenious would probably be a better word.

While he was doing that, a huge raven was launching himself from the birdbath to the suet feeder, flapping his wings madly and trying to grab a quick bite before falling back to earth. They may be able to fly, but they're not so good at hovering, especially when a scrub jay would kept shooting out of the middle of the plum tree at him. This went on for quite some time until the raven finally gave up and went off in search of less exhausting fare. The scrub jay must have a nest in the plum tree.

The hummingbirds stay above the fray entirely, perhaps because they spend a lot of time fiercely chasing each other around the hummingbird feeders. I saw a lone hummingbird at its habitual bath hour as I was drinking my coffee at the kitchen window this morning.

I left the action in the garden to take my car across town to the dealer for a recall repair...something to do with the steering column and the fuel pump. The technician called the courtesy driver who gave me a ride home. I thought I was going to be there for hours, but the whole thing only took about an hour and I had a very pleasant chat with the driver. He came back to pick me up when the car was done...I love Mercedes...they really know how to do things right. 

The extra is a little boy who played happily on the floor with some toys that had been moved out of the kids playroom which was being painted. The mother never stopped talking on her phone.